For the past 6 years the school has been seriously committed to improving our Hebrew language program. The best way to do this is to begin when the students are young and immerse them in all aspects of the language: listening, speaking, singing, reading, writing. The more Hebrew that they hear spoken, the more comfortable it becomes for them. Not every word needs to be translated. The meaning of many words can be derived from context, body motion, pictures and illustrations,and even facial expression. I did not have the privilege of attending a Hebrew Day School. I had the traditional after school experience. Picking up the Hebrew language proved exceedingly difficult for me. But, I can contrast that with my knowledge of Yiddish. From birth on, I was exposed to Yiddish. All of my grandparents and their siblings spoke it, as did my parents. I never had a single formal Yiddish lesson; I never asked anyone to translate a single Yiddish word into English. Yet, by the time I was 7 or 8 years old, I could understand everything that was said to me in Yiddish. I was discouraged from answering back, and encouraged to answer in English, so I never got comfortable speaking the language, but to this day I still understand a good deal of spoken Yiddish and because the language uses the Hebrew alphabet, I can struggle through a bit of reading.
As I walk the halls of the school the smile on my face broadens as in room after room children are speaking, reading, writing and listening to Hebrew. Now that the program has been in progress for a number of years, we have students in the junior high who have been immersed in Hebrew for quite some time and can discuss ideas and stories and write creative and expository essays in Hebrew.
The links below are to conversations in the 11th and 12th grade honors Hebrew language course taught by Hemda Booth. Before the recordings the girls discussed with their teacher the recent events in Gaza. The pictures were taken in Shimshon Soleman's junior high Hebrew class.
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