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Plain and simple: Students benefit when they learn to decode in tandem with hearing the language. 

Oral language and decoding go hand-in-hand, reinforcing each other, according to Dina Maiben, director of the Hebrew program at Gratz College. Such an approach increases proficiency, decreases frustration, and helps students build on what they know and progress at a smooth pace. 

Hear more from Maiben herself, as part of our video series about effective Hebrew learning strategies.

How can you incorporate oral Hebrew into your program?  

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Written by Dr. Jeremy Benstein, "Hebrew Wordshops - A New Way to Connect to Hebrew" explores the potency of the three-letter roots that enrich our connection to Hebrew and Jewish values. 

If the alef bet is any indication, Greek and Hebrew share a lot. The first letters of the Greek alphabet are α, β, γ, δ—alpha, beta, gamma, delta. And Hebrew? א ,בּ ,ג ,ד—alef, bet, gimmel, dalet.

The same ancient Semitic system, Phoenician in origin, of which Hebrew is one example, gave rise not only to Greek but also Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets.  

Yet Greek and Hebrew are very different languages, and are even written in opposite directions. As Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai once wrote, one goes west to east, while the other goes east to west.

In Hebrew, the names of most of the letters actually mean something. They are words, not just sounds. The consonants comprising the

Rosh Hashanah Interview

Educator Batsheva Frankel devotes an entire chapter of her essential Jewish Educator’s Companion to experiential education for formal educational settings. Here’s one idea for an experience, based on the idea that Rosh Hashanah is like a year-end review between an employee and the boss.  Have students prepare for their reviews, filling out a self-reflection form (create a template) about their strengths and weaknesses, areas in which they’d like to improve, and accomplishments from the past year.  Children can dress up nicely—to impress their employer—adding to the drama. They meet with one of the boss’s assistants (a great way to incorporate older students or teens) to review the form and together make a concrete plan of