Lexis, Centre of Greek Language & Culture

Hi. This is Mario from Italy.
Με λένε Μάριο στη ελληνικά!
My experience to the Lexis center was great.
I took one week of an intensive course and I was quite lucky ‘couse we were just the 2 of us at the same level, at the beginning of June. We got long very nice and the teacher was super.
The course is really intense. It takes almost the hole day through the class, activates and exercises at home.
You have to be prepared that it’s not a vacation although you are by the sea, and the season is starting!
Chania is a lovely little town to stay and the school is right in the center close to everything.
I hope to go back soon.
Highly recommended

Our teacher enthusiastically taught us the alphabet and went through exercises with us. They care for your language needs and current skills very well. The progress you make is really depending on oneself, how much time you are willing to spend learning the language. My expectations on myself was only to get to know the alphabet which was quickly fulfilled within one week. Also I could get out cultural and historical aspects since our teacher was an authenthic creten citizen and the class size allowed a pragmatic exchange not only tailored to learning Greek. Only negative was that some of the copies of the exercise materials were not readable.

The teacher was very good and the classes were exactly at the level which I'm at now. First week there were two of us, and the second I was the only one on my level. The classrooms are small, but adequately sized for 2-5 people. The location is perfect. Right in the centre above a cafe with nice coffee and bisquits. There were only one activity, film, that I didn't attend. If it had been later in the evening, I might have joined. There are plenty of hotels, airbnbs etc in the area. I liked the course a lot and I will come back.

As there were no students of my level, I did 2 hours of lessons per day in private lessons.
The teacher was very competent, very friendly and the lessons lively.
The only downside was the temperature, it was really cold.
We also did not do any activities, apart from lessons.

I had a great time at Lexis, individual lessons on my level.
Flexible, when I asked for timetable changes.
I liked the activities (cooking, films, dinner all together).

But: I chose this school, because they offer host family as accommodation, but I was told, that for these two weeks, they couldn't give me a host family. I thought, maybe there was no family left, I didn't know, how many students choose host family. But when I came to Chania, I heard that no one of the other students stayed with a host family.
It seems to be offered, but not available.

Everything was fine. Our teacher Evangelia was patient, structured and very clear in her way of teaching. humorous.

My 3 children attended the school for 1 week and learnt so much! The class was challenging but fun and they made a lot of progress in a week.

The teachers were friendly and engaging and they enjoyed the activities provided (Greek dancing, cooking and museum visit)

Thank you Lexis

I arrived at Lexis school Monday morning. They told me I had a 2 hours class that morning with one teacher, Vaggelo (a woman), and an hour class later that day (all private), with Maria. Vaggelo didn't really test my Greek language skills, but started right away with a conversation about a subject that was a bit too difficult for a start. Also she spoke very fast in Greek and sometimes it was hard to understand her English, and my English is not that bad, as I always go on holiday with English people and lot of my friends are English. I had expected that we would start easier and built it up to my level. So I was a bit nervous and it was difficult for me to talk. The class later with Maria, more on grammar, was better and interactive and I was less stressed and more relaxed, as Maria seemed more motivated and I could better understand her Greek and English.

The next morning I started again with Vaggelo, and again I was a bit stressed, so after an hour I asked her if we could adjust the lessons, and if I could bring in the subjects we would talk about and do more exercises from the book, so put more variation in the lessons, so not only conversation, as it is very hard to talk on your own for 2 hours. She was OK with that and from then I felt more relaxed and it went well. The lessons with Maria were good all the time. But still I wasn't very comfortable with Vaggelo, as sometimes she seemed disinterested and distracted, but maybe that was just my observation. But I heard from 2 other women that had classes with her that she mostly was like this, even 3 years ago.

Another thing that was a disadvantage, was that my classes were not always in the morning from 9.00-12.00. Sometimes it was from 12.00-15.00, in the middle of the day, so I didn't have much time before or after to go on a excursion outside Chania by bus or by bike. But they adjusted the schedule a bit, when I noticed it earlier that week, when they gave my schedule. But I understand that it was difficult, as they also have to consider other students.

But overall I really enjoyed the classes, although it was pretty tiring and intensive, 15 hours private classes, so if I do it a next time, I would prefer to be in a class with at least 2 people, and, to be honest, not with Vaggelo as a teacher. I wanted to thank her and say officially goodbye to her after my last class, but she was gone very quickly. I think I've learned a lot, and it was a great experience, and feel more confident to speak now. I will start conversation lessons here in The Hague, with a Greek teacher, this Saturday.

The location of Lexis was very nice, it was pleasant to walk to school every day through the old city of Chania. I didn't join the extra activities, like the movie, as I had enough to do and see outside school, like cycling, walking and sightseeing in Chania by myself and with 2 Dutch ladies who were also attending classes at Lexis. We also had our diner together most nights. I stayed in an apartment very near to the old town and the bus station, and it was very good and the owner lend me a bike. On one of my bike trips I drove into the mountains, which was fantastic!
I had a great week in Chania, the weather was superb, and I did really enjoy the classes at Lexis, and practicing my Greek all week.