When I first came to New Jersey from Israel, I was a young mother with experience teaching in a public school in Israel and, I confess, a little naive. I was born, raised, and educated in a traditional, non-religious community and came with a very simple vision for my professional path. I came to teach Hebrew in an American Jewish day school. I would speak only Hebrew, never English. I would create a curriculum that consists of classic Israeli poems and songs, a few short stories, and some clear and simple grammar charts. I really believed that if I did all of those things well enough, I’d excite my students and make them fall in love with my mother tongue, and… the fluency would follow. Twenty-seven years later at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School (Teaneck, NJ), I smile as I think back on that young teacher. I soon came to understand that the American Jewish classroom is a complex and demanding place.