Daber Ivrit Teachers Guide

by Joel Lurie Grishaver and Jane Golub

Abstract
Grades 2-8 Time: 10-20 minute lessons Format: Four-page lesson Subjects: Oral Hebrew, Modern Israel

These lessons are designed to be about enjoying Hebrew, not about mastering a foreign language. They provide an opportunity to play in Hebrew.

Goals
FUN: The purpose of these materials is to expose some Hebrew, not to teach it so it will be mastered. It is designed to be fun for both student and teacher. It allows ten minutes of Hebrew class in which imagination and funnot drill and masteryare at the heart. Please enjoy this material. Please make sure that your students do. USE AS MUCH HEBREW AS POSSIBLE: If you can speak Hebrew, speak Hebrew during this part of the lesson. If you can speak some Hebrew, use the Hebrew you know. Act out things you can not say and do not translate the key words into English. Let students learn to think them in Hebrew. These lessons should be about Hebrew as a living language, and not about translating. One rule should be No translating allowed. Be a mine and get students to do pantomime. The more Hebrew they listen to, the better they will get at reading Hebrew. The more Hebrew they can understand the better they will feel about learning Hebrew. Use the vocabulary whenever you can. While we are only teaching nouns, using words like luah (as in Avi, go write the answer on the luah) will add to the process. DO NOT DO TOO MUCH: Keep this to ten- to fifteen-minute session. This is recreation, not work. Make it light and easy. Do not test this stuff. Let everyone enjoy the Hebrew play. Procedure A PRINCIPLE: Teach out loud and in playful ways. Review and reinforce with the folders. REVIEW: Begin the lesson with a review of old vocabulary. Use the cards. Use props. Use parts of the room. When you are on body parts, use a student and point to parts of his or her body and point them with a ruler or with your hand. Remember, make this fun.

Overview
Daber Ivrit is a collection of materials designed to make oral Hebrew a part of every Hebrew school classroom. These materials allow Hebrew teachers to play at language for short periods of time while building a vocabulary that is primarily nouns. The purpose of these materials in not the acquisition of Hebrew as a spoken language but the opportunity to gain a sense that Hebrew is more than an alphabet that is mastered in order to sound out prayers and Torah portions. These materials are designed to make students feel good about Hebrew and about their Hebrew studies. Each unit is made of of four lessons. Each lesson has four pages. Each folder is accompanied by a set of flash cards. The cards are as important to the instructional process as the folders. Each lesson introduces six to eight words and exposes a few more. The first page of each of the Level 1 units has an essay by Micah and Tamar Raff. Micah is a typical American kid living in Israel. The essays talk about daily life in Israel from his point of view. The essays set the background for the Hebrew words that will be introduced. The Level 2 lessons have introductions written by Janet Bain Fattal, who writes of a teenage girls trip to Israel. The second page presents the eight vocabulary words. The third page allows for the reading of a set of pictures (not letters) and has students reinforce their memory of the vocabulary. The fourth page translates the Oral Hebrew back into writing and lets students learn to read the Hebrew words that they have been using orally.

PAGE 1: Read the story. Talk about what Israel is like. Expand these stories as much as you can. Tell your own stories. Invite people who have been in Israel to tell about their experiences. Make this part of Israel as real as you can. This is the time to look at a box of Kelloggs Cereal with Hebrew writing, or bring in your pictures of Mahane Yehudah or your slides of Jerusalem. PAGE 2: Introduce the new vocabulary by using the vocabulary cards, props, people or anything else that you think will get the point across. Do not let students keep their noses in their booklets. When seventy percent of your students can each remember five or six of the words-move on to page three. PAGE 3: Read this page just like a reading page in a Hebrew book. Let a group read a line. Let all the boys read a line. Let Roger read line five. Do it out of order. Keep this playful, too. PAGE 4: If your students cannot read Hebrew, stops with the exercise at the end of top of page four. This exercise brings in words from previous lessons to review vocabulary. If your students have already learned to read Hebrew, use the remaining two exercises on page four quickly and lightly. Have fun with it. Do not let students who read haltingly feel like they failed here. One of the nice things about this unit is that it allows students who are better aural and oral language to succeed. This exercise switches the balance back. Enjoy the excitement of sounding what you can now say. REVIEW: End the lesson with more word play. Use the posters, props, make card decks, perform skits, or play games. Any thing you can think of to use these words. Have fun. Remember, the Daber Ivrit lessons are based on three things: (1) Use as little English as possible; (2) work for as much success for every student as possible; and (3) dont obsess over mastery. This is meant to be fun.

