We wanted to motivate our teaching staff and help them realize the importance of lifelong education and training. By participating in the activities of the project they could also empower their confidence, share common experiences, bond as a strong and united teaching team, and renew their interest and commitment to teaching. The project was also expected to help our teachers enrich their repertoire of teaching techniques and become more creative and innovative as well as develop an awareness of the intercultural characteristics of our lessons and learn more about our learners' learning styles and cultures. This training would contribute not only to developing their teaching skills but also to the growth and expansion of our organization. Opening our organization to cooperation and networking on a wider level with organizations that specialize in language education and adult training was another goal. We also aimed at creating new projects and brainstorming new project ideas for the future. Finally, we wanted our teachers to benefit from the EUROLTA training and certification and become themselves trainers of Greek language instructors in Cyprus, thus improving the quality of Greek language teaching services.
The School of Modern Greek of the University of Cyprus is the main provider of Greek language courses to foreigners in Cyprus. Its certificates are officially accredited by the Republic of Cyprus and its teaching staff has often been involved in projects in the field of foreign language teaching. As our teachers are often asked to produce new teaching materials, design new curricula, but also to train and support new colleagues and other instructors of Greek as a second/foreign language across Cyprus, we saw this project as an opportunity to invest in our teachers’ expansion of know-how (as the title of the project itself implies – Ιnvesting in Greek Language Educators' Expansion of Knowledge, IN2GREEK). That is, to upgrade our staff’s skills and to encourage them towards continuing education and professional training. We wanted our teachers to get acquainted with new innovative teaching methods and we intended to give the opportunity to at least some of them to acquire the ICC (International Language Association) EUROLTA Certification which will be an advantage to their professional life as well as to our organization, if and when it decides to become an official EUROLTA training center in the near future.