By Christina Savopoulos
Sunday, October 5th is World Teachers’ Day and gives us the opportunity to celebrate the influential educators who have shaped our lives. The day has made me reflect on the many wonderful and inspiring teachers I had at Greek school.
Waking up early on a Saturday for an extra day of school wasn’t always ideal, but I look back on this experience with fond memories because every teacher I had contributed meaningfully to my Greek education.
My VCE Greek teacher, Kristian Raspa, left a lasting impression on me and my journey learning Greek. He is patient, knowledgeable, and the kind of teacher who always encouraged his students to improve academically and better themselves as individuals. It’s nearly impossible to find anyone taught by him who won’t give glowing reviews.
I sat down with Kristian to hear more about his teaching journey and what the profession means to him.
He told The Greek Herald, “I’ve been teaching in a classroom since 2009, and I absolutely love it. I live every day all the great things they say about teaching: how rewarding it is to work with young people to build these beautiful relationships and to really help guide people to find their path and their passion.”
Kristian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and International Relations, a Master of Criminology, and a Master of Teaching at the University of Melbourne. He is currently completing a Master of Education, specialising in leadership and management.
Kristian is also the Director of Hellenism at St John’s College where he oversees the Greek curriculum and focuses on the Hellenic aspects of the college and community engagement.
Kristian started his teaching journey at the St John’s College Saturday Greek school and then later at the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) schools. He says this experience gave him the “teaching bug” because of how much he enjoyed teaching Greek language, Greek culture and shaping young minds.
Teaching also runs in Kristian’s family and inspired him to continue this path. “I was very fortunate that my late father was also a teacher. I’ve been around… fantastic teachers which showed me that this is certainly something I’m very passionate about.”
Teaching Greek to the next generation makes Kristian feel blessed to have taught “amazing students… and to have worked with incredible educators over years”. He has helped students “discover aspects of their identity… and how their roots actually can enrich the path they’re going to take in the future.” Seeing past students grow into leaders of the Greek community is an especially rewarding experience for him.
A highlight of Kristian’s teaching is when classroom discussions move “beyond the strict limits of VCE” and students engage with broader topics.
I remember having many of these insightful conversations in my VCE class about Greek migration and how it impacted Greek Australians in more complex ways.
To combat the continued decline of students studying Greek, Kristian acknowledges that multiple approaches are necessary to address the multifaceted nature of the issue and to cater to the needs of different students.
“I think we are in a good position as a community because… there is an alarm bell going off that we need to do something,” he said. “I think we need to start working together… to put micro politics aside and to look at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is urging us to collaborate… [and to] convince younger generations of the value of [learning Greek]… It’s a diverse and complex issue but I’m optimistic.”
While there are endless benefits to learning Greek, Kristian’s favourite reason is emotional connection.
“English is the language that allows you to speak to [a person’s] mind, to their head, whereas Greek allows you to speak to their heart… Being able to connect with people on an emotional level is… more meaningful… When a kid is trying to talk to pappou and yiayia, even mum and dad in some cases, or cousins in Greece, talking in Greek actually… is creating a much stronger bond and it allows them to tap into something much bigger than they can even perceive…. People often forget what they go through, hardly ever do they forget how they felt during that time.”
Kristian also sees value in having Greek teachers who learned the language themselves in Australia. “Somebody who is born and raised here can understand much better the needs that a significant majority of the [current Greek students] are experiencing.”
He sees the future of Greek teaching involving mentoring programs to support teachers who are in the early stage of their career. “We do have fantastic teachers in our community who can give a lot to new teachers, and I certainly believe that mentoring programs are going to help younger generations.”
Kristian appreciates Greek Australian media putting a spotlight on the positive aspects of Greek language in the community. He acknowledges that “If you talk to any Greek out there, you can find someone with a negative Greek school experience. It’s a bittersweet shared experience. But just like that is true, we also have incredible learning and teaching moments taking place in the classroom…. There are teachers who are really doing the hard task of passing on a language and culture… there’s good work taking place.”
With over 15 years of teaching experience Kristian still has a lot more to give. “I wake up in the morning, happy to go to work and I don’t dread it at all. It’s certainly true what they say, at least for me. That when you do what you love, you don’t work a day in your life.”
