Skype+with+Marsha

Marsha will willingly Skype with students if a mutual time can be agreed upon. Best for her is Fridays when she is not teaching English classes. Matt Kuntz created [|this guide] to prepare for a Skype conference with Marsha, as well as a "[|note sheet]" for students to jot down thoughts, questions, etc.

Here are sessions that have been completed and were recorded.
 * Harrison Elementary School, Warsaw, Indiana || Grade 4 ||
 * Abraham Lincoln School, Oak Park, Illinois || Grade 5 ||

Thank you letters to Marsha Goren from Lincoln fifth graders.

 Dear Marsha,  Thank you for spending your morning\evening with us and teaching us about the holocaust and the story of your mother. It was really inspiring to hear how she saved her life and her friends lives by paying attention and keeping her spirit in stride. She did not lose sight of herself in a really hard time even though she could have just given in and be killed by the Nazi’s …she kept fighting. Also I was amazed how dedicated you are to teach kids like us about the Holocaust and to never forget what a terrible time that it was for the world. It is really important that people like you help us to learn and understand that we need to teach the next generation, and the one after that ,and the one after that, about the Holocaust. We must never forget and never make the same mistake again that the Nazi’s made. Also I had a few questions for you…Did you ever wonder about the Holocaust and want to ask your mother about it? And did you? Thank you again for spending your time with us.  Sincerely,  Maire ( Ri-Ri)

Dear Marsha Goren, **THANK YOU** so much for giving us a closer look at the Holocaust. Your website is amazing! I also liked that you did exactly what your mother told you to do, even if you doubted that you could do it. I think that if your mother was still with us, she would be very, very proud of you. I learned so much from the Skype. I think your mother had so much courage, and a lot of perseverance. Before this reading unit on the Holocaust, our unit was on perseverance. I like how you always remember her story. For the butterfly project, I want to do as many butterflies as I can. My goal is 15. Sincerely, Paul

Dear Marsha,  My name is Josh. I was a part of the Skype interview with you at Lincoln school. I am a student of Mr. Kuntz and I was very excited to talk to you and ask you questions. I was particularly interested in learning about your mother’s personal experiences in the concentration camps because it made me feel that it was possible to be happy and strong after such a horrific period of time. I found that when you were talking about the horrors of the Holocaust I was probably more terrified and sad then the other students in the classroom. This was because I have a large amount of Jewish blood in my family history. The Holocaust is a very interesting topic of conversation for me despite the fear and distress that I feel when I speak about it. Thank you SOOOOO much for talking with us and telling us all about your mother’s experiences in the Holocaust. I learned more than I thought possible. **I will never forget **…. SINCERELY, __JOSH __

Dear Marsha, Thanks for the talk with you on Skype. You took time out of your day to talk with us. I am seriously thankful. It was pretty awesome. I told some of the kids in my class that I was talking to a Holocaust survivor’s daughter, and their reactions were amazing. Some of my friends were saying “Whoa.” or “What, lucky.” That video you showed us with all the children playing different instruments, or singing put together to make an amazing song. It was cool. It really was awesome to see how they got all of those kids. It surprised me in the video when they showed the drum line, but it was a nice touch. Again thank you for taking time out of your day to Skype with us. It was wonderful. I know the class had a good time. Thank you. Sincerely, Morgan

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 110%;">Dear Marsha Goren, I really enjoyed our Skype conversation a lot! You sure are smart! I learned so much about the Holocaust. I learned about your mother. From what I learned, she was a remarkably clever, smart, and hard-working woman. I truly adore the Globaldreamers website that you set up. I plan to look at it more. Do you ever visit Warsaw? I hope so. When I was coming home from Rome and Madrid, I went through almost all of Europe by train, after the French train workers stopped their annoying strike, so maybe I went through Poland too. Anyway, I hope to look into more of your mother’s story, and the story of the Holocaust. It seems very interesting and educational. Hope you are well, and that the bad weather stops and brings soft, cool, drizzly sunlight. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif;"> ROWEN J

