Hebrew Suggestions

[AK_Homesteaders]

I'm trying to decide on a Hebrew program for my young boys (early elementary). I'd like to learn, as well, but I have a terrible time learning languages. Eventually, I'd like them to learn Biblical Hebrew. Would it be fairly easy to learn Biblical Hebrew later, once they have learned modern Hebrew pretty well, or, since Biblical Hebrew is really my more important goal, should we start with a Biblical Hebrew program? Which program (s) do you suggest?

Thank you,

Jenny

[ReneeK]

Biblical Hebrew can be slightly different. Either way you want them to know the alphabet and writing. I would start out with a program like this http://www.sarahdavid.com/ it is made for kids. This is a real easy one for kids and parents. The Hebrew language does not originaly have vowels, modern Hebrew does. Other than that its the same. It can be confusing sounding it out without the vowels.

Also see if you have a Messianic Synagogue in your area. They may have classes which do all ages. I have my son who is 4 in a Hebrew class at our Messianic Synagogue-the ages range from 4-75. He is at the point where the class after several months is starting to read. I am now working with him at home after this week.

My daughter 7, is not able to sit in the class due to some special needs, but knows alot of the language already is going to start Rosetta Stone homeschool edition this year.

I know they have alot of different programs out there. I just can't think of them at this time. If I remember I will post them later or maybe someone else will chime in.
Renee

[alpidarkomama]

ReneeK, you're assuming she's Christian (or maybe you already know her!).

If your goal is biblical Hebrew, I would definitely focus on biblical Hebrew first. It's easier to go from biblical Hebrew to modern than vice versa.

What are your reasons for learning Hebrew? What do you plan to have them do with it? Are you Jewish or Christian? Recommendations would depend on what exactly your needs are. If you don't speak Hebrew yourself, you might want to locate as many oral resources as possible. Pronunciation of Hebrew is somewhat regular, but there are many exceptions too.

Hatzlacha! (Much success!)

[enviromommy]

I'm trying to decide on a Hebrew program for my young boys (early elementary). I'd like to learn, as well, but I have a terrible time learning languages. Eventually, I'd like them to learn Biblical Hebrew. Would it be fairly easy to learn Biblical Hebrew later, once they have learned modern Hebrew pretty well, or, since Biblical Hebrew is really my more important goal, should we start with a Biblical Hebrew program? Which program (s) do you suggest?

Thank you,

Jenny

I actually need suggestions here too! I've been posting about our French needs, but I didn't also mention that our kids have been in Jewish Day School up to now and we have to figure out the Hebrew and Judaics portions of our homeschool curriculum. It seems like there's not really much available for homeschoolers. So I'd love to hear these answers too!

[Ester Maria]

Probably the best Hebrew program for young children out there is Tal-Am, and it's used by many Jewish day schools. It combines the instruction of modern Hebrew with Judaics, using a method called "Hebrew in Hebrew" (ivrit beivrit). The only problems of this program are: (i) It's pretty expensive; (ii) It's not exactly homeschool-friendly, i.e. it's specifically designed for classes. However, if there's a school near you, or you know anyone who went to school which used Tal-Am, check it out and see if you can somehow get the materials via them. Oh yes, and there's one more possibly problematic aspect - as all of it is in Hebrew, it's assumed that the teacher speaks Hebrew. In any case see if you can somehow get the boys involved with some class which uses Tal-Am, that would be a success.

I'd suggest you to start with a modern language, and then proceed onto Biblical Hebrew, mostly because you said you have young boys and they still learn by immersion the best at that age. Also note that if they learn the modern language well enough, they can use Israeli materials for the instruction of Bible later, which are pretty good, and it's not needed that you specifically learn Biblical Hebrew if you're fluent in modern one, i.e. you'll have some catching up to do, but it won't be like learning a whole new language.

Other than Tal-Am, I don't know many materials that are aimed specifically at young children. With my own kids we spoke it a bit at home, sent them regularly to Israel and used a mishmash of various materials usually aimed at native kids (picture books and chapter books, etc.), so it clicked. You can also find at sefer-li.net a bunch of children's books scanned in .pdf, so you might consider supplementing your studies with some of those.

I'm also not sure how much you'd profit from Tal-Am if you're not interested in the Judaics component, i.e. if you're only interested in the language. If you could be a bit more precise, maybe we could help more.

