Department of Germanic languages and literatures / en U of T student's internship highlights importance of cross-cultural teaching and learning /news/u-t-student-s-internship-highlights-importance-cross-cultural-teaching-and-learning <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T student's internship highlights importance of cross-cultural teaching and learning</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Odel%20Jaji%202-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hmnVWh1u 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Odel%20Jaji%202-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=H6Lm_6Is 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Odel%20Jaji%202-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=PwTdZ6Kz 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Odel%20Jaji%202-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hmnVWh1u" alt="Odel Jaji"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-08-31T10:56:17-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - 10:56" class="datetime">Tue, 08/31/2021 - 10:56</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Odel Jaji, a fourth-year human biology student minoring in chemistry and&nbsp;Jewish studies, recently participated in a new internship program “Yiddish in the City” (photo courtesy of Odel Jaji)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sean-mcneely" hreflang="en">Sean McNeely</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/department-germanic-languages-and-literatures" hreflang="en">Department of Germanic languages and literatures</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-college" hreflang="en">University College</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>As part of a&nbsp;Ƶ&nbsp;internship program, undergraduate student&nbsp;<strong>Odel Jaji</strong>&nbsp;recently taught a group of children at a local Montessori Jewish Day School&nbsp;– discovering&nbsp;connections&nbsp;to her own Assyrian background in the process.</p> <p>A fourth-year human biology student minoring in chemistry and&nbsp;Jewish studies&nbsp;as a member of&nbsp;University College, Jaji found the opportunity through the department of Germanic languages and literatures in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and its&nbsp;<a href="https://german.utoronto.ca/ipraktikum/">iPRAKTIKUM&nbsp;initiative</a>, which includes a new program called “Yiddish in the City.”</p> <p>“Odel set such a great example because the Jewish culture she connected the kids at MJDS with was not the one she had grown up with herself,” says&nbsp;<strong>Helena Juenger</strong>, the department’s student placement co-ordinator.</p> <p>“We love seeing how these intercultural connections benefit our students far beyond the classroom.”</p> <p>The University of College student worked with MJDS students online twice a week for 30 minutes from January to June.</p> <p>“Because I’m minoring in Jewish Studies, this was an opportunity for me to learn more about the culture,” says Jaji, who conducted her own research and learned alongside the students she was teaching. “That was one of the most important and fun parts of this internship.”</p> <p>“It might seem like a weird combination, but I was always interested in sciences and learning about new cultures and religions outside of my own,” adds Jaji, who is originally from Iraq and came to Canada with her family when she was 14.</p> <p>As a first-time teacher, Jaji soon&nbsp;realized holding the attention of 10-year-olds isn’t easy. She had to get creative, using trivia games, videos, crafts, colourful costumes and other tools and props to get her lessons across in a fun and engaging way.</p> <p>“I was a bit nervous at the beginning,” she says. “But the teachers there are really friendly&nbsp;– the way they welcomed me was amazing.”</p> <p>Jaji taught her young pupils about Jewish culture such as holidays, cultural traditions and small language lessons, such as teaching them the months in Hebrew. She was struck by the similarities between Hebrew and her native language, which originated among the Arameans in the ancient region of Syria and has been spoken across the Middle East for 3,000 years.</p> <p>“The names for the Jewish months are actually Babylonian in origin,” says Jaji. “Aramaic was spoken in Ancient Babylon along with other languages. For example, in Hebrew the month of July is called ‘Tamuz’, which comes from Aramaic word meaning ‘heat’.</p> <p>“My favourite lesson was on Tu B'Shevat,” she adds. This Jewish holiday falls in January or February depending on the year. It’s a tribute to ecology that is celebrated by planting trees, seeds, creating a garden or other community activities.</p> <p>Though Jaji says she loved giving the lessons, the internship wasn’t without its challenges. “Some of the kids didn't want to join in, they didn't want to participate, so I felt like I was doing something wrong,” she says. “But the teachers were always there to help me.”</p> <p>Others, she adds, were a little too eager and bombarded her with questions. “They want to learn, and they're really excited at the same time, so you have to be patient,” she says.</p> <p>Yet, the experience was overwhelmingly positive.</p> <p>“Some of the kids were really having fun,” she says. “At the end, one of the girls told me, ‘I'm going to be really sad when this ends.’”