About Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool Online

Registration for Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool Online has closed. Sign up for our emails here to stay up to date on all Yiddish class offerings.

Whether you know a bisl Yiddish or none at all, you’ll enjoy Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool Online, a week of remote language-learning, lectures, and workshops—an excursion into the world of Yiddish! The virtual program offers adult learners the opportunity to spend a week exploring Yiddish language and culture together in a small online classroom. You can download a sample schedule for YiddishSchool at the bottom of this page.

The week includes:

• More than twelve hours of Yiddish language classes
• A performance and workshop by Lorin Sklamberg, lead singer of the Grammy Award winning band the Klezmatics
• Cultural events with Yiddish Book Center staff
• Homework help sessions
• The chance to connect with a community of Yiddish learners, live via Zoom and asynchronously via Slack 

Cost: $450 for Yiddish Book Center members, $525 for nonmembers. Each individual participant must register separately. The required textbook is sold separately at $100 in our online store.

Yiddish Alphabet Course

Participants are expected to study the Yiddish alphabet prior to the course. This year's YiddishSchool program features an optional alef-beys course before the program, for those who want guided practice while learning the Yiddish alphabet. Learn more and sign up here. 

Our Approach to Language Learning

Language classes at YiddishSchool use a research-backed method called the communicative approach, centered on the idea that successful language learning should prioritize communicating and interpreting real meaning, similarly to how humans learn their first language. Using real-life situations and authentic materials, students in our courses focus on engaging directly with Yiddish, rather than learning about Yiddish. 

Small, student-centered classes facilitate a uniquely collaborative and dynamic environment. Teachers ensure that students are able to understand the language used in class by using gestures, miming, and visual aids, and that they are compelled to understand by encouraging conversations about topics that are important to each student, thus increasing motivation and lowering any anxiety about language-learning. 

Each course level builds on previous knowledge and corresponds to units of the Yiddish Book Center’s award-winning, multimedia Yiddish textbook In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook, which was authored by Asya Vaisman Schulman and has been adopted by numerous universities and organizations, both in the US and internationally. 

A sample day at YiddishSchool Online:

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EST—Yiddish class (with a 10-minute break)
12:30-1:30 p.m. EST—Break
1:30-3:00 p.m. EST—Yiddish class (with a 10-minute break)
3:00-4:00 p.m. EST—Break
4:00-5:00 p.m. EST—Study hall/homework help
5:30-6:30 p.m. EST—Song workshop

Note that some activities are core parts of the program, while others are optional. All times displayed in Eastern Standard Time. You can download a full schedule below.