Cultural topography of Greece

obligatory courses

The course in Cultural Topography of Greece familiarizes students with the regional diversity of Greece. It is learning about the most important monuments as well as about any other places of interest. It is also an excuse to reach deeper into the special characteristics of a region.

TThe course on the cultural topography of Greece aims to familiarize students with the regional uniqueness of Greece as a country of small homelands. Above all, it will present the major historic sites and other interesting places of various character (towns, buildings, natural sites of exceptional beauty), but this will be a pretext for exploring the special qualities of a given region – its history and traditions, from music to cuisine. The classes will include presentations of photos, films, music, and the students’ reports.

General outline:

1. Introductory class: the physical geography of Greece, climate

2. Administrative division, geographical regions, major towns

3. Thrace

4-5. Macedonia and Thessaloniki

6. Epirus

7. Thessaly and the Pelion Peninsula

8. Central Greece

9-10. Athens

11. Attica

12. The northern and eastern Peloponnese: Corinth, Argolis

13. The western and central Peloponnese: Achaea, Elis, Arcadia

14. The southern Peloponnese: Messenia, Laconia

15. Crete

Lektury obowiązkowe:

• Skrypt przygotowany przez prowadzącego

• Podręcznik do geografii (2. klasa gimnazjum)

• www.culture.gr (strona greckiego Ministerstwa Kultury)

Lektury uzupełniające:

• Albumy krajoznawcze.

• Ulotki turystyczne.

• Albumy fotograficzne.

• Książki podróżnicze.

Learning outcomes:

KNOWLEDGE:

1. identifying the typical features of Greece’s geographical and cultural regions and being aware of the country’s place in the region (the Balkans) and the Mediterranean area

2. knowledge on the most important events and people from the history of ancient Greece, Byzantium, and modern Greece

3. elementary knowledge on ancient Greek art and Byzantine religious art, and the place of the Orthodox faith in the life of the Greeks

4. elementary awareness of contemporary cultural life in Greece; awareness of the existence of ties (historical, cultural, etc.) between Poland and Greece

SKILLS:

1. retrieving, selecting, and making use of information from different written and electronic sources

2. presenting simple research problems and journalistic topics orally in Polish

using dictionaries

translating simple literary and specialist texts from Modern Greek into Polish

3. reading and analysing literary and journalistic texts in Modern Greek

SOCIAL COMPETENCES

1. awareness of the limited scope of their own knowledge and skills

2. awareness of the existence of an ethical aspect of their work

3. learning teamwork

Final credits will be affected, on the one hand, by how well the students remember the historic sites and points of interest discussed in class and by their effective knowledge of the topographic vocabulary, and on the other – independence and creativity in making use of the available references (and their own experience) when presenting their reports.