Suggested Games and Activities

1. Vocabulary Review. Group students in teams. Show a poster to a member of one team and ask that student to say what the word is. If they are correct, the team gets a point. Then show a card to the member of the second team, and so on. Or allow the teams to show the cards to each other. You can be the judge and point keeper. 2. Hide & Seek. Hide vocabulary posters around the room. Students in turn, can search for the posters and when they find one, they have to say that word. 3. Game Board. Arrange the posters as a game board or laminate them together in one long strip. Have each student pick a number and move that many spaces. The student is to name the word on the square he/ she has landed on. Or call out a word. The first student to correctly point to the word may move to it. 4. Play Twister. Arrange the posters into random places on the floor. Call out a body part (arm, leg, nose) and a vocabulary word for child. The child has to put their body part on that word and hold the position until his/her next turn. For example Bobby, put you right leg on talmid. Brittany, put your left elbow on the shulhan. 5. Body Parts lessons: Play Shimon Omer (Simon Says). Shimon Omer yadaim al raglaim (put your hands on your legs). Shimon Omer, yadaim al peh (put your hands on your mouth). 6. Around the World. Arrange your students and their chairs into a circle. One student stands behind a seated students. Show a vocabulary poster. The first person to accurately say the word moves to the next student in the circle. You may use this game with either side of the posters. 7. Vocabulary Dramatics. Arrange students in small groups. Give each group three or four unrelated vocabulary words to create a skit. Each group has to use all the words correctly in their skit. 8. Card Decks. Photocopy and reduce the size of the posters onto card stock to create card decks. Students can play Old Maid or Go Fish. For instance, Lizzie, do you have any talmidim?

The Poster Set

Each lesson has a set of half-page posters. Each poster has the picture of the vocabulary word. On its reverse side there is a flashcard of the word. Use the picture side to introduce, review and play with the vocabulary words. Use the flashcard for students who can already read Hebrew.

The Offer
Send us your best games, stories, activities, gimmicks, etc. for Daber Ivrit. We will post them on our webpage. Send them to: Jane Golub, Torah Aura Productions, 4423 Fruitland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90058, or e-mail them to <jane@torahaura.com>

Daber Ivrit Units

Unit 101:
a. Things in a Classroomchair, table, chalk, chalkboard, notebook, pencil, book, door; b. People in a Schoolmale and female versions of student, students, teacher, principal; c. Body Partshand, legs, stomach, tush, fingers, back, knee, shoulders; d. Face Partsnose, mouth, face, ears, eyes, hair, eye, ear. b. Numbers 7-12; c. Foodbread, milk, apple, orange, tomato, cucumber, meat, cookies; d. Restaurantplate, cup, knife, fork, spoon, napkin, menu, table.

Unit 102: a. Numbers 1-6;

Unit 103: a. Shabbatcandles, hallah, wine, table, kippah, chair, spices, havdallah candle;
b. Familydad, mom, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, dog, cat; c. Colorsblue, green, red, yellow, violet, orange, black, white; d. Clothingshirt, pants, shoes, shorts, socks, skirt, hat, sweater.

Unit 104: a. Placesschool, synagogue, hospital, park, beach, store, post office, train station;
b. Jobspolice, doctor, driver, soldier, butcher, office worker, artist, waitress; c. Transportationcar, bus, plane, boat, bicycle, train, truck, walk; d. Seasonswinter, summer spring, fall, sun, rain, snow, clouds.

Unit 105: a. Kibbutz animalscow, sheep chicken, duck, horse, ostrich, fish, goat;
b. Kibbutzbarn, chicken coop, tractor, dining room, field, orchard, factory, pool; c. Zoo Animalstiger, elephant, lion, snake, monkey, zebra, bear, giraffe; d. At the Parkbasketball, soccer, tennis racket, doll, swing, wagon, teddy bear, cellular phone.
Units 201-203 introduce vocabulary and conversation:

Unit 201: a. In the Houseliving, dining, bedroom, bathroom, porch, outside, kitchen, apartment;
b. Where Is?What room in the house are the family members?; c. PronounsI, you, he, she; d. Who is in the House?

Unit 202: a. How Are You?;

b. Musical Instrumentsclarinet, halil, drum, acordian, saxaphone, piano, violin, guitar; c. I Have/Dont Have; d. How is_______?

Unit 203: a. What Are You Doing?run, lay down, stand, sit, walk, jump, get up, dance;
b. In the Neighborhood; c. On, Under and Next toostrich, monkey, bear, elephant, duck, mouse, lion, chicken, on, under, next to; d. I Wantice cream, candy, cake, pizza, cookies, chocolate, hamburger, falafel.
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