Elementary Yiddish I · Germanic Languages
-Basic Yiddish grammar and vocabulary (common nouns and verbs, conjugation in the present tense, cases) -Basic reading and writing -Cultural elements such as Jewish artists, musicians, writers, and food
To get an A: light. To make an effort to learn the language: medium.
NOT BAD AT ALL!!! A few random quizes (he gives you a week's notice), no midterm and a take home final on which you can work with others. Daily homeworks that take less than 10 minutes and are graded easily. Don't ask- don't tell grading policy plus good grades on the quizes ensure an A!
A few easy quizzes that you can correct for a higher grade, 3 short compositions that you are allowed to rewrite, 2 movie reviews, very short homework every night
routine homework and a take-home final that's so easy you'll keep double-checking it to make sure you're not being tricked somehow.
I learned basic vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar of the Yiddish language
THIS CLASS IS HORRRRRIBLE!!!! DO NOT TAKE IT WITH YURI--ONLY MRS. HOFFMAN!!!! IT is NOT an Easy A, it is a HARD A-/B+ and totally focused on gramma!!!! Taking this class will make you hate Yiddish and hate Yuri even more. YIddush is great--but not with this teacher!!!!
Have you studied another foreign language? If you're expecting a rigorous presentation with lots of coverage of grammar and frequent quizzes and tests, this class will be disappointing. There are no quizzes or tests, and Prof. Hoffman (in her own words) "hates grammar," which becomes evident when her elucidation of rules winds up delucidating them. But if you're a motivated student, you can get a handle on grammar from the textbook, which is systematic and clear. The other reviews are spot-on. She's the archetypal Jewish grandmother (more so than my own), and the class is fun and lightweight. It feels a whole lot like Hebrew School did when I was a kid: singing songs, learning the language without being hit over the head with grammar, and the teachers not feeling totally like authority figures.
Great teacher! Highly recommend the class with him. Very laid back, barely any work for the class, is very understanding if you're a slow language learner but is just a great teacher. He starts the class by speaking to you in yiddish (which you won't understand the first couple classes) but has you speaking back by the first day! There was hardly any work for the class and while it sometimes got a little boring, you should still go (it's a language class!). Sadock is funny and knows his stuff. I highly recommend taking this class with him.
Khane is awesome. She only speaks in Yiddish in class and has her students do the same, unlike the other Yiddish instructors. The class is long, but she always tries to incorporate fun activities into the lessons (to learn family roles, she brought in the Simpsons family tree). She is extremely approachable, and her number one gaol is that her students learn and love the language.