Why I Chose Kol Yisrael for My School

Rabbi Heidi Hoover, spiritual leader at Temple Beth Emeth v’Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek in Brooklyn, New York, wrote to us recently about the changes she is making to her Hebrew program this year, and why she chose to make Alef Bet Quest, Kol Yisrael, and the Online Learning Center part of her change to hevruta study.

We recently made a big change to our Hebrew program: we will no longer meet in classes; rather our students will study in hevruta pairs. They will meet with their teacher once a week and supplement their studies with online learning.

We chose to use Alef Bet Quest and Kol Yisrael in the Behrman House Online Learning Center (OLC) as our learning materials. Here’s why:

1. The OLC is more elegant than the other option we were considering in terms of the user experience and functionality. It feels established and well tested.

2. The OLC is “expandable”—we can create different classes beyond the learning software. We can even use it for adult learning.

3. We believe the Hebrew software will work well for us.

4. Alef Bet Questand Kol Yisrael require no detailed, time-intensive record keeping.

5. Behrman House includes fun games to accompany the online lessons, the characters are cute, and Alef Bet Quest even adds in some Israel geography as the characters travel the country in a little blue animated bus. We believe kid-friendly features will help students retain the material.

We are looking forward to implementing the OLC for our students, and we hope it will encourage them to spend more time on their Hebrew and learn more content more quickly than in the traditional classroom model.