Beginners' Yiddish (Spring 2025)

Program Description

***Start your Yiddish language learning journey at the Peretz Centre with Beginners' Yiddish Language Classes*** In this introductory class, we will dive into the language and culture of Eastern European Jews, and explore the fascinating world of Yiddishkayt. Using a communicative and task-based approach, we will practice basic conversational skills, learn important verbs and adjectives to describe our daily life, and learn to read and write in Yiddish! During our classes we will also learn Yiddish folks songs and get exposed to Yiddish film, art and, culture. ***New Students*** New students are welcome to join the Beginners' Yiddish cohort (which began in September), as we are still working through the basics. However, some familiarity with Yiddish/Hebrew characters is required to register. If you have questions, please contact imanoff@peretz-centre.org. ***Schedule & Fees*** This course includes 10 in-person classes on Wednesdays (7-8:30pm) from February 5th to April 23rd. (No class on Feb. 19th or Mar. 5th) The standard fee for Beginners' Yiddish is $250, with payment plans available to address financial access barriers. To set up a payment plan, select the "payment plan deposit" ($25) option during registration and Peretz staff will reach out to finalize the details. ***Instructor Bio*** Itamar Manoff (he/him) is co-executive director of the Peretz Centre. A PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia, his research focuses on language education research. Itamar has over 15 years of experience in language teaching for adults, including Hebrew, English and Yiddish, and teaches Yiddish at the Peretz Centre and a the Centre for Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia. In his teaching, Itamar focuses on conversational, communicative and theme-based approaches to the teaching of Yiddish language and culture, all the while emphasizing the importance of grammar and vocabulary acquisition. *Image: From the Jewish Public Library in Montreal