Hebrew School | Imamother

Frumom ↓

Fri, Jan 06 2006, 11:49 am

Hi everyone,
I'm going to be teaching hebrew school starting next week and was wondering if any of you out there have some good ideas for teaching reading hebrew, learning the Parsha of the week and other misc. ideas.

ElTam ↓

Sat, Jan 07 2006, 6:52 pm

Can you give us some more to go on? What grade? What is the background of the students? Do you have any sort of set curriculum or books that are set by the school or do decide those. Etc.

In terms of tips for teaching Hebrew, I would suggest, if you are starting from the aleph-bet stage that you call the National Jewish Outreach Center (http://www.njop.org/). They use a book called Reishit Binah in their Hebrew Crash Course. The teacher's guide would be especially helpful.

I also recommend www.chinuch.org as a good resource.

↑ Frumom

Sat, Jan 07 2006, 6:59 pm

To give a little more info: The kids I'll be teaching are not frum. They all know the aleph beis, some can read somewhat, others are just starting. (There will be 2 different classes, 1 group are 7-8 the other is 9-10). I will be provided with a few hebrew books, but I can get reimbursed if I want to buy some more.
Besides for what to teach I really want ideas on HOW to teach reading, parsha etc. in a creative manner.
Thank you

↑ ElTam

Sat, Jan 07 2006, 11:34 pm

For reading, check out the Reishit Binah teaching guide that I suggested. It's got some great tips for helping kids (and adults) remember the sounds letters and nekudot make.

I find that kids really like games. So anything you can do to make drilling and practice on letters into a game draws them in. You might make it a game where you assign teams and give points for the team that reads the most words correctly. Where will you be teaching? Check out the Agency for Jewish Education or Jewish Education Center in your area, as they will have lots of resources and guides, much more than any of us can type here.

For parasha, think about hands-on ways to make the parasha come to life. The chinuch site I suggested is great for giving tips and ideas. It's geared for teachers in day schools, so what they say is appropriate for preschool or kindergarten may be right for your kids, although some of the simpler craft ideas might not be. Some examples might be to study the parasha and then make an easy recipe with the kids that will reinforce what they've learned...lentil soup when you learn about Eisav selling the birthright for example. Or if you are studying how the various tribes encamped and their banners, you might have the kids make banners (using felt, fabric paints, etc.) that represent them.