When learning any new language, it is important to start with the basics, add regular usage, contextual situations and continued exposure for gaining fluency. Those wishing to learn Hebrew for enhanced study of scripture or connection with roots seeded in that language and culture are no different. These students inherently wish to immerse in the language to better their grasp of all nuances and ability to utilize it in various study and life situations.
The concern arises in how to best do this if access to those who speak the language, situations and context in which to exercise this skill are not present where they currently live. An important solution are opportunities such as the one offered by the Rosen School of Hebrew. Here you will find classes offering Hebrew word pronunciation audio components for students engaging with peers learning the same language and teachers located in Israel for the best immersive language experience possible.
Rosen School of Hebrew Foundation
From humble immigrant beginnings to a leading Hebrew language study education facility is the foundation this school prides itself on. Based in Israel where Aharon Rosen immigrated as a young man, this institution continues to perpetuate the learnings of this founder’s teaching style. While this method has been around for decades, it still builds on the see, read and write from the basics through fluency in small feasible modules.
Aharon Rosen was born in Hungary and moved to Israel in 1924, where he became involved in helping teach other immigrants in Northern Israel the Hebrew language native to their new land. Many of these early groups of immigrants were of German descent, and resonated with Aharon’s method of teaching in which he eased students into the language in smaller more palatable lessons, thereby making the transition, even for the adult learner, smoother and in turn making him a go-to language teacher for many through the years.
This early exposure and teaching experience of Aharon Rosen eventually bled over into a more formalized multi-stage teaching methodology which he documented into a standard teaching method. This teaching method is still in use today in many learning institutions’ language curriculums around the world.
Aharon’s focus remained on Hebrew teaching throughout his lifetime in which he published textbooks, introduced the Thousand Words series to the world which went on to be a bestseller. His works were translated to numerous other languages and today are the reason credited with Hebrew second language education being what it can be for the adult learners through the Rosen School of Hebrew.
A Proven Method of Success
Weekly lessons by teachers certified and living in Israel allow students the opportunity from any corner of the world to learn Hebrew utilizing technology to engage at the highest level with the Hebrew language. Weekly lessons ensure the redundancies needed to become prolific and fluent in a language. By engaging in discussions with peers and teachers and sharing knowledge with others trying to learn this material it begins to solidify easier than doing so on one’s own.
The Rosen School of Hebrew also boasts a large knowledge base of resources from which students can peruse articles by teachers and others to enhance the learning experience at their own pace and in areas of personalized interest. Finally, for the ability to further immerse in learning, Hebrew word pronunciation audio playback recordings are always available to listen to in non-classroom moments.
While anyone with a desire can do this program and learn, this method will best service the needs of committed and engaged students who attend and participate in many avenues of learning. The varied approaches to teaching Hebrew allow each student to dictate their level of engagement with the program, and method of learning that fits their needs.
A basic commitment of two hours a week of classroom time is expected, and class sizes are kept between six and eight students to allow everyone participation time in the activities and ample feedback from peers and teachers.
The classes have a nine-month commitment needed but involve minimal assignments and more interpersonal engagement in questions, chats, recordings, and others to best supplement and give the results each student is seeking in undertaking this educational language opportunity.
Success in Numbers and Reviews
When seeking a school for which a student may be committing a huge amount of personal time and seeking a goal of learning a language such as the case with students at the Rosen School of Hebrew, ensuring it is the best place is important.
The proof is always in the numbers, and the 15,000 students to date and 550 classes a year tell you that the Rosen School of Hebrew is doing something right in their level of involvement with language studies.
Students, though, are the ultimate endorsement for any learning institution, and the reviews about this school include students from all over the world. They show that the students love interacting with each other both in class and outside, even though they aren’t in the same place.
Technology has allowed immersion in classes such as these, without having to relocate or give up a job and home you already are established in. Additionally, being with someone who speaks the language as a native was considered time and time again as a positive experience.
The fact that self-paced learning is so ingrained in the mission here is also another positive feature, as not all students learn in a similar fashion or at the same pace as others.
The class time is structured weekly, but supplemental processes and resources make students feel comfortable in learning at their pace. Finally, as regards the technology which some may be worried about due to the complete reliance on this aspect of being able to even get into class, students brought out the technical support being top-notch and always available to resolve issues.
Modern Hebrew 1
This first level class will provide the foundation for all Hebrew language learning going forward. Much like a child learning a language for the first time, it will begin with alphabet basics such as vowels, sounds of letters in print and spoken language, pronouns, prepositions and all the word building blocks that go into laying that mental foundation for a person to retrain themselves to a new language.
