Survivor Interview

Subject: Foreign Language

Grade Levels: 3 through 12

Objectives:

• to practice listening and speaking skills in a foreign language
• to participate in a dialog with a Holocaust survivor

Sunshine State Standards:

• Grades 3-5
  • FL.A.2.2.5, 3.2.2
• Grades 6-8
  • FL.A.1.3.2, 2.3.1, 2.4.3, 3.3.1
• Grades 9-12
  • FL.A.1.4.1, 2.4.2, 3.4.1

View all Sunshine State Standards

Background:

Florida Holocaust museums and organizations maintain speakers bureaus, through which schools can arrange for a Holocaust survivor to visit the school to speak to students. Local community organizations have speakers, also. See Resources for a contact in your area.

Procedure:

Contact a speaker's bureau and arrange for a Holocaust survivor or historian fluent in the class language to speak with the class. Have students write questions in advance.

Variation:

Search the Internet for an e-mail address of a Holocaust survivor or expert who agrees to communicate with language students via e-mail.

Resources:

• In South Florida, contact Merle R. Saferstein of the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center at (305) 919-5690.
• In the Tampa Bay area, call the Program and Education Coordinator of the Florida Holocaust Museum, 727-820-0100, extension 242.
• In Southeast Florida, contact FAU's Holocaust Outreach Center, Dr. Ellen Heckler, Director, Phone: (561) 297-2929 Fax: (561) 297-2925.
• In Central Florida, call the Holocaust Memorial Research and Education Center at 407-628-0555.

A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 2005.