About Fran
Bio/Resume
About Fran | |
In two separate stints at the Jewish Children’s Folkshul in Philadelphia-- totaling more than 30 years -- Fran Kleiner has involved students from preschool to teenagers in the singing of Jewish, Yiddish, Hebrew and popular folk songs. Not only has she engaged them in song, but Fran has taught students the historical and cultural significance of the songs. Her own obvious enthusiasm and love of the music when she sings is infectious. Fran’s impact on the students and the Folkshul community is seen in many ways. Bar and Bat Mitzvah students and their families ask her to sing as part of the ceremonies. The annual yearbook has been dedicated to her at least four times, and often this is a decision of the graduating class. The 1984 graduating class dedicated the yearbook to Fran because she was the teacher they remembered most fondly from their earliest days at the school, even though she had not taught for several years. The 1986 class honored all their teachers with the yearbook dedication, but remembered Fran and the other music teachers as “keeping them happy and singing.” The school asked her to return a few years ago to teach another generation of children -- some of whose parents had been earlier students -- and because she was acknowledged as the best source for providing the link to Yiddish culture and music.
At right is the 1975 dedication from the administration. She performs and leads or co-leads the community in song at holiday programs and is expected to bring her guitar to sing-a-longs. Fran has worked on music curriculum development, not only at the Folkshul, but at all schools and agencies where she has worked. In addition, Fran led workshops and inservice training on the use of Yiddish music in the classroom and school-wide programs and celebrations at the conferences of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations. For two years, she was Co-Director of the Folkshul.
Her interest in Yiddish and Jewish culture goes back to her childhood in Brooklyn, where she was raised in a bi-lingual household, the oldest of four children of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Later, as a counselor and division head at various Jewish camps, Fran introduced Yiddish music into the camp programs. She has also taught the Yiddish Language and Literature in the Education Program of the Senior Adult Department of the Jewish Community Centers of Philadelphia, translated Yiddish texts and recorded Yiddish music.
