Tomorrow afternoon at 1pm Perth time and 8am Lithuanian time, I will enter a virtual classroom with Laima Ardaviciene and her students of English at Atzalynas Gymnasium in Kedainiai.
We will use Skype, which has proved effective on previous occasions.
Laima seeks ways to give her students the opportunity to communicate in English, great for improving their language skills.
What makes our meetings so special is that Laima uses Jewish history and culture as her subject.
Keidan was an important multicultural town before the Holocaust, with around 50% of the town Jewish. No Jews live there now.
Laima’s students are inquisitive about the Jews and what happened to them, which is in contrast to the blackout in Laima’s own schooling in Kedainiai in Soviet times.
So what happened to the Jews of Keidan? 2076 were shot on 28 August 1941 by local Lithuanians.
See: http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search//page/1/item/54/
My connection to Keidan is via my third great grandfather, Avraham Shlomo Zalman Tzoref. He was a follower of the Vilna Gaon, and left in 1811 for Jerusalem.
View:
I have chosen 15 of my photos of Lithuania to discuss with the class tomorrow.
I have already emailed them beforehand to Laima and her students.
They are in four different themes.
Can you guess what the themes are?
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Theme 4
Kol hakavod Eli! I wish I could be a fly on the wall in your class.
All thebest,
Carol
very interesting photos. Great idea, that SKYPE chat with the school.
Good work, Eli!