Beginner II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

Tuition: $480 | YIVO members: $375**
Students: $240 (Must register with valid university email address)

This is a live, online course held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, assignments, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish and English.

Instructor: Malena Chinski

Who should take this course?
Students will be beginners who have had some exposure to Yiddish in their lives, and maybe know a word or expression or two, but lack the basics of grammar and vocabulary, which will be provided in this course. No knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required, as all written texts provided will be transliterated into Latin characters (and the focus of the course will be conversation as opposed to reading and writing). Likewise, no proficiency in Yiddish conversation is required.

What topics will this class cover?
In this class, students will mobilize and enrich their Yiddish linguistic and cultural heritage. Students will be encouraged to speak as much as possible with the teacher’s close guidance and the support of listening exercises and images. Conversation topics will cover from daily life to the yontoyvim (Jewish holidays) that fall during the semester, as well as Yiddish songs and proverbs.

Communicational goals and vocabulary will include talking about the family and professions, hobbies and preferences, making plans, and describing a person. Grammar points to be addressed include the imperative, the future tense, plural nouns, and adjectives.

Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
No, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is not required. All written texts provided will be transliterated into Latin characters (and the focus of the course will be conversation as opposed to reading and writing).

Course Materials:
The instructor will provide all course materials digitally throughout the class on Canvas.

Malena Chinski studied Yiddish at the IWO Foundation of Buenos Aires with Ester Szwarc and Avrom Lichtenbaum. She has recently taught beginner and intermediate classes at the Maison de la culture yiddish in Paris and in the Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Literature in Berlin. Her doctoral dissertation, completed in 2017 at the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento in Argentina, focused on the commemoration of the Shoah in Buenos Aires throughout the first postwar decade. During her postdoctoral fellowships in France at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah, she researched cultural initiatives and scholarly works undertaken by survivor Yiddish writers in Paris. Among her publications is a collective volume co-edited with Alan Astro, Splendor, Decline, and Rediscovery of Yiddish in Latin America (Brill, 2018).

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