Yiddish Classes

If you're looking for Yiddish language classes in Boston, you've come to the right place. Our instructors are passionate about Yiddish and are experienced educators. Whether you are a complete beginner or grew up speaking the language, we have a class that will accommodate you. Students cover a wide age range, from young adults to seniors. We offer classes in the fall and spring at four levels -- Beginners, Advanced Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced. 

Beginner:  Learn Yiddish reading, conversation skills and elementary grammar.  This course will suit you whether you’re totally new to Yiddish or if you already know a few basics. A textbook, songs and other multi-media materials will be used.  

 

Advanced Beginner:  Designed for students who already know some Yiddish basics, the class will continue with Sheva Zucker's textbook and will also read simple short stories and poems; watch interviews with Yiddish writers; practice speaking; and sing Yiddish songs.  Come build your conversational vocabulary, strengthen your grammar and develop your reading skills.  

 

Intermediate Reading Group:  Students will read short stories by a variety of Yiddish authors.  English translations and/or glossaries will be available.  Students should be familiar with Yiddish language, somewhat fluent in reading, and comfortable using Yiddish dictionaries.  Grammatical constructions and idiomatic expressions will be explored as they occur in readings.  

 

Advanced Reading Group:  Students will read stories by a variety of Yiddish authors, translating and discussing content in class (in Yiddish). Writing styles of authors will be compared and contrasted. Reading fluency required; willingness to converse in Yiddish encouraged.   

Lillian Shporer Leavitt, a daughter of Shoah survivors, grew up speaking Yiddish and graduated from the Boston Workmen's Circle Yiddish shule. A former computer software trainer, she is an experienced Yiddish teacher, having taught at the Workmen's Circle, synagogues, community centers, Gann Academy of Greater Boston, and Brandeis University. 

 

Abby Howell has a masters in education and is a middle school teacher at The Learning Center for the Deaf. She learned Yiddish at the University of Texas and the Uriel Weinreich program at Columbia University, and was an intern at the National Yiddish Book Center. A Yiddish activist, she sits on the board of Yugntruf: Youth for Yiddish and is a graduate of Yugntruf's Yiddish Teachers' Seminar.

 

Hanna Palmon grew up in Israel and has taught Hebrew at Prozdor and at the Hebrew College Ulpan for the last six years.  Having studied Yiddish at Brandeis and the Tel Aviv summer intensive Yiddish program, she began teaching Yiddish at the Workmen’s Circle last year.