On September 9, 2017, the WJC JC representative Tetyana Batanova (Yiddish lecturer at M.A. and interdisciplinary certified programs in Jewish studies at the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" who also works for the Judaica department of V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine) gave two lectures about Yiddish at the Israeli cultural center in Kiev.

They were the part of the international educational seminar for young Jewish educators and youth clubs volunteers which took place in the Ukrainian capital.

Tetyana's lectures dealt with the following topics: "Yiddish – Jargon or Mame-loshn (Mother's Tongue): notes to the History and Family Language" and "Geography of Yiddishland: Shtetl in History and Yiddish Literature". The classes were attended by more than 20 participants from both Ukraine (from the cities of Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kherson, Lviv, Chernivsty, Simferopol and Kiev) and Belarus (Minsk, Homel).

The first lecture included not only notes to linguistic and cultural history of Yiddish and Jews in Central-Eastern Europe, but also the family Yiddish terms, words, proverbs and blessings. The second one was dedicated to the Yiddish geography of Central-Eastern Europe, Yiddish names of Jewish towns (shtetls), idioms and proverbs about famous shtetls, surnames deriving from shtetl names.

The lectures were conducted in a friendly manner, with questions and answers, linguistic examples and jokes in Yiddish. The audience was motivated to learn more and more about Yiddish language, culture and history.

The event was jointly organized by the World Jewish Congress International Yiddish Center, Am haZikaron Institute of Science and Heritage of Jewish People in Israel and the Hillel clubs volunteers association in Kiev.

The aim of the international educational Jewish project "Rodnya" ("Kin" in Russian) is to provide Jewish students, young educators and community leaders with Jewish historical and Yiddish cultural knowledge.