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How to Choose Hebrew Learning Materials
We've gathered together some organizing questions to help you think through your goals for your Hebrew program, and provided some ideas for you based on your answers to these questions.
The questions are organized by level, to help you think about
- Pre-Primers (for teaching basic letter recognition in grades 1 and 2)
- Primers (for teaching decoding in grade 3)
- Series (for teaching prayer or modern Hebrew in grade 4-6)
Just click on one of the section headings below to get started. For each question, click on the response that best describes your needs.
How to Choose a Pre-Primer:
Ask yourself the following questions before choosing a pre-primer. Your decision will likely be based on your answers to several of the questions below.
1. I want students to recognize Hebrew letters. Do I want the vowels too?
No, just the letters are enough for me at this age.
Yes, I want a light introduction to the vowels too:
2. Do I want a folder format so parents can see weekly what their children are learning in class?
No, I want a book rather than folders:
Yes, I want my teacher to send home a folder each week:
3. What's light and sweet to use as a first introduction to the Hebrew letters, say, in 1st grade?
Let's Discover the Alef Bet
4. At the pre-primer level (1st and 2nd grade), my students come just once a week. Which materials are best suited for that amount of time?
All Behrman House pre-primers are designed for once a week class meetings
5. While my students are learning to recognize Hebrew letters, do I want them to acquire a Jewish vocabulary too?
No, the letters are enough:
Yes, I'd like them to learn Hebrew words too:
6. How important is it to me that students have online games and other digital activities to extend their learning in their homes?
I am fine without a digital component at this age:
I want a seamlessly integrated, built-in digital component:
7. Do I want to Teach the Aleph Bet in Aleph Bet Order?
Yes, I want to teach them in the Aleph Bet Order:
How To Choose a Primer:
Ask yourself the following questions before choosing a primer. Your decision will likely be based on your answers to several of the questions below.
1. Of course I want my students to learn to decode Hebrew; now, in what order do I want to introduce the letters?
I like teaching look-alike letters together:
The order doesn't matter to me:
I want to use key cultural words (shabbat, shalom, tzedakah, shamash) as the driver for new letters and vowels:
I want a mix of cultural and modern Hebrew words (bimah, abba, havdalah, sukkah, melech). And, in addition, I want to teach letters that SOUND ALIKE TOGETHER (tet and tav; sin and samech) but letters that LOOK ALIKE—and can be confused—FAR APART ( dalet and resh; bet and kaf):
2. How important is it to me that students have online games and other digital activities to extend their learning into their homes?
I am fine without a digital component:
An add-on, optional digital component is what I'm looking for:
I want a seamlessly integrated, built-in digital component:
3. Is it important to me that my students learn to write Hebrew letters?
No:
Yes, I want to teach block print:
Yes, I want to teach script:
4. Do I have time and/or is it a priority to include some modern Hebrew in our primer year?
No:
Yes:
5. How much time do we have for in-school Hebrew learning in a week?
We have 45 min–1 hour of Hebrew a week:
We have 1 1/4 –2 hours of Hebrew a week:
6. Do I have many students with special needs or I just like very little on a page, e.g., one activity per page?
No, my students can manage any primer:
7. Do I have students starting decoding later (grade 5 or older)?
No, most of my students begin decoding in grades 2-4:
How to Choose a Hebrew Series:
Ask yourself the following questions before choosing a Hebrew series. Your decision will likely be based on your answers to several of the questions below.
1. Do I want my students to learn prayer Hebrew, modern language, or a combination?
Just prayer with no modern Hebrew component:
Just modern Hebrew with no prayer component:
Prayer with an optional modern Hebrew add-on:
Modern Hebrew with an optional prayer add-on:
Prayer with a taste of modern Hebrew words:
A combination of prayer and modern Hebrew in each volume:
2. In what order do I want to teach the prayers? Do I want to follow the order of the Shabbat morning prayer service, teach the prayers in our school's own order, or begin with the easiest prayers?
Follow the order of the prayer service:
Our school's own order:
Begin with the easiest prayers:
3. How much time do we have for in-school Hebrew learning in a week?
We have 1–1½ hours of Hebrew a week:
We have 2–3 hours of Hebrew a week:
4. Is it important to me that my students progress individually at their own pace?
No:
Use other criteria to select your Hebrew series (see other questions)
Yes:
5. How important is it to me that students have online games and other digital activities to extend their learning into their homes?
I am fine without a digital component:
An add-on, optional digital component is what I'm looking for:
I want a seamlessly integrated, built-in digital component:
6. Assessment is important to me. What are the best tools to assess students' progress?
Post-primer and all Hebrew series, decoding accuracy:
Quick-click online assessment:
Printed lesson-by-lesson review sheets:
Printed end-of-year assessment sheets:
Online lesson-by-lesson review sheets:
Students can email their online results to their teacher:
7. Do I want any additional tools to help ensure that my students become fluent readers?
No:
Hineni Interactive and Kol Yisrael motivate students to practice at home with click-and-listen and practice-aloud reading activities and games; no additional reinforcement necessary
Mitkadem
Mitkadem
Yes:
Back-to-School Hebrew Reading Refresher, Ten-Minute Hebrew Reader (Revised), and I Can Read Hebrew all provide additional fun Hebrew reading practice
Hineni Family Companions allow parents to practice with their children with transliteration pages for parents
Hineni Family Companions allow parents to practice with their children with transliteration pages for parents