Teaching Yiddish in the Digital Age

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

As technology improves, teachers in all fields must consider the opportunities presented by new platforms, and make strategic decisions about how to use technology to their advantage. This roundtable, comprised of Yiddish language teachers from inside and beyond the university, considers the possibilities for teaching and learning Yiddish in the digital age.

Participants will consider:

-the benefits (and pitfalls) of digital interventions in teaching Yiddish
-the state of online learning for Yiddish and how it might be improved
-what digital resources exist for the Yiddish classroom, and the best practices for using them
-whether Yiddish pedagogy faces different digital-age challenges than other language pedagogies (or, indeed, than any pedagogy)

Nikolai Borodulin (Workmen’s Circle) will discuss his experience teaching fully-online Yiddish language classes and the use of recordings.

Jordan Brown (Yiddish Book Center) will discuss the value of Duolingo both as a supplement to a classroom-based language course, and as a tool for self-study. He will treat the specific issues of calibrating the Duolingo course to accompany a textbook.

Agi Legutko (Columbia University) will discuss using YiddishPop, online videos (Yidlife Crisis, Forverts Let’s Talk Yiddish, etc.), and online sound archives. She will address the pedagogical advantages and challenges of using these platforms in college-level Yiddish language teaching.

Asya Vaisman Schulman (Yiddish Book Center) will be talking about an in-progress multi-media textbook for beginners, and demonstrating a sample activity showing the link between pedagogical approach and technology.

Paula Teitelbaum (YIVO-Bard Summer Program, Workmen’s Circle) will discuss how creating new digital materials and using materials available on the internet has affected her teaching in real-space classrooms and in online platforms, as well as important practices to continue regardless of platform at all levels.

Sunny Yudkoff (University of Chicago) will explore new technological possibilities for integrating Yiddish radio recordings into Intermediate Yiddish language courses. Specifically, she will examine how combining media forms from the pre-digital age with today’s digital resources enables students to experiment with tone, register, and vocabulary.

This roundtable is sponsored by IN GEVEB: A JOURNAL OF YIDDISH STUDIES.

Sub Unit

• Yiddish Studies

Moderator

• Sarah Ellen Zarrow, New Europe College Institute for Advanced Studies

Discussants

• Nikolai Borodulin, Workmen's Circle

• Jordan Brown, Yiddish Book Center

• Agi Legutko, Columbia University

• Ester-Basya Vaisman Schulman, Yiddish Book Center

• Sunny Yudkoff, University of Wisconsin-Madison