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TEACHING AND REACHING THE WIRELESS GENERATION

Dania Shapira, Ed.D., Boston University

Rivka Weiner, MS, Yeshiva University

Anyone who has been engaged in teaching the Hebrew language

in the Diaspora, as part of Jewish education frameworks, knows that

this is a tough challenge to meet. The problem is not only in the shaky

mastery of the Hebrew language, but rather in the growing feeling of

Jewish schools’ graduates that the acquisition of the Hebrew language is

irrelevant to them, because “it’s a language solely of the Jewish people

who live in Zion.” Therefore, using the same technological tools that

have become the main vehicle of communication in the daily life of the

wireless generation, we are passionately searching for, day by day, and

actually inventing methods to turn a meaningless product into an

enjoyable, rather than painful, creation; a product which is filled with

vitality, interest, value and meaning, in order for our students to want

to own the Hebrew language. We would like to share with you a lesson-

plan originally successfully used at the college level but can easily be

applied to elementary through high school teaching.

The following image (1) is of a typical text, which appears almost in every text

book used for teaching Hebrew. Most of the time, mainly because of financial reasons,

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there are no rich, colorful illustrations, which makes it difficult for students, who are used

to motion, color and sound, to find it of interest.

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However, not only do the various books offer a large and varied selection of topics, but

they are also based on a clear didactic approach; are divided into defined study units, and

each unit presents clear language objectives. The texts are, in the main, properly

categorized according to a rising level of difficulty. There is a continuum of vocabulary

between the different units in the books. There is a progression for each of the language

components – vocabulary, grammar, syntax and comprehension. And, most importantly,

the ultimate goal is to have the students be able, at the end of the road, to read original

Hebrew poetry and prose, which they would find in books. Therefore, the learning

process of each subject begins with the book and ends there. In order to turn the content

of the books into an attractive one for the students, the lesson plans are structurally

organized in a way that would create a multi-dimensional learning environment, dynamic

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and enriched in stimulations, which enables multi-sensory learning, using concretization

and diverse media such as text, color, images, movement, sound and links to simulations.

All adapted to each student needs, abilities and learning style, and often modified

accordingly, creating self-motivation by instilling in him/her the feeling and self-

confidence/esteem that he/she is making progress in issues important to him/her and of

interest to him/her. The technology we are using is free on the internet, or built-in on the

computer, accessible to every teacher and is easy to use.

We have chosen to teach a unit about the SHAPPA’AT (flu), because at the time

the students were asked to get a flu shot against the Swine flu, and we wanted to make it

authentic for them. The study of every subject starts with a preparatory reading of a

relevant text from the book at home. Our experience has taught us that when students are

given a piece of text as it is, they tend to translate every word, and then claim that they

are familiar with the words, but have no idea what the text was about. Therefore, in order

to eliminate a waste of energy on translation, and to put the emphasis on comprehension,

we give the students, ahead of time, a computer-generated preparatory reading materials.

First of all, as shown in the following pictures (2), we give them the title of the

story/article (“Shappa’at… Shappa’at”) accompanied by pictures that give them a hint

about the content of the text.

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The text itself, with the familiar words, will be in green (3) (the students are told they

already know those words) - to reduce anxiety involved with seeing a new text, and to

make sure that the students will not look up these words in the dictionary. New words, no

more than ten, will appear in black, to look up in the dictionary we attach to it (the books

usually present continuing, gradual vocabulary).

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When we present this text, we use sound too. Usually, the time needed to read

silently is longer than the time it takes to have the text read aloud to the students. There

are students who become anxious by listening and reading at the same time, and this

method will not be suitable for them. However, there are those who need to hear it

vocally, and therefore a text to be read aloud vocally was also created (the student can

turn the sound on or off).

