Zoom Yiddish class for kids, parents & grandparents
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Rukhl Schaechter December 24, 2020
Read this article in Yiddish.
The week before Hanukkah the Forverts shared a video of how I make potato latkes with my grandson, Leyzer.
A number of commenters on Facebook wrote how nice it was that I was speaking Yiddish with my grandchild, and how they wish they could do that, too. Over the years people have told me how they sing Yiddish songs to their eynikl, or grandchild, and pepper their own English (or Hebrew or French) with Yiddish words and phrases but that actually speaking to them in Yiddish wasn’t practical since few of them live in the same neighborhood as their children and grandchildren.
And since the outbreak of the coronavirus, it’s become even less likely since they see their eyniklekh only virtually, through Zoom or Facetime.
There are also many grandparents who enjoy hearing Yiddish, but can’t speak it.
Well, this Sunday, December 27, Yiddish teacher Naomi Miller is starting a weekly five-part Yiddish class on Zoom aimed precisely at children, parents and grandparents. The mood will be light and fun, and vocabulary will be taught through songs, storytelling, word games and short skits.
The first class is free but for the other four sessions, a donation of $10-$15 is requested.
Classes will take place at 1 pm EST; 10 am on the west coast; 6 pm in Great Britain; 7 pm in most of Europe and 8 pm in Israel.
Naomi Miller, an accomplished cabaret singer, is a native Yiddish speaker. She was born in a DP camp in Landsburg, Germany and as a child would sing aloud in the acoustically tiled walls of the mikvah run by her parents in Paterson, New Jersey.
In order to register for the class, click here.
The Yiddish class is sponsored by the Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America, better known as YAAANA.
To see how Miller teaches Yiddish to kids, check out this video of a previous class she taught called “Fun with Yiddish”:
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