Beginner II Yiddish (Sunday)

Tuition: $450 | YIVO members: $350**
Students: $225 (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: Karolina Szymaniak

Who should take this course?
This course is for those who have previously taken one semester of Yiddish. It is appropriate for those who took Beginner I Yiddish in spring 2022. This class assumes knowledge of basic vocabulary and conversational patterns (including dwellings, professions, geography, and the classroom) and grammar (including the present tense, basic word order, and asking questions).

What topics will this class cover?
This course will further develop four basic language skills: reading, speaking, writing, and listening. Students will learn with the help of historic and contemporary materials, including radio programs, songs, and abridged excerpts from Yiddish literature. Grammatical structures will include numbers, forms of the plural, existential construction, declension of adjectives, and word order. Vocabulary topics will include colors, the classroom, studies, computers, etc. The course also includes a brief overview of selected topics in Yiddish cultural history such as the history of Yiddish literature and holidays.

Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.

Course Materials:
Students should purchase the following textbooks. The instructor will provide any additional course materials, such as original interactive activities and exercises, digitally throughout the class on Canvas.

• This course will use the textbook In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook, Vol I & II by Asya Vaisman Schulman, Jordan Brown, Mikhl Yashinsky (Purchase).
• This course will use the textbook College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish Language and to Jewish Life and Culture by Uriel Weinreich. (Email info@yivo.org to purchase a copy.)

Karolina Szymaniak is assistant professor at the Jewish Studies Department at the University of Wrocław and Research Fellow at the Jewish Historical Institute. Her research interests range across modern Yiddish literature, Polish-Jewish cultural relations, and translation studies. In addition to having taught Yiddish language and culture throughout Poland and Europe, she has also served as a consultant for the POLIN Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in Łódz. Her recent publications include Montages. Debora Vogel and the New Legend of the City and My wild goat. Anthology of women Yiddish poets (in Polish). She is also the editor of Rachel Auerbach's ghetto writings, which received the 2016 Polityka History Award.

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