Diving in

Class started yesterday morning, after an orientation the night before. It was an amazing experience. Over 95% of the class was conducted in biblical Hebrew. This includes taking attendance, discussion, and assigning homework. The instructors recounted the story of Ruth 1, introducing vocabulary and forms along the way.

Most interesting to me was the fact that they never reverted to English in explanations. If there was a word that any of us didn't understand, they would explain it in Hebrew. This, of course, is how we learn our native language, but it was fascinating to see how they do it in biblical Hebrew. The instructors, Brian and Aaron, are really good at teaching this way.

We also had opportunity to see how they taught the beginners. Some of the students have never had any Hebrew, and they are diving in to this immersion program. Their classroom was also over 90% Hebrew, and by the time we got there to observe (after a couple of hours of class) they already knew several words and were responding to commands. I am very interested to see how they progress.

I have already begun to identify things I need to incorporate in my own teaching (look out, incoming Hebrew students!). But having seen this pedagogical approach in action by people who are really good at it convinces me all the more that this is the direction we need to be going in teaching Hebrew.