[AK_Homesteaders]

Thank you for the replies. On a side note, your locations are interesting. My husband is from KS, and I was born and raised in GA. Now we live in the Alaskan bush. No roads to this part of AK, so we have to charter a plane a few times a year for groceries, mail and supplies. There are a few homeschooling families in the area who are Christians (we are not --more below), and quite a few vacation cabins with frequent visitors on a nearby lake. As you can imagine, it is not really possible for us to join any kind of in-person group of Hebrew speakers, but Reneek and alpidarkomama, I greatly appreciate your suggestions.

alpidarkomama, to answer your questions, I am part Jewish but was raised Christian. My husband and I hold to Jewish beliefs, but because we live so remote, we cannot officially convert. (I realize there are many strong opposing views surrounding that topic, and it is not my intention for it to become a confrontational issue here.) I would like for my boys to someday be able to accurately read Hebrew Scriptures so that they do not have to rely on the various interpretations of English translators. Of course, I would also like for them to speak, write and read modern Hebrew fluently so that they can easily communicate should they ever visit or officially convert and move to Israel.

Currently, we have a program from Behrman House: Shalom Alef Bet, and Shalom Uvrachah with the Interactive CD. So far, we have only gone through most of Shalom Alef Bet, but it seems so dry. I think Shalom Uvrachah will be more interesting and helpful because of the interactive CD. But, a friend in the Lower 48 who has been studying Biblical Hebrew for many years suggested I find something else.

So, now that you know a little more about "where we're coming from and where we want to go" so to speak, maybe that will help with recommendations. I'd also like to teach more Jewish and Israeli history to my boys, preferably using real books that are fun for that age group. They are early elementary.

Ester Maria, I saw that you and I were posting about the same time, so I edited this to say thank you for that suggestion. Money is very, very tight, and I don't know if I would be able to use the program you suggested but it sounds wonderful. There seem to be different opinions on whether to start with modern or Biblical Hebrew. I see both sides. If any of you have other suggestions now, that would be great.

Thank you all very much for your replies.

Jenny

[alpidarkomama]

Jenny - I do have lots of Jewish Hebrew resources to recommend. Thanks for the additional information! I'm in a rush now, but will later post all the resources I've used (positive and negative). My oldest is almost 7, so I have lots of things we've used for early elementary. :)

Best, Kerith (in Savannah, GA!)

[rockala]

requested this information on the high school board and this caught my eye. We observe all the biblical feasts and holidays with Yeshua, so from a slightly messanic viewpoint, though we do not attend at all, just get togeher with a few families.

Would you offer different reccomendations from that viewpoint? my daughter is in 9th, know the biblical alphabet well and has read thru one psalm for her bat, if that helps at all.

We too are torn with to proceed with modern vs biblical from a high school transcript viewpiont.

kathy

[Ester Maria]

We too are torn with to proceed with modern vs biblical from a high school transcript viewpiont.
Check out Ivrit min ha-hatchala. It's a 2-part course, with audio, and even though it's designed to be used with a tutor, there are people who have successfully used it for self-study.

[Shifra]

I actually need suggestions here too! I've been posting about our French needs, but I didn't also mention that our kids have been in Jewish Day School up to now and we have to figure out the Hebrew and Judaics portions of our homeschool curriculum. It seems like there's not really much available for homeschoolers. So I'd love to hear these answers too!

Jen--

Since your children have been in Jewish Day School, a good source of Jewish law, Bible, and Hebrew language materials (that your school may have been using!) is www.shypub.com (http://www.shypub.com). They will sell to individuals (unlike Tal Am, suggested by Ester Maria, who usually will not). But you really can only use the books from Shy Publishing or Tal Am if your understanding of written Hebrew is good.

[enviromommy]

Jen--

Since your children have been in Jewish Day School, a good source of Jewish law, Bible, and Hebrew language materials (that your school may have been using!) is www.shypub.com (http://www.shypub.com). They will sell to individuals (unlike Tal Am, suggested by Ester Maria, who usually will not). But you really can only use the books from Shy Publishing or Tal Am if your understanding of written Hebrew is good.

Thanks, I'll check it out! The only website I knew about was chinuch.org., and that is just millions of random worksheets uploaded by different Jewish educators. It gives me a headache trying to piece it together. My Hebrew is not what I want it to be (DH and I didn't grow up observant, so we've tried to play catch-up as adults), but I'm hoping to have an Ivrit tutor for both the kids and me.

[enviromommy]

Shifra, thank you! I just looked at the Shy Publishing site, and these are the books they use in my kids' school for Ivrit. I don't think they use the same thing for Chumash, though. These look great, I could really design a curriculum with these, though I do need to improve my own level to do it well. However, armed with my Israeli friends and my trusty dictionary, I can manage these.

[Pammy]

immersion program. We are preparing for a move overseas and have to finish in 2 years. So far, it is easier for our youngest ones. LOL.:)

[enviromommy]

Check out Ivrit min ha-hatchala. It's a 2-part course, with audio, and even though it's designed to be used with a tutor, there are people who have successfully used it for self-study.