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We have noticed that, when in class, as soon as the teacher pulls out the screen,

all of the students are looking at it with anticipation, and therefore a PowerPoint

presentation is very useful to check their comprehension of the text they have read at

home. The main idea is that the students will understand the meaning of the text – not just

the words by themselves but within the context. Using the presentation, the teacher asks

the students questions from top down – from comprehensive understanding of the

subject, through addressing specific paragraphs, ending with the meaning of words. The

answers will appear on the screen (4) only after the students have given their own

answers to the questions. At this point we teach them the new words (remember, we

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earlier only provided them with the dictionary for those words, but they haven’t used

them yet). This involves introducing relating audio/video clips (can be even a few

seconds long), comics, photos etc., edited according to the teacher’s needs at the time,

that include the new vocabulary which is in the text. The material can be news related

(motivates conversation), short clips can be taken from YouTube movies and other

websites, or be created. Usually, when teaching a new word, we have used to give its

meaning in English, and have a drill using it. We have realized that when using the text

only, not everyone is participating, and most of the time the same students give examples

related to the new vocabulary.

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When we show a video clip, the result is amazing! The video clip brings the

outside, the real life, into the classroom. Students start connecting by association the

specific words in the text to those appeared in the video and to their own experiences.

They tell about them, using the same new words, like “Shittafon” (flood), or ”Hafsakat

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Hashmal” (power outage/blackout), which had happened (and they saw it in the video)

during the soccer games, and there is no need to drag the answers from them. Every

teacher can download a movie, edit it, shorten it as needed for their specific purpose. You

may have Shittafon in the city, in the Negev in Israel, in New Jersey, but make sure it is

part of the students’ lives- all authentic (5).

This is the time to learn some grammar, using the element of self-discovery. Once

again short video clips are used. For instance, showing people Mit’atshim (sneezing) is

funny, so is people Mishta’alim (coughing). We also show people “Mitrahatzim”

(swimming/washing) in the pool, in the sea, in the river, in the shower (encourage the use

of “Mitrahatzim” in multiple places, because the meanings of this verb seem strange to

the English-speaker students). When they saw the video, each of the students came up

with a personal story. Here one can use the entire vocabulary from the text: Was the

photograph taken at the beginning of the summer, or at the beginning of the winter?

What are the people doing? Which sea or lake in Israel have you swum in? What about

the weather? The latter would bring us, for instance, to “Yom Gashum” (a rainy day),

which would lead to the self-discovery that “Yom” is a noun, and in Hebrew what comes

after that describes the noun, and therefore is an adjective. Looking for similar structures

will bring the students to learn the difference between nouns, adjectives and verbs from

the same root. For instance, “Hom” (heat) [“Yesh Li Hom” (I have a fever)] (6),

“L’hammem” (to heat) [“L’hammem Mayim” (heat water)] and M’hummam”(heated)

[“Braichah M’hummemet” (a heated pool)] (7) - a great opportunity to decipher the text

and its grammatical forms. Here comes the technology. We can “dissect” the text in

Word, choosing each time another term, and manipulating it within the sentence, without

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the need to rewrite it. Once again the students discover the meaning of the words from

the context (this can be done with any grammatical issue).

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This is also a great opportunity to drill again and enhance the knowledge and

use of the infinitive form of Binyan Piel, which was learned earlier, and a sample of that

form appears in the text on the Shappa’at [e.g., “L’hammem” (to heat), “L’vakker” (to

visit), “L’hassen” (to immunize), “L’kabbel” (to receive/get)]. A few of them also appear

in the following Podcast (8) (http://daniaspodcasts.blogspot.com/) we created, which is

serving as an aid in teaching/drilling of the infinitive form of this structure in a vivid,

real-life like way, where the relevant infinitive forms [e.g., “L’vakker” (to visit)] pop up

in closeup mode throughout the storytelling to increase memorization of the forms and

understanding them within the context. It was created using iMovie and Garage band.

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Games (9,10) are a great tool for indirectly and actively repeating the learned material

and acquiring learning skills in an enjoyable way, in the classroom and at home. Both the

teacher and the students can create both memory games and matching games [e.g., using

synonyms or opposites like “Gavoha” (tall) “Namuch” (short), “Ham” (hot) “Kar”

(cold)], or drag-and-drop games (from a word storage), using ready-made modules

online. In order for it to be entertaining, you can move a word from one place to another,

or catch the correct word from a group of words. It can be the teacher’s or the student’s

decision. One can add sound and images, and adjust the learning level. You can give one

sound for a correct answer, and another- for a wrong one. You can e-mail the game to the

students as homework, and/or upload it to the class website for a drill.