Building from the most basic of beginnings, this course provides a goal of 400 new Hebrew words learned by the end of this syllabus and provides opportunities to practice these new skills through both conversational talking and listening to others utilizing these words.
Modern Hebrew 2
Now that the basics are in the student’s toolbox, this next beginner’s class allows them to begin situationally and becoming more adept at utilizing Hebrew language skills.
With a goal of 350 additional words for this class, it focuses on using language for everyone’s daily lives, such as doctor’s offices, banks, or what someone would say while doing grocery shopping.
The focus will be fluency in this class and continuing to gain a comfort level for verbs, present tense, and infinitives in both reading and writing will add a bit of complexity to this new language foundation.
Modern Hebrew 3
Once alphabet, day to day conversational, and baseline language is understood, the student now graduates to this intermediate course where Hebrew word pronunciation audio skills move to a deeper level of interpersonal discussion in more diverse contexts.
With an additional 250 new word goal, the student should be at close to 1,000 Hebrew words. They will be able to construe direct and indirect speech in interpersonal exchanges, phrases concerning cause and effect situations.
Also, they will focus on Israeli issues by reading about culture and other topics to grow a cultural perspective alongside this language skill set. Being able to form arguments and opinions on these Hebrew texts being read is a focus of this class syllabus.
Modern Hebrew 4
Moving to the midway point in Hebrew language courses, the focus will switch to culturally significant places, people, events, and community updates as it relates to Israeli identity.
This allows for all reading at this point in Hebrew and another 300 new word exposures to imprint more complex thoughts, expressions – based on literature – and increasingly complex prepositions and sentence structures.
At this stage, students should be feeling more confident in expressing opinions, facts, and conversational elements in Hebrew.
Modern Hebrew 5
This next class begins the advanced levels of study in the Hebrew language, and the situations students will be asked to engage in will be of a more complex grammar.
They will learn more modal verb and tense structures in which to fully express ideas, social issues, historical relevance of events, and the like. This class adds another 300word count of learning, which by now the student can use to compare their life experiences with others that have informed opinions on topics under discussion.
The engagement and conversational quality of this class will border on subject matter like college-level poetry and philosophy, while simultaneously being focused on the language aspect.
Modern Hebrew 6
This class builds again on Israeli culture by exposing students to texts that truly are best read in native Hebrew and not translated easily to other languages.
Agricultural projects, modern poetry will be the material used for learning and inch the word count north of 1,700 Hebrew words after this class conclusion. This is all about the expansion of your personal expressions of opinion, and complex sentence structure, about topics that are provided to engage in discussion students and teachers alike.
Taking advantage of the academic knowledge base to inform the student more completely on subjects of interest and to allow more freedom in expressing opinions in Hebrew is encouraged.
The structure of this class is aimed not so much at teaching, but at getting students to explore the world this new language is opening to them.
Modern Hebrew 7
This second to last section in the commitment to learn Hebrew fluently will now have students able to absorb newspaper articles and even write down summaries of what is talked about in Hebrew.
Economics, Education, Judaism, and so many other relevant topics for cultural understanding are added to the student’s repertoire in this class, and along the way, expanding their knowledge and vocabulary to degrees, they wouldn’t have thought possible just a few short months ago.
Through a stronger focus on reading, syntactic issues and variations will come to light that allow the student’s understanding and fluency to gain nuances of the language previously not understood.
Fluency will increase with each of this upper-level building blocks, but more importantly, retention and true ability to absorb and regurgitate information in this language are becoming more automatic at this stage.
Modern Hebrew 8
This conclusion to this language course will allow the students an opportunity to absorb current events, search the web, and engage with all kinds of topics. Dealing with contemporary issues in an informed manner, issues that can be discussed easily in Hebrew at this stage, will be a tenet of graduation from this course.
New expressions that have not been discussed before can be dissected with peers and teachers, at a level of comfort that the student can easily engage with at this stage.
This building-block approach to language, including the ability to understand, learn Hebrew word pronunciation audio-wise, and even conversationally is the successful road map that the Rosen School for Hebrew engages to train and engage students.
This method, as you can see, builds a plan that starts small and easily with basics, allows peer and teacher engagement, utilizes technology for teaching, as well as additional knowledge base access opportunities, and leads to full engagement in historical and cultural relevancy of the language.
The course opens opportunities to engage in culturally significant reading and conversation that helps the student find roots in Israel culture, that might have otherwise not been accessible without this new skill set and fluency in the language.