Most children of newly migrated Greek families attend public schools where they learn at least 3 languages (Gogonas & Kirsch, 2016). Some also enrol in the small and highly diverse Greek complementary school for 3 hours a week. This paper draws on a survey with parents and interviews with teachers, parents and students and presents their perspectives on teaching and learning Greek in a multilingual country. The participants include newly migrated as well as established teachers and families. The data collection with the newly migrated Greeks is on-going. The findings of the survey indicate that the parents expect the school to develop high competences in Greek and knowledge of Greek culture and history. The newly arrived families have higher expectations than the established ones (Frygana, 2016). The thematic analysis of the interviews shows that the teachers adhered to a monolingual policy and reinforced a sense of “Greekness” by emphasizing the cultural prestige of ancient Greek (Tsagkogeorga, 2016). Their practices faced challenges from students. The 5 multilingual Greek students interviewed were proud of their bi-cultural identity. In class, they spoke Greek but they also reverted to other languages in interactions with peers. Translanguaging with the teacher occurred, though rarely, because it clashed with the teachers’ ideology of correctness (Otheguy, García & Reid, 2015). The findings of this article may encourage teachers to reflect on language policies and encourage them to capitalize on their students’ heterogeneity.

Gogonas, N. & Kirsch, C. (2016). ‘In this country my children are learning two of the most important languages in Europe’: Ideologies of language as a commodity among Greek migrant families in Luxembourg. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Doi:10.1080/13670050.2016.1181602 Frygana, M. (2016). L’école de la language Grecque au Luxembourg. Paper presented at the conference ‘Linguistic and educational challenges for established and recent Greek families in Luxembourg’, June 4, 2016. Otheguy, R., García, O. & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281–307. Tsagkogeorga, M. (2016). Multilingual repertoires and identity negotiation: a study on pupils in the Greek complementary school of Luxembourg, unpublished MA dissertation, Belval: University of Luxembourg.