Eevreet?
Eliana Steinberg
Life Editor
After ten years of learning the Hebrew language at a Jewish day school, I am still not fluent. I use past and future tenses interchangeably and draw pretzels instead of Fay Sofeets. Although I may never feel comfortable pronouncing Hummus, Hebrew class has taught me certain valuable life skills.
Hebrew is a core class, a regular period of 65 minutes, rotating between two and three times a week. Each class we pull out our paper-thin Neta books or buddy up with our more responsible neighbor and immerse ourselves in the language of squiggles. Our homework, which is out of 12 points and seldom decorated with a plump smiley face, lies on our desks as we tug at its perforated edge.
It remains as one of the only classes to function without laptops, resulting in the comeback of both the pencil box and hand cramps. We receive daily participation grades and are mercilessly judged by our singing voice.
Hebrew class thrives as a non-competitive atmosphere where lessons are taught with questions and exaggerated hand gestures. Although the class is usually more functional in English, all hopes of learning the Hebrew language are not lost. Recently, I’ve realized that our Hebrew classes have included as many philosophical discussions as grammar lessons. It’s as if I have stumbled into a philosophy class taught in a foreign language. We learn concepts so intricate that they lack real terms in the English language. Lessons about time provoke existential discussions routinely interrupted by “How do you say…?” As the lesson veers into philosophy, the class awakens and begins to shout out. The information, far from useless, forces us to think in a different language- and to think deeply.
In a short procrastination unit, my teacher glossed over useful study habits reserved for Life Skills seminars. We thought of solutions to the greatest threat to teenagers today: procrastination. In addition to learning conversational Hebrew, we’re grazing over significant topics that our other classes don’t touch.
emma • Mar 28, 2012 at 7:10 pm
and also, how does learning about the migration patterns of birds help us to learn conversational Hebrew and Hebrew that will be useful in our Jewish Studies classes??! Neta is kinda ridiculous.
emma • Mar 28, 2012 at 7:08 pm
I wish I could say i’m fluent in Hebrew but sadly, I am not. I have been taking Hebrew since kindergarten and I am in Hebrew 1. I don’t understand how there could be such a flaw in the Hebrew teaching system in general (or at least in my Hebrew education). The most Hebrew I have learned was learned in my 3rd grade class and in giveret Schecter’s class this year. I plan to go to cantorial school and I will need Hebrew. It is frustrating that despite the many years of schooling I still barley know the language, especially when it is such an important element of my education at Milken. And it’s not because I don’t want to learn…I actually really enjoy Hebrew class. I take Latin and I learned more in the first months of Latin than all my years in Hebrew classes. I simply don’t understand why this is that case and/or how this is the case. Quite frankly, it’s mind boggling.
cousin waddup • Mar 3, 2011 at 10:03 pm
AGREED:)
Danny Ahdout • Mar 1, 2011 at 9:25 pm
What hebrew class are you enrolled in and how can I apply?
This sounds really interesting…
anonymous • Mar 1, 2011 at 2:31 pm
I guess this is the reason why people say that high school is hindering their educations.
representative of the majority of students • Feb 27, 2011 at 9:54 pm
as a close to fluent speaker, i have to say that my hebrew has gotten worse in my time at milken. neta may be a good program for people learning the aleph bet, but above that, i cannot think of anything good to say. perhaps if it were taught correctly, it could be effective. however, the teachers do not seem to know what they are doing. on top of that, the honors levels are ridiculous. a freshman who is fluent in hebrew can be in an honors 4 class, with seniors who started out in honors one. it doesnt work when half the class is fluent and has one need (like grammar), and the rest need help with other things (like vocabulary.) the many levels are supposed to be there to cater to our needs, while they do the exact opposite. i love the hebrew language, but hate the hebrew classes.
