Lauder-Hugo Kon Jewish Elementary School  is located not far from Zagreb's main Railway Station. It was started by the Jewish faith group ''Bet Izrael''. It follows the educational program outlined by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport but it completes its program with ''Tal-Am'' which encompases Hebrew classes. This is a private school for Jewish students but many non-jewish children also attend this school. We visited this school in order to meet different children and to see what it is like in their school. They are similar in some  ways  but we could see that  they have fewer students. The meeting was very informative on both sides.

When we arrived, some of their teachers were waiting for us and greeted us warmly. When we got to their school, we went to see one of their classrooms. It was very similar to our own. They learn very similar things but with a few differences. At our school we learn two or three languages: Croation, English and/ or German. At their school they learn four: Hebrew, English, French and Latin.  The children look the same as we do, and the only difference between us is our faith and culture.  Since they don't learn Croation at their school, teacher Maja was kind enough to translate everything for us. To start off, we played an interesting game called ''Link'' as an ice-breaker. In this game the first person says something that they like, and if you like the same thing, you say ''Link'' and take that peron by the hand. The game continues in this manner, and in this way we got to know each other better.



After the game, we spoke with some of the students. Then we saw an interesting presenation about the Jewish culture in Germany. It was presented in German by teacher Simone König, our Comenius assistant. A surprise quiz followed the  presentation. The quiz was quite difficult because there was so much information in the presentation. We worked in mixed groups: our students and their students. In our group there was a girl from the Ukraine. Their students helped us with the Hebrew letters.  After the quiz we listened to a second presentation given by teacher Maja about the Jewish people. Then we played another game but this time with pieces of paper and each person had to find his/her pair (picture and explaination). It was fun.



Overall, it was a very interesting experience. In religion class  we learned about the Jewish religion, and now we got to meet some Jewish students first hand. We learned a lot about their culture, history, faith and people as a whole.
Three days later, we went to visit the museum in Zagreb. While on the trip, we ran into Jonathan whom we had met at the Jewish school. It was great to talk to him again and to joke around.

                                                                                                    Katarina Leko, 6A

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About Jews in Zagreb - in Croatian, English and Hebrew (Jewish Community Bet Israel of Croatia)

Website of the Jewish Community of Zagreb (in English and Croatian)