To ensure high-quality education for the some 170 students in the Jewish day school and kindergarten in Ekaterinburg, the project is providing intensive Jewish traditions and skills training for 15 teacher and madrichim. The teachers selected to participate in the program teach Jewish Studies and Jewish History and also include four kindergarten teachers, five supervising teachers, madrichim and the school’s founder, who works closely with the parent body.

The training program combines an equal number of online, distance learning hours and face-to-face training sessions, all of which are being conducted by an Israel-based trainer in Ekaterinburg.  The curriculum for Year 1 of the program includes studying the Jewish calendar; Pesach, Shavuot, Hanukah and Purim; the High Holidays, Sukkot and Simchat Torah; and Mitzvot. Topics being studied in Year 2 of the program include: the Jewish Home; Jewish Family Life; and Family, Education and Upbringing.  The project also conducts five Shabbatonim – over two years – for local families, facilitated by the Israeli trainer and staffed and implemented by the teachers taking part in the learning program.

Over the course of the two-year program, 14 hours will be devoted to evaluation of the distance learning component and 42 hours to evaluating the in-house learning components of the program.  Program graduates will be certified as Jewish Tradition teachers, upgrading the level of teaching in Jewish Tradition classes in Jewish day schools, kindergartens and Jewish organizations.