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Wonderful resources are the Center for Educational Technology (MaTa”h) In Israe

where there is also a link for creating ,http://www3.cet.ac.il/english/pages/Home.aspx(

Resources for –and Languages Online ),http://ofek.cet.ac.il/OfekComics.aspxcomics (

excellent website er Anoth ).http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/Teachers (

is in English, but one can use the Chinese free, for comics), http://www.toondoo.com(

bubbles to create in Hebrew. You can find there many images of children and adults,

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backgrounds, etc. (unfortunately, you can only use the given material, and cannot import

to that materials from external resources).

Here you can see comics (11) made especially for completing sentences based on

the contents of the text. There are also data bases here of photos (we have used for our

purpose a photo of a hospital and a doctor) (12). You can also create your own. At the

same time you can ask the students to create their own comics. This is a great way for

students to express their understanding of the learned subject, while expanding on that,

and enriching their language.

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There is an additional task for this unit, “Read for your own enjoyment”, of a text

to be read at home, which is the implementation of what they have learned in the lessons.

We also added a new dimension with a video clip (13) about T’rufot-Savta (grandma

remedies) that addressed the remedies mentioned in the text (you can find it at

).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxtLM53Zgl

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We also added, as a conclusion for the unit, another video clip (14)

) that summarizes the nature of the Ce97icBAA-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o(

shappa’at, how people get sick, and the advantages and disadvantages in getting a flu

shot. You can attach a work sheet to the clip, and/or ask the students to report on the clip.

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In addition, as part of their homework, they need to post on the class blog

(15), created for a certain subject (using bloger.com), their input on that, their response to

what other students have posted. They can also upload their related questions, photos,

text, sound, video (e.g., their experience in the flood), which makes it personal and of

interest to them, and extends their listening, reading and writing skills, and enriches their

ability to express themselves.

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The teacher e-mails to the students games for testing their retention. Also,

as part of their homework, they need to watch again video clips they have already seen,

and read again the text, and compare the vocabulary in both.

All of the above, except from the Podcast on Binyan Piel’s infinitive form,

wascreated with ready-made technological tools, which are easy to use, and mostly free.

There are others, a little more sophisticated, that are free online, like Audacity- for sound

recording and editing, Soundslides, with which one can create slide shows and movies, or

others that are built-in on the computer, like MovieMaker and PhotoStory (PC). The last

two programs are the only Hebrew- text friendly. In the rest of the programs Hebrew text

can be embedded by extracting it from PDF files created earlier from the Word file (PC),

or Mellel (MAC). Still the other programs can be used for listening and comprehension

skills. Other programs are Garage Band and iMovie (MAC). If you would like to create it

all by yourself, Premiere (PC) and Adobe Suite (including animation) and Final Cut

Express/Pro (MAC) are for you too.

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Conclusion

Integration of technologies in teaching/learning the Hebrew language by itself

does not guarantee success unless used wisely to achieve pedagogical advantages. At a

recent conference, where part of the material described in this article was introduced,

participant teachers complained that “it is too much work to do.” Unfortunately, good

existing technology-based programs for learning Hebrew are sparse, and it is up to us to

take action and be innovative in order to create them. There are quite a few

development opportunities for teachers who, like the authors, have the curiosity,

motivation and yearning to learn to use the new technologies, and they can attend, on an

individual basis, academic and professional courses, seminars, and workshops, either in-

person and/or online [MOFET institute is one of them

)], where they learn to create new multimodal http://www.mofet.macam.ac.il/english/(

interaction programs using a ready-made module, or even to create their own module,

which will serve as part of a language curriculum. It is time that the Jewish educational

organizations would join the effort by providing once again free long-term development

workshops for groups of teachers, in order to enhance teaching and learning Hebrew.