Teach Greek online in English

Greek has been written down for well over three thousand years, and its alphabet is the ancestor of both the Latin and the Cyrillic scripts. For English speakers that family likeness is partly a trap. In lowercase, the letter that looks like a v is an n, the one that looks like an n is an i, and the one that looks like a p is an r. The sound b has no letter of its own and is written with the letters for m and p, so the word for beer, bíra, appears to begin with “mp”.

Once the letters settle, the language is kinder than its reputation. Pronunciation follows spelling closely, and every word of more than one syllable carries a written stress mark, which matters when póte means “when” and poté means “never”. The grammar asks more: three genders, an article that changes with case, verbs built on two stems, and no infinitive. People rarely take Greek up on a whim. Some have a partner from Greece or Cyprus. Children of the diaspora in London or Melbourne often understand their grandparents perfectly and cannot read a menu. Others come from Ancient Greek and want the language spoken in Athens today.

Why we are looking for Greek tutors who teach in English

Clasora shows students the tutors who teach in the language they use the site in. Someone browsing Clasora in English is shown tutors who teach in English, so if you explain Greek in English, you are the tutor those students find.

For a beginner, the language of explanation decides a great deal. Nobody can follow an explanation of the genitive given in Greek before they know what a genitive is. Aspect makes sense once a student sees tha gráfo, “I'll be writing”, next to tha grápso, “I'll write it”, done once. And a tutor who knows both languages can warn about false friends: sympathitikós means likeable, not sympathetic, and agonía is suspense, not agony.

Clasora does not employ tutors, and this is an opening rather than a job. You work independently: you set your own prices and hours, and teach as much or as little as you like. Some tutors give it a few evenings a week; others teach enough for it to take the place of a job.

What teaching Greek online on Clasora looks like

The opening is fully remote. Every lesson happens online, and you teach from wherever you live, whether that is Thessaloniki, Limassol or Leeds.

Students book from your calendar. They only see the times you have marked as free, shown in their own time zone, so a student in Toronto never has to work out what time it is in Athens. You choose your weekly hours and days off, how much notice you need and how far ahead people can book. Google Calendar can sync with your Clasora calendar.

Each session is booked by one student and runs in the browser, so neither of you installs anything. Screen sharing carries much of a Greek lesson: put a short text on screen and read it aloud together, show a table of noun endings, or open a shared document where the student types and you add the stress marks they missed. The camera helps too. Greek writes the two sounds of English “thin” and “this” with separate letters, and students learn them faster by watching where your tongue goes. The in-call chat takes care of a word the student misheard, and background blur keeps your room private.

A tip worth passing on early: ask students to add the Greek keyboard layout to their computer, so that typing becomes part of learning to spell.

Between sessions, each student has a conversation with you. Messages, files and shared links sit next to the session they belong to, so last Tuesday's vocabulary list is easy to find a month later. Reading texts and verb tables you reuse can live in your personal file area, and documents can come across from Google Drive.

What students usually want help with

Reading the alphabet, including letter pairs that stand for one sound, such as omicron and upsilon together for u.

Pronunciation. The two th sounds, the soft gamma that English lacks, the tapped r, and clusters such as the chth in chthes, yesterday.

Stress. Where it falls, why it moves between forms of a word, and why yéros is an old man while yerós means sturdy.

Spelling. Six ways to write i, two to write o and two to write e, a sore point for Greek children too.

Nouns and the article. Four cases, and the habit of putting an article before names: Greeks talk about o Yánnis and i María.

Verbs. The two stems behind aspect, na doing the work of an infinitive in thélo na fáo, “I want to eat”, and verbs in -omai that look passive but are not, such as érchomai, I come.

Everyday conversation for the taverna, the pharmacy and the landlord, at the speed Greeks actually talk.

Heritage learners who chat with family easily but never learned to read, or who grew up with Cypriot Greek and want the standard written language.

Real texts: the news, rebetiko lyrics, and writers such as Cavafy or Kazantzakis in the original.

Formal Greek and exam preparation: emails to an employer, official forms, or a language exam needed for work or study.

Who we are looking for

People who speak Greek very well: native speakers from Greece, Cyprus or the diaspora, or learners who have reached a near-native level.

The ability to explain Greek clearly in English, including grammar a native speaker uses without thinking.

A good ear for the mistakes English speakers make, and the patience to point out the same missing stress mark for the tenth time.

Teachers of Greek, translators, graduates of Modern Greek or classics, and Greeks abroad who like explaining their language.

A computer with a camera, a microphone and a steady internet connection.

Being 18 or older.

Teaching experience helps, but it is not required.

What you get

No commission. Clasora takes nothing from the price you set.

Free to join and publish. There is no subscription and no listing fee.

Your own prices. You set a price for each session length, and you can offer a free first session.

Your own schedule. Weekly hours, days off, notice and how far ahead students may book are yours to decide.

A public page for your listing, found in search engines and shown in the language each visitor reads, with your photo, an intro video, what you teach, the languages you speak and your price for each session length.

Reviews that rate you on knowledge, clarity and engagement.

Checked qualifications. Add your qualifications to your profile, and a moderator checks them.

Card payments are not switched on yet. For now, a booking is confirmed without a card, and you and your student settle payment directly.

How to start

Create an account with the button on this page.

Publish a listing for Greek: say what you teach and who it is for, and set your prices.

Open your calendar and mark the times you are free.

It takes a few minutes. A moderator checks your listing before it goes live, and you accept the terms when you become a tutor.

Questions tutors ask

Do I have to be a native speaker of Greek?

No. You need to speak Greek very well and explain it clearly. Tutors who learned it as adults often remember exactly where they stumbled. Say honestly in your listing where your Greek comes from.

Can I teach beginners who cannot read the Greek alphabet yet?

Yes. Share your screen, show a word, say it, and ask the student to type it back in the chat. Most beginners read the printed letters within a few sessions.

I grew up speaking Cypriot Greek. Can I teach?

Yes, as long as you are comfortable teaching standard Modern Greek, the Greek of the news. If you also offer Cypriot Greek, say so in your listing.

Do I need to know Ancient Greek?

No. This opening is for Modern Greek. If you read Ancient Greek too, mention it in your listing: students from classics will want to know why their Greek sounds so different in Athens.