Get up and move while learning the tenses: עבר, הוה , עתיד

At the Tal AM Winter Institutes, I learned a great way to help my students learn דקדוק in context.  My students are exposed to פעלים by seeing how the שרש can be written in many different ways. Students are introduced to a new שרש. In groups the students fill out post-its with many different variations of the שרש.

Today, we worked on the verb שמח. The students wrote שומח, שמחתי, שמחנו, אשמח תשמח and many more. Then, the students walked with their post-its to the posters and they placed the post-its in the proper שם גוף. For the עבר words the students go to the back of the room (behind them-the past) for עתיד they go to the front of the class (ahead of them-the future and for the הוה words they go to the middle of the room (right next to them-the present). In this short 5 minute activity the students are quickly exposed to an entire cluster of words which are built on the same שרש. The students are moving and they are learning from their peers as they check to see if they need to move any of the post-its which were already placed in the boxes. Following this short activity I then make sure to activate the new verb, להפעיל את המילה,a word which I use as much as possible in the instruction of the unit and I embed the word in the assignments, so that the students are exposed to hearing and using the word in the different tenses.

A Siyyum on Parshat Vayeshev

This is how we celebrated the completion of Parshat Vayeshev. We all put on the hat of the שר האופים! We prepared scrumptious Babka! and we made delicious Sushi!

Tu Beshvat Seder: Song and Food

On Friday my students' celebrated Tu Beshvat with a Seder. The students tasted all of the  שבעת המינים they sang songs praising Eretz Yisrael and learned the importance of making ברכות.

Snow Day Learning: Nearpod Conference Call

With school closed due to the snow storm I gave my students the opportunity to connect and learn Torah together. My students joined a conference call (Free Conference) and logged into a Nearpod lesson. The Students shared Nearpod slides with each other and discussed and shared what they are doing to celebrate the snow day.



I then sent them slides and explained the different Brachot and exceptions to the rules. Nearpod gives me the ability to control the students screen. Every 3-4 minutes I send out  a few multiple choice questions and I get immediate feedback on their participation and comprehension of the material. Teaching 30 students at a time is so easy over the phone! I press *7 and I enter presenter mode, all the user are muted and they share feedback on Nearpod. My students were excited to try this mode of learning and it worked!


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Learning from ACTFL: 90%+ in the Target Language

Keeping my students in the target language has been the challenge I have undertaken this year. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)  has guidelines and standards for foreign language teachers. When I first read about the 90% in the target language standard, I thought to myself that I am approaching that standard, but when I read further that the 90% standard refers to all conversation even the students communication with each other I learned that I have a long way to go 

To reach that 90℅ Mark, I set out to find ways to help my students become  committed to speaking to each other in Hebrew. It was not easy, our impulse is to revert to what is easiest and switch to English. At this point in the year we are reaching the 90% mark and at times we are exceeding it. Having regular conversations with my students about the process in which our brain acquires a new language, and how the teacher can only help them understand the language but to become bi-lingual and to become a Hebrew speaker,they need to be the one doing the talking,  has helped change the students perceptions. In the immersive environment, students  are given time in and out of class to play and converse in Hebrew. Conversation is a requirement for language acquisition.

This ACTFL  article has been instrumental in the changes I made.




https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/TLE_pdf/TLE_Oct12_Article.pdf