Did you know that more and more learners of Greek decide to prepare and sit for the Ellinomatheia Exams in Greek? Why? Well, sure many people learn Greek to communicate with their Greek family, reconnect with their roots or because they love living in the Greek summer as a local rather than a tourist. While all these are wonderful reasons to learn Greek, there are a lot of people who decide to learn it because of their studies, their job or to get the residence permit.
The Ellinomatheia exam and certificate is what these people need since it is the only official certificate of the Greek language for levels A1 to C2 for children and adults. Apart from the exhaustive levels that this exam includes, it is also held in exam centers around the world usually in January and May, so you do not need to worry about traveling too far to take it.
An amazing success
We spoke to the teachers of the worldwide online Greek School, Greek Lessons OnLine, who just celebrated an amazing success since all their students who were Ellinomatheia Exams candidates managed to pass the exam and receive the certificate.
Maria G. and Stella M., two Ellinomatheia Exams expert teachers tell us more about the Greek exams that are growing in popularity. Students usually associate exams with a useless and negative experience. According to the Greek Lessons OnLine teachers, however, they don’t have to be like that.
“All you need in order to have a positive experience with any exam is to be well-prepared,” Maria, explains. “To do that you need to find the right teacher who has some experience with this type of exam and can plan your lessons accordingly.”
“Preparing for an official Greek exam like this can actually help you improve all of your skills in Greek and give you a clear idea of what your true level of Greek is. This is extremely important for the progress of a student who wants to improve their Greek and advance even more with the language,” Stella adds.
Why does a student of Greek decide to sit for the Ellinomatheia exams?
“This is because a lot of our students need the certificate for their studies mostly or for professional reasons,” Maria explains. “Also and when it comes to many states in the U.S., this certificate is directly linked to the Seal of Biliteracy. So, many students want to get a high school diploma that also includes the Seal of Biliteracy, which basically recognizes their ability to communicate adequately in a foreign language, like Greek,” she adds.
The Seal of Biliteracy is a qualification that is appreciated in a lot of universities in the U.S. and is also truly appreciated in the workplace.
According to Stella, however, “a lot of the students in our School, decide to prepare and take the exam as a way to get an official recognition of the fact that they have passed a level of Greek successfully.” “There are a lot of adult students, especially, who like the idea of an exam as a goal because this helps keep them motivated and engaged in their Greek lessons.”
Anyone who has ever tried to formally learn another language or even understand their mother tongue on a deeper level, knows that language learning does not come without challenges. So preparing for an exam in Greek sounds really difficult to me.
Is it difficult, though? What do the experts say?
“It can be quite easy to deal with and get a successful result if you start a proper preparation that includes a well-thought plan,” Stella M. explains. “The examination covers four different skills: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, so a student who wants to eventually take the exam needs to be exposed to a learning environment and a well-planned class that will help them progress in all four skills equally.“
Maria G. adds that “time management is also really important. That’s why what we do in our School to help students prepare is make a plan according to their specific level of Greek, pace of learning and the time they have to practice at home. Exam preparation looks a lot like training and coaching for a sport. So, trust between a student and their teachers is basically the most important thing and so is practice.”
If, however, you are not ready to prepare and sit for a Greek exam just yet, you can always take a placement test and get a clearer idea of your language level in Greek. Who knows, maybe after the placement test you will be warmer to the idea of learning Greek and why not take the exam yourself.