</p> <p>The more Jaji taught, the more she was struck by language parallels.</p> <p>“I found so many similarities between Aramaic and Hebrew, and it got me really excited to learn more about the language and culture,” says Jaji. “Aramaic is one of the oldest languages in the Middle East and not a lot of people speak it anymore. They have so many similar words, I actually understand a few things if I listen to someone speaking Hebrew. For example, saying ‘thank you very much’ in Hebrew is ‘toda raba’ and in Aramaic it’s ‘todi raba.’”</p> <p>In any language, Jaji encourages students to get over any shyness and consider taking part in internships.</p> <p>“Go for it, I highly recommend it,” she says. “The iPRAKTIKUM internship was one of the most positive and rewarding experiences for me. I learned a lot, especially with my communication skills because English is not my first language. I learned to be more open. It also gave me the opportunity to be more confident.”</p> <p>An example of her newfound confidence: Jaji recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeLmF7xO11A&amp;t=137s">created a YouTube video</a> sharing her experience at MJDS –&nbsp;something she wouldn’t have dreamed of doing earlier.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 31 Aug 2021 14:56:17 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 170171 at Songs from the past: U of T researcher's work leads to Grammy nomination /news/songs-past-u-t-researcher-s-work-leads-grammy-nomination <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Songs from the past: U of T researcher's work leads to Grammy nomination</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0J5A9823--Anna%20%28weblead%292.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=siLG5-wI 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/0J5A9823--Anna%20%28weblead%292.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Wj3oN0Vk 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/0J5A9823--Anna%20%28weblead%292.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=mWclT3qa 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0J5A9823--Anna%20%28weblead%292.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=siLG5-wI" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>perry.king</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-02-06T11:41:37-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - 11:41" class="datetime">Wed, 02/06/2019 - 11:41</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">U of T's Anna Shternshis and a group of musicians have been nominated for a Grammy for their world music album Yiddish Glory, based on material created by amateur authors during the Second World War (photo by Perry King)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/perry-king" hreflang="en">Perry King</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/department-germanic-languages-and-literatures" hreflang="en">Department of Germanic languages and literatures</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anne-tanenbaum-centre-jewish-studies" hreflang="en">Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/music" hreflang="en">Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ukraine" hreflang="en">Ukraine</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>An album of long-lost Yiddish songs&nbsp;– discovered by a Ƶ scholar at a library in Ukraine –&nbsp;is up for a Grammy award this weekend.</p> <p><em>Yiddish Glory: </em><em>The Lost Songs of World War II</em>,&nbsp;nominated in the Best World Music Album category, grew out of a restoration project led by&nbsp;<strong>Anna Shternshis</strong>, the director of U of T’s Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies.</p> <p>The album consists of songs originally written&nbsp;by amateur authors during the Second World War – women, orphaned children, Soviet Jewish soldiers and others – and tells stories of abuse, poverty, racism and discrimination. But&nbsp;the material was lost for decades&nbsp;until Shternshis discovered it and brought it back to life with the help of&nbsp;Russian singer-songwriter Psoy Korolenko and musicians brought together by Toronto-based producer Dan Rosenberg.&nbsp;</p> <p>Shternshis’s son,&nbsp;Isaac Rosenberg,&nbsp;performed three songs on the project,&nbsp;including “My Mother’s Grave,”&nbsp;written by a 10-year-old child from Bratslav, Ukraine. Rosenberg was just 12 when he recorded the songs, making him the&nbsp;youngest nominee of the ensemble – and one of the youngest Grammy nominees ever.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I was shocked,” says Shternshis of the moment when she learned the album was nominated for a Grammy. “I almost fell off a chair.”</p> <p>That said, Shternshis understands why&nbsp;the music drew significant attention, beginning with San Francisco record label&nbsp;Six Degrees, which released the album.&nbsp;</p> <p>“They took this project because they believe the dangers of anti-Semitism are so real now, that they need to do something about it,” Shternshis&nbsp;says. “The&nbsp;project, when we pitched it, resonated with them.”