I have this book for myself, actually. Have had it for years, but haven't used it. I didn't know it had an audio component, though.

[Shifra]

I would like for my boys to someday be able to accurately read Hebrew Scriptures so that they do not have to rely on the various interpretations of English translators. Of course, I would also like for them to speak, write and read modern Hebrew fluently so that they can easily communicate should they ever visit or officially convert and move to Israel.

Currently, we have a program from Behrman House: Shalom Alef Bet, and Shalom Uvrachah with the Interactive CD. So far, we have only gone through most of Shalom Alef Bet, but it seems so dry. I think Shalom Uvrachah will be more interesting and helpful because of the interactive CD. But, a friend in the Lower 48 who has been studying Biblical Hebrew for many years suggested I find something else.

Jenny--

Have you considered www.hebrewonline.com (http://www.hebrewonline.com)? They have beginning and intermediate courses for kids in Hebrew.

[AK_Homesteaders]

Thank you very much for the link. I will look into it right now!

[Chocolate Lover]

I have two overflowing cardboard boxes of Hebrew curriculum, dictionaries, and verb table books.

There are several picture dictionaries - Usborne First Thousand Words in Hebrew, Let's Learn Hebrew Picture Dictionary by McGraw-Hill, A Child's Picture Hebrew Dictionary by Adama Books, My First 100 Hebrew Words: A Young Person's Dictionary of Judaism by Howard I. Bogot published by UAHC Press.

It is good to get a machberet, a Hebrew notebook by KTAV Publishing. They only sell to Jewish schools or synagogues, so you can buy from the synagogue in Anchorage. It has the aleph bet and the vowels in a chart on the back cover.

For your computer you can get a Hebrew font writing program called Dagesh Pro. It shows up on my Word font list, and writes from right to left.

A good adult dictionary is by Shimon Zilberman entitled The Up-To-Date English-Hebrew Hebrew-English Dictionary ISBN 965-222-862-1. Font is small, I use a magnifying lens, but my eyes are 50 yrs old. Another good adult dictionary is the one by Oxford.

Behrman House is a good source of Conservative Movement related Hebrew materials. They have a series called The New Hebrew Through Prayer which has a text and workbook for each level. They also make the Sarah and David books, and many others. Go to their site.

For the very beginner I have a workbook that goes over the letters and the meanings of their origins called Ox House Camel Door by Joel Lurie Grishaver from Torah Aura Productions. Their materials are very cute and get a child's or adolescent's attention. TA has a great site as well.

Other easy books are Hebrew in 10 minutes a Day which is pretty much tourist survival language, and Your First 100 words in Hebrew from Passport Books. I got both of these on Amazon.com.

Another category of necessary books for Hebrew study beside the dictionary, and the how to read the writen language, is the verb table. Barron's has published three versions - 201 Hebrew Verbs, 501 Hebrew Verbs, and the newer, yellow covered 501 Hebrew Verbs which actually has, I think, 551 verb roots. These are listed by the shoresh or root. Each root is conjugated in the familiar past, present and future tenses for all pronouns (masculine and feminine, singular and plural, first second and third person), in 7 Binyamin or verb patterns. Each shoresh can be made into nouns, adjectives or adverbs as well. The root is the language.

And so, the real key to the language are the verb patterns, for which I found a book on Amazon called A Step By Step Guide to Modern Hebrew by Michael Rose and Ezri Uval ISBN 965-555-214-4. I, also, recently saw that they have published a similar book that is a more general beginner's book. These are for adults, are explained in American English, the font in Hebrew has the vowel marks, called nikkudim, and is legible. The size of font and its legibility is often an issue in Israeli publications, and nikkudim are often missing in things published for adults.

A final suggestion, if you have internet, go to ulpan.com and sign up for their daily free email of Hebrew. It is consistant, just a bit, not overwhelming, and adds up. This would be maybe something you could turn into a fun game, or activity.

I like The Learnables but it only has two levels of regular Learnables and one level of Basic Structures. The pronunciation is great and seems like a Sabra (native Israeli) accent.

I have also an old curriculum published by the New York City Public Schools for Jr. and Sr. High school level. I like it because the lesson is explained in English. The author is Blumberg, titled Modern Hebrew. I think the first edition was in the early 1950's. There are several editions and two parts. Some of the grammar may not be current because of the age of these books, and the fact that Modern Hebrew is still changing and forming itself, just like Israel itself.

HTH
PM me if you need any other specific info

[MamaSheep]

I think I've been around snarky kids too much today. The first thing I thought was, "They're not suggestions, they're commandments."