Dear Marsha Goren, Hi, this is Prachi. Thanks for teaching our class about your mom. I think talking to you really helped our class. I think my favorite part of the Skype with you was learning what other kids are doing to honor Holocaust survivors as well as the people who died n the Holocaust. I think your mother was really amazing because she survived the Holocaust. I also think Global Dreamers is a good way to teach people to learn about your mother and how she survived the Holocaust. Also thanks for sharing your stories about your mother and father with us. I’m happy for you that more and more kids are learning about the Holocaust. Thanks again for giving your time to teach us! Sincerely, Prachi

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">Dear Marsha, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">I’m Grace, one of the 5th graders you Skyped with at Lincoln School. I just wanted to thank you for taking your time to teach us about the Holocaust, a very devastating subject. It was very thoughtful of you. My favorite part was when you showed us the movie about the kids from around the world, singing, dancing and playing music. It was amazing! I also liked how you kindly answered our questions. I loved learning about your mother, Sonia, and the tragic things that she when through. She was a very brave, very kind woman. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">I also enjoyed learning about your website. Global Dreamers is a great was to teach kids about the Holocaust, and your mom. I love how she was brave enough to make uniforms, for the people who were torturing her people. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">I learned that the Holocaust was a very sad event that shouldn’t be forgotten. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">Thank you again Marsha! I loved talking to you. I just had a question; How long did the Holocaust go on for? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">Thanks again! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">Sincerely, Grace

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Dear Marsha, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"> Thank you for taking your time to teach us about the Holocaust and your mother. I liked your website, Globaldreamers. Your mom is probably very proud of you. Thank you for inspiring us to grow to be **good people**. I liked the video you showed us about the kids that liked to listen to music. I also liked when you told us the story about the kids who hid under the porch to hide from the Germans. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"> From, Olivia

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">Dear Marsha Goren, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;">Thanks so much for Skyping with our class. I was looking forward to it and learned a lot more than I thought I would. I learned about how some of the Jews escaped. I also learned a lot about your mother. I’m looking forward to doing the butterfly project. **I learned more from the Skype than I have from any book.** I have read some of the poems from the book __I Never Saw Another Butterfly.__ I haven’t read the whole book but plan on doing so. One day I hope I can go to a Holocaust Museum. I went back to the Global Dreamers website and viewed a lot of it. I enjoyed the video of the World Children’s Festival in New York City. Sincerely, Phoenix

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"> Dear Marsha Goren, Thank you so much for talking to me and my class about the Holocaust and your mother. I had a great time and learned so much about her. She was obviously a great woman and died as one, too. But, I have a question, and it is: when did she tell you that she was a survivor of the Holocaust? Layla

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"> Dear Marsha Goren, Thank you for sharing your mother’s story with us. I think that your mom and her story are incredible. I also think that her story should be told **worldwide**. My favorite part of her story was when she escaped the Ghetto by saying she was a seamstress. I think that it is great that you continue to tell her story even though the whole event, the Holocaust, was so sad and devastating. Your website is also very awesome. I think it would be very hard to tell a story of a very difficult time. It would take a lot of **courage**. I also have a couple questions. How old was your mother when the Holocaust started and ended? Did your mother ever see Hitler? Did she ever try to sneak food into the Ghetto? What did your mom do to believe that she could survive?Sincerely, Grant

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; font-family: 'Harlow Solid Italic'; font-size: 110%;">Dear Marsha Goren,Thank you for spending your time with us and presenting your mom’s experience in the Holocaust. I really liked your presentation.My favorite part was when you told us about the Warsaw Zoo and the butterfly project. I think your presentation helped us learn more about the Holocaust. SincerelyEthan, Lincoln School

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"> Dear Marsha Goren,I want to thank you for talking to us about the Holocaust. I am more informed about the Holocaust than I was before.I am more serious about it now. It was terrorizing and painful and it should not be counted as a joke at no time at all. Now I can inform the future about it so they won’t take it as a joke. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; text-align: right;"> בכבוד רב, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 110%;"> מתאו לינקולן הספר

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4e2800; display: block; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"> Dear Marsha,Thank you so much for taking an hour out of your day to come and teach us about the Holocaust. I loved learning about mother! She is a very inspiring to me because she was brave and she never gave up hope on being free. It was very interesting learning about her! Thank you also for showing us your website! It is a very cool website. I think your Mother would be very proud of you! You’ve done a great job on teaching children to be a good people and teaching them about the Holocaust. Thank you again for coming and teaching us about the Holocaust! <span style="font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Sincerely Mary