Zoi Deligianni

Zoi — or simply life.
A kindergarten teacher in both general and special education, but above all, a person who deeply believes in inclusion, coexistence, in the power of words — and even more, in the power of silence. In recent years, I have worked in refugee accommodation centers in Northern Greece. There, among languages, gazes, and stories that never found a place in school textbooks, I redefined what learning truly means.
Often, I stood — and still stand — silent, observing how children “speak” through their bodies, their movements, the languages carried on their skin, and words they haven’t yet learned. For me, literacies are not skills to be acquired. They are dynamic and multimodal forms of expression, deeply rooted in each child’s linguistic and cultural pathways.
My encounter with unaccompanied minors taught me to grow quieter, to observe more attentively, to trust what unfolds slowly. It reminded me that educational relationships are not built solely on knowledge, but also on presence, patience, and the willingness to share uncertainty.
Through my second Master’s degree, I came close to the notion of “rhizomatic becoming” — and since then, you’ll always find me in the in-betweens: at junctions, in connections, along pathways. I think and feel differently — pedagogically, politically, existentially.
In Ms. Kitsiou’ research group, I’ve found fellow travelers who listen between the lines and see beyond boxes, labels, and norms. Rhizo-eduscapes offers me fertile ground to rethink education: as a fluid, multilingual, heterogeneous, and deeply human field.
I speak English, German, and some French — but above all, I try to “speak” with kindness, attentiveness, and openness. I love to trace places I do not know, to walk without destination, to go — even if it leads me somewhere uncertain.
Isn’t that what life is? And me? Just Zoi. Just life.