During a time where uptake of the Modern Greek language at secondary and tertiary levels is declining in Australia, The Greek Herald has found a story of optimism for the future.
A story of how Modern Greek can be loved and studied by not only Australian-born Greeks, but also by people of different ethnic backgrounds with great success.
Today, we want to introduce you to Justin Chow – a Year 12 student with Chinese heritage from Blakehurst High School in Sydney’s south.
For his Higher School Certificate (HSC) this year, Justin studied Modern Greek Beginners and received the highest Band 6 (a score of 90 and above). He told The Greek Herald he’s “very pleased” with the result as he’s put a lot of effort into the language since he first studied it in Year 7.
“I decided to take Modern Greek Beginners because I was placed into the Greek class in Year 7 and I found it very interesting, especially having read several Percy Jackson books, which helped to further my interest in Greek,” Justin said.
“[In the HSC now] I was very pleased to get Band 6 as I put a lot of effort into the subject and I was glad to see that my efforts were fruitful.”
Along the way he was supported by his Modern Greek teachers, Mary Fotiadis and Natasha Vacchio. Ms Vacchio reached out to The Greek Herald about Justin’s result because she was very proud of her student.
“He took on both our teaching advice. He was a very, very, very conscientious student. He was always on top of his work. Over time, he just flourished in the language. His pronunciation is impeccable for a non-Greek,” Mrs Vacchio said.
“He really impressed us with his final mark, but it was such a deserving mark because he worked so hard throughout Year 11 and 12.”
Ms Fotiadis jumped in to add that she was very happy to see Justin succeed in the Greek language.
“We’re very proud of him. I guess it’s more than being proud as well because you can get kids from Greek backgrounds that don’t choose the language [for the HSC] for various reasons… and here’s a student that has no Greek link to anything and managed to do very well just by loving the subject and studying and applying himself,” Ms Fotiadis said.
“He wants to continue with it as well and improve on his knowledge of Greek.”
Justin will do this as he also studies Law at Macquarie University in Sydney next year.
