<HTML>At CHAT the policy has been that our 'Regular' classes (graduates of
Jewish Elementary schools with good proficiency in Ivrit) take all Jewish
Studies classes (Rabbinics, Tanakh, Jewish History and Ivrit) in Ivrit. It
works reasonably well, but only reasonably well. Among the problems are:
1. A teacher with mother-tongue "a" with students whose mother tongue is
also "a" but who teaches in language "b" is an artificial and somewhat
frustrating situation. (Normally only found in specific language-teaching
classrooms.) Few teachers are so completely bilingual in English-Ivrit
that they can operate in "Israeli-emulator mode'. Our shlichim have less
problems, for obvious reasons.
2. In some subjects - Jewish History is a very good example - the
conceptual content of the subject is way beyond the vocabulary of the
students. The same is true even of Tanakh as soon as the study deepens to
a level relevant to the students' own experiences and concerns. This may
result in a conscious or unconscious 'dumbing down' of content, which
defeats every purpose of Jewish education.
3. Language teaching as a whole is very weak in North America, and so the
teaching / appreciation of grammar is a corresponding problem.
4. As Joel Wolowelsky points out (if you can negotiate the Bar Ilan search
engine to locate his article!), there is an anti-Ivrit 'culture' among the
Orthodox community that does not help, particularly in times of great
teacher shortage.
5. Has anyone ever surveyed how much Ivrit is retained by day school
graduates, and what use is made of it, five, ten and twenty years after
graduation?
Paul Shaviv, Headmaster
CHAT - Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto
200 Wilmington Avenue,
Downsview, Ont M3H 5J8
pshaviv@netaxis.ca
Paul Shaviv
Tel: +416-636-5984
Fax: +416-636-7717</HTML>
