Big Sonia

Big Sonia presents an engaging first-person story to help your students understand the impact of the Holocaust,. Explore the Antisemitism, the Holocaust, Film Literacy and more with these lesson plans.

Film Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes.

Film Rating: This film is appropriate for Grades 7 and up.

Where to Watch

The Big Sonia Educational Toolkit and Institutional Licence is available directly from the filmmakers. It includes Public Performance Rights (PPR) to host a screening at your institution, as well as a  2 DVD set with closed captions that contain a 93 minute feature version of the film, 45 minute educational version for classrooms, and 4 breakout videos.

Big Sonia is also streaming on Vimeo.

Film-Book Pairing: Many educators pair this film with Night by Elie Wiesel.

Curriculum Guide

Lesson 1:  An Introduction to the Holocaust in Poland (Social Studies)
Lesson 2: Getting to Know the Real Sonia (English Language Arts, Film Literacy)
Lesson 3: Learning from the Past: An Oral History Assignment (Social Studies, English Language Arts)
Lesson 4: Viewing a Documentary Film (Social Studies, Film Literacy)
Lesson 5: Maladaptive Stress Response and Intergenerational Trauma (Psychology, Human Development)

Preview Curriculum Guide

Glossary of Film Terms

The Glossary of Film Terms is useful for the Film Literacy lessons that are part of this curriculum guide.

Preview Glossary of Film Terms

Antisemitism Today

This lesson was created as part of our updated Schindler’s List Curriculum Guide. We have made it available as an individual download because combines well other Holocaust Education resources like Big Sonia.

This lesson features three key sections with handouts:

1. Antisemitism Day (Response Journal),
2. An Audit of Hate Crimes in the United States, and
3. White Supremacy and Antisemitism.

These sections can be used together or separately. Additional resources on Antisemitism and antiracism are included in the lesson as well.

If using this lesson separately from Schindler’s List, advise students to skip the small number of questions related to that film.

Preview Antisemitism Lesson

Group Discussion Facilitation Guidelines

In this guide, you will find suggestions for leading productive conversations that broaden perspectives, encourage empathy, and build new paradigms for education. It is adaptable, flexible and useful for a variety of learning settings. We recommend pairing it with this film to create safe space for classroom engagement on these themes and subjects.

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