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Intermediate II Yiddish (Friday)
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: Lucas Fiszman
Who should take this course?
This course is appropriate for those who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.
What topics will this class cover?
Students will continue to acquire intermediate speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in this course. They will strengthen the foundation set in their Beginner courses (based on Colloquial Yiddish) through regular grammatical and conversational exercise and review. This course will sample chapters 15A-B, 17A-B, 18B, 19B, and 20A in Yiddish, Volume II by Sheva Zucker. Among the grammar topics reviewed and reinforced in this course are: verbs with zikh, double negatives, periphrastic verbs, relative clauses, dative and passive constructions, and the genitive case. New grammar topics we will be learning include: present participles, infinitives as nouns, use of tenses in indirect discourse. Outside of class, students will read chapters 5-6 of Dos kluge shnayderl and will be tasked with writing two book reports. They will be expected to collectively (as a class) retell these chapters in their own words. During the lesson, the instructor will examine examples of the grammar from the textbook in Dos kluge shnayderl. Further, the class will begin reading the student edition of Motl peyse dem khazns [Motl, Peyse the Cantor’s Son] by Sholem Aleichem, one of the three classic fathers of Yiddish literature. The course will cover the first chapter (pp. 1-29). This edition (Zucker, 2017) is abridged and adapted for students; each chapter is divided into smaller sections that are accompanied by exercises, which test for comprehension.
Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.
Course Materials:
This course will use Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature & Culture, Volume II by Sheva Zucker (Purchase). The audio and answer key for the textbooks are strongly recommended and may be purchased directly from Sheva Zucker. We will also be using Dos kluge shnayderl (Purchase) as well as Motl peyse dem khazns by Sholem Aleichem (Purchase). Additional materials will be provided by the instructor on Canvas.
Also recommended but not required are Colloquial Yiddish by Lily Kahn (Purchase) and Basic Yiddish by Rebecca Margolis (Purchase).
Lucas Fiszman holds a degree in Linguistics from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, where he has been faculty since 2008. He learned Yiddish at the Fundación IWO, in Tel Aviv’s and Strasbourg’s programs, at YIVO, and at Arbeter Ring. He also teaches Yiddish in Buenos Aires at Fundación IWO, ICUF (YKUF), and in Montevideo (Uruguay).
His research focuses on language contact and history of Yiddish teaching in Buenos Aires. He has presented his work in conferences and symposiums, both in Argentina as well as abroad. His work has been published in local and foreign academic journals, as well as in several edited volumes.
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