Intentional commitment and mindful decision-making to Hebrew Language at Boston’s Jewish Community Day School

Hebrew to follow לעברית, אנא ראו בהמשך

Shavuot flowers made by 1st graders sharing their favorite learnings.

At JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School in Watertown, MA, Hebrew is a window into Israeli culture, and it is with this understanding and focus that it is taught to their students; Hebrew language IS at their center! When JCDS founder Arnee Winshall was recently asked why Israel was integral to the founders’ original mission of the school, her response was: “Our entire approach was to connect to Israel through creating a dual language and a dual culture environment, where the spirit of Israel would be in the air. A place where we sing Israeli songs, learn Israeli dance, celebrate holidays, cuisine, and  history: find ways to integrate Hebrew and Israel throughout the curriculum, and even make it so on some days you wouldn’t know whether you were in the US or in Israel”.  

Coupled with this vision, and as a pluralistic, 21st century cutting-edge bicultural institution of learning, JCDS has always recognized that exposure to foreign language is crucial in developing its students’ global awareness and appreciation for interconnectedness.  At JCDS, Hebrew extends well beyond the classroom. It is heard in the art room, the hader ochel (dining hall) throughout the hallways, on the playing fields, and it is seen in displays and on bulletin boards. As Head of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Dorit Zmiri told us, “Through Hebrew, our students are exposed and organically acculturated to the land of Israel and its people”.  

How does JCDS manage to sustain and maintain such a strong Hebrew program?  

Gan Nitzan student creating an Alef” in the sand.

A deliberate decision was made early on in the school’s development, that each Lower School classroom would be home to two full time teachers: an English speaker and a native Hebrew one who would consistently speak their native tongue throughout the day. Within this natural language environment, children are exposed to authentic parlance, speech, and everyday dialect. Be it conversations, stories, talk of feelings and emotions, humor, or the simple giving of directions, the children hear it all in genuine language. As well, the fine arts at JCDS: their music, art, and dance programs are taught entirely in Hebrew (with an occasional English translation if needed). 

Hebrew learning begins in Gan Nitzan and culminates in 8th grade, but at the core of JCDS is that Hebrew language acquisition is assessment based. Every student is evaluated annually through OPI, the Oral Proficiency Interview, and based on progress monitoring, placed at an appropriate level to maximize their learning.  With Sharona Givol at the helm of their Hebrew program for nearing two decades, she developed marvelous units for the learner according to their Hebrew proficiency level and age appropriateness.  

As a result of the Corona pandemic, two major changes transpired at the school. Early on came a 25% increase in students arriving from local public schools with little to no Hebrew background. Conversely, the following year, on

ce some of the restrictions were lifted, several Israeli students arrived at once, speaking almost no English. To address these two opposing challenges, JCDS expediently developed, out of necessity, and in keeping with their original mission, classes to accommodate and meet every student at their individual level, including, for the very first time in its history, an entire year’s unit for 8th grade native Hebrew speakers. Throughout this sophisticated unit, students create a website in which they explore  giving tours around Israel that include information about history, environment, geography and the demographics of its citizens. As well, they create a complete marketing package for schools from abroad wishing to tour The Israel Trail, a hiking path that extends across the country from north to south.  

JCDS students, from Gan Nitzan through 8th grade, live and breathe Hebrew in an authentic bicultural, bilingual environment that was, and will always remain, at their center.  

 

בית ספר JCDS הוקם על  מנת ליצור סביבת למידה שבה התלמידים נעים בנוחות בין שתי התרבויות; האמריקאית והישראלית.  

8th grader is showing off his “Israel Trail “ marketing package

לדברי דורית זמירי ראש המחלקה לעברית ב– JDCS, מייסדי בית הספר חזו בית ספר בבוסטון שבו התרבות הישראלית חיה, עשירה ואותנטית ככל האפשר, וניתן לראותה ולחוש אותה במסדרונות בית הספר, בכיתות, במגרש המשחקים, ובחדר האוכל. 

כיצד הצליח JCDS לקיים ולשמור על סביבת עברית חזקה כל כך במשך כל השנים הללו? 

המחויבות של ארני ווינשל, ממייסדי בית הספר,לשפה העברית ולפלורליזם הפכה אותם לחלק חשוב מהחזון והפילוסופיה החינוכית של בית הספר, ושמרה על קיומם לאורך השנים. 

מחשבה ומשאבים רבים הושקעו בבניית סביבה דו-לשוניתב-JCDS. למשל, בחטיבת היסודי, עובדים במקביל באותה כיתה שני מורים, דובר עברית ודובר אנגלית המדברים את שפתם לאורך כל היום. כמו גם שיעורי אמנות, מחול ומוסיקה מתנהלים בעברית מתוך כוונה לחשוף כמה שיותר את התלמידים לשפה העברית. באותה מידה מצופה מהמורים להביע את מחשבותיהם ורגשותיהם בשפה הנוחה להם באופן מלא ואותנטי, ובמידת הצורך מישהו אחר יתרגם את דבריהם לטובת מי שאינו מבין את שפתם. 

העברית ב– JCDS נמצאת במרכז, בלמידה הפורמלית והחוויתית כאחד. ההוראה בכיתה נערכת בשפה העברית ומתמקדת במיומנויות השפה: דיבור, האזנה, קריאה וכתיבה. התוכנית מבוססת על מנגנון הערכה המלווה את התלמידים לאורך תקופת שהותם בבית הספר. הערכה זו מאפשרת מעקב אחר התקדמות הלומדים ויצירת חומרי לימוד מותאמים לצרכיהם. ברשות בית הספר הצטברו עד כה יותר מעשרים שנה של נתונים על הישגי הלומדים על פי סולם  ACTFL. 

במהלך השנים האחרונות, עקב מגפת הקורונה, התרחשו שני שינויים דמוגרפיים שהיוו אתגר להקניית השפה העברית בבית הספר. מחד, הגיעו תלמידים רבים מבתי ספר ציבוריים ללא רקע בעברית, מאידך, הגיעו תלמידים ישראלים ללא ידע בשפה האנגלית. על מנת לענות לצרכים השונים של תלמידים אלו, נפתחו כיתות מכינה ללימוד העברית, וכיתות ELL ללימוד אנגלית  עבור דוברי העברית.  

בפעