VILNIUS UNIVERSITY
The Vilnius
Yiddish Educator Seminar 6-20 May 2005
An Advanced Intensive Program Conducted Entirely IN YIDDISH
for professional educators and teachers-in-training
A program sponsored by
THE FRIENDS OF THE VILNIUS YIDDISH INSTITUTE
with generous assistance from the
RIGHTEOUS PERSONS FOUNDATION
The Yiddish Educator Seminar
Interest in serious study of Yiddish language, literature and culture
continues to grow internationally. At the same time, the "secondary
Holocaust effect" takes its toll daily, as the last living masters who came
to intellectual maturity before 1939 - writers, teachers, scholars,
editors, performers, cultural organizers - reach the end of their days,
often defiantly working for the cause of their beloved heritage deep into
old age.
Yiddish is nowadays taught at many levels, particularly in
university credit programs, and in adult education and community settings.
There is also some progress in the introduction of the language and its
literature at the elementary and secondary level in Hebrew days schools and
other Jewish educational establishments. The academic and pedagogical
interest is growing. Motives range from the desire to reconnect to one's
roots to the need for competence for researching language and literature in
Jewish, Slavic, Baltic, Germanic and other fields.
In the realm of secular Yiddish studies, there are very few
university educators who have also published books in Yiddish and have
taught advanced courses in Yiddish (rather than just "about Yiddish"). The
Educator Seminar brings together four of them. They are Ms. Miriam Hoffman
of Columbia University in New York; Professor Dovid Katz of Vilnius
University; Professor Dov-Ber Kerler of the University of Indiana at
Bloomington; Professor Yitskhok Niborski of the Institute for Oriental
Languages and Civilizations in Paris.
Each of the four instructors will concentrate on a specific aspect
in which he or she is an acknowledged specialist. All four have taught
Yiddish in university contexts for decades, and their cumulative expertise
in Yiddish education means that issues that come up in teaching Yiddish in
the twenty-first century will be dealt with extensively and openly, with
full respect to the various competing approaches in today's Yiddish
educational market of ideas.
Participants must be professional teachers or teachers-in-training
in a recognized institution. All participants will be taught by all four
instructors. In addition to classroom work, there will be daily written
homework. The program is conducted entirely in Yiddish.
To apply for a place in the program, applicants are asked to write
a letter of application in their own words, explaining their current
employment, as well as plans for introduction or enhancement of their
Yiddish language teaching in the framework of their appointments. Please
enclose a current curriculum vitae, and arrange for two letters of
recommendation, one of which should be from a dean, director, principal or
other recognized academic supervisor from the applicant's current institution.
The tuition fee is US $1800, which entitles applicants to full
participation in the program, copies of all study materials, and
appropriate university credit upon successful completion of the academic
requirements. Note that notices of credit from the university provide
details of hours, instructors and grades; it is up to participants' home
deans to decide on the local apportioning of credit. Participants are
responsible for their travel, lodging and meals; program staff can assist
with information on the available options and logistical support. For
information please contact project coordinator Olga Bliumenzon at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
A number of tuition scholarships are available. Moreover, the
organizers are actively seeking scholarship donations to enable the
participation of qualified applicants who do not have access to the
necessary funds, including participants from Eastern Europe.
Educator Seminar email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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