ConcernedCitizen • Feb 24, 2011 at 8:27 am
I agree with a lot of this article but feel it goes too easy on the Hebrew department. It is not that I doubt that the teachers spend time preparing and trying to teach the curriculum, it is that there is this basic miscommunication between teacher and student where the teacher thinks if they follow the curriculum strictly they will be able to teach succesfully. Unfortunately, this means no adaptation in the classroom to changing classroom dynamics. The fact of the matter is that most students don’t treat Hebrew as a serious class and don’t have any interest in writing some kid named Neer’s postcard to his mom. Not only is the subject matter random and contrived but too much of the material has to be inferred from previous knowledge received from outside the class. People have different Hebrew levels but are still grouped together based simply on what Hebrew class they took last year. I am in a class with several students who barely speak Hebrew while I am considerably more fluent. The entire class is expected to operate at my level which is hardly fair to anyone because 90 percent of the Hebrew I learned was outside of Milken. I have been using the Neta program from even before I came to Milken and even then it taught me nothing. All the Hebrew I know I either learned from my parents or in my time in Israel. This brings me to another point which is that it is not only not impossible but incredibly easy to thrive in Israel with only cursory Hebrew skills.
Anonymous • Feb 23, 2011 at 11:09 pm
If you actually cared that much about learning Hebrew and put effort into it, you could be fluent. I have been taking Hebrew through the Neta program since middle school and have been almost fluent since 11th grade. If people actually took it seriously, they could learn it, as with any subject.
HebrewRocks • Feb 23, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Hebrew just needs to be taken more seriously at our school, and please, before you start hating on how “neta sucks” and how the Hebrew Department needs a “major revolution” check your english grammar. You can’t learn another language until you know the one you learned to speak as a baby.
Neta_is_Ridiculous • Feb 23, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I think the “point” of us learning Hebrew, from the school’s point of view, is that we will be able to immerse ourselves in the Jewish community and understand Torah better. Yet Neta fails to do either of these. First we talk about random things which will never come up again in conversation. These discussions, in the long run, are pointless and do not teach anyone the language. I will not learn the words, or the grammar, by talking about something I barely understand just to please my teacher and her lesson plan. When I first learned Hebrew, without Milken, I learned and retained the information much better because I had normal conversations; this method is the only one which will teach someone a language. Random philosophical conversations does nothing for a basic Hebrew student (a.k.a. anyone who is not as fluent as an Israeli) and thus fails at goal numero uno. Secondly, if we can’t even remember how to say basic phrases, like “to you”, how will any of us ever understand Torah better when i read the words “Lechi Lach”
Daniel K • Feb 22, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Let’s not be so eager to blame the teachers, rather the curriculum. Even though Hebrew is not a romantic language, and many of us learn Spanish and Latin easily (romantic languages), I think that it’s inexcusable for Neta to have caused us all of this pain. Wouldn’t we just be better off learning the tenses instead of going into long tangential concepts? It would be better to learn conversational Hebrew than just the “use it once and forget it Hebrew” that is employed by Neta. It’s clear that everybody is bored most of the time in their hebrew classes anyways, just do a check of doodles and drawings in Hebrew binders and Neta books. At least that’s been my experience.
Anonymous1234 • Feb 23, 2011 at 6:15 pm
I fully agree. The curriculum is horrible, but it doesn’t help that the teachers are not very… warm, to say the least…
NotAnonymous • Feb 22, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Wow the comment two above me was so rude…
AlsoAlsoAnonymous • Feb 20, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Neta sucks- lets just be honest
AlsoAnonymous • Feb 17, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Ms Bendor is the only teacher at milken who really helped me learn hebrew. the hebrew department need a major revolution and revival in its strategy and leadership.
David Mo • Feb 28, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Wow. so true
Anonymous1234 • Feb 16, 2011 at 5:58 pm
You’re forgetting the part where The hebrew teachers are relentlessly angry, the curriculum has failed to teach ANYBODY anything, and most 12th graders still don’t understand the language.
student who also agrees • Feb 16, 2011 at 4:12 pm
exactly!
student who agrees • Feb 16, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Couldn’t have put it in better words myself