</p> <p><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/392895906&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/392888496&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p>The album's source material was originally compiled by a team of ethnomusicologists from the Kiev Cabinet for Jewish Culture, led by the folklorist Moisei Beregovsky. But Beregovsky and his team were arrested in 1950 amid&nbsp;increasing anti-Semitic campaigning by Josef Stalin’s regime. They were ultimately sent to Siberia and the musical archive was thought to have disappeared with them.</p> <p>In 2005, Shternshis was tipped to the existence of the archive at&nbsp;Kiev's Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and acquired them in 2010. It took a few years&nbsp;before she was looking for creative ways to present the material – a challenge that&nbsp;Korolenko, who holds a&nbsp;doctorate in Russian literature, was well suited to take on. Shternshis and Korolenko began working together in 2013.</p> <p>“My goal was to tell the story of experiences of Russian Jews during the Holocaust and [Korolenko’s] goal is that people don’t fall asleep during the presentation,” Shternshis says with a laugh.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__9960 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="453" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A9831-crop.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="680" loading="lazy"></p> <p><em>A page of lyrics from&nbsp;folklorist Moisei Beregovsky's musical archives, discovered by U of T’s Anna Shternshis (photo by Perry King)</em></p> <p>The project received significant buy-in from the music industry. Rosenberg, the producer, marvelled at the&nbsp;material when he first encountered it during a 2015&nbsp;presentation&nbsp;at Toronto's Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.</p> <p>“I thought ‘These words are incredibly moving, the stories are heartbreaking and at times uplifting,’” says Rosenberg, who helped Shternshis and Korolenko connect with other musicians.&nbsp;</p> <p>“But this idea of how much they suffered&nbsp;– [it] seemed like we had to do something so this work wasn’t in vain.”</p> <p>Shternshis recalls&nbsp;Rosenberg remarking that the story told by the songs was so compelling that it went beyond what one usually associates with academia – or, for that matter, a musical production.&nbsp;</p> <p>“He said ‘You have the potential to bring these worlds together.’”</p> <p><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/392888646&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p>At Rosenberg’s suggestion, the project tapped a number of prolific contributors. They included: U of T alumna&nbsp;<strong>Sophie Milman</strong>, a Juno award-winning jazz musician; composer Sergei Erdenko, who helped create multi-instrumental arrangements for the songs; and Alexander Sevastian, an accordion virtuoso who lived&nbsp;in Richmond Hill, Ont.&nbsp;</p> <p>The world premiere of <em>Yiddish Glory</em>&nbsp;took place on Toronto radio station Classical 96.3FM via a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBAHblpCAo" target="_blank">live concert at their Toronto studios</a>.</p> <p>For the collaborators, the project was not only about music, but&nbsp;language. Many Yiddish&nbsp;native speakers were killed during the Holocaust or were greatly suppressed in Stalinist Russia.</p> <p>“The fact that Yiddish is not an everyday vernacular of a majority of Jews means that it’s an endangered language in some way&nbsp;–&nbsp;a language that has values and issues that were relevant to Jewish people before, and they’re being lost&nbsp;if we don’t do something about this,” says Shternshis, who compared the language’s decline with Indigenous languages in Canada.</p> <p>Language was certainly what motivated many of the artists to take part in the project, according to Rosenberg. “These stories, to them, this is their heritage&nbsp;–&nbsp;this is what all of their families went through,” he says.</p> <p>“This is a very important part of history to be told, in such an unconventional way.”</p> <p><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/392890107&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p>Shternshis, who will be with Korolenko for a special lecture-concert about <em>Yiddish Glory</em> at Moscow’s Jewish Museum &amp; Tolerence Center&nbsp;prior to&nbsp;Grammy night, is grateful for the recognition. She sees the nod as having an impact in academic circles as her colleagues&nbsp;begin to collaborate with artists&nbsp;on other projects.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It’s not just a conversation about a fun way to do research, but it’s actually ‘Well, maybe that’s what we should be thinking about in an era when students are not so excited about reading long texts,’” she says.</p> <p>It’s Shternshis's flair for the creative that impressed Rosenberg, who calls her a “revolutionary.”</p> <p>“This wasn’t an ordinary project, an ordinary recording,” he says. “Nobody thought it would get recognized – but we all wanted to make sure that these people didn’t go to the Gulag for nothing.”</p> <p><em>Read full translations of each song on Yiddish Glory <a href="https://www.yiddishglory.com/music?fbclid=IwAR1g8OTcp6XvtVkoKQE7ZUhg5J9j03vxUQO9jwhN6KVL4DoVCjQH0PDG_LA" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 06 Feb 2019 16:41:37 +0000 perry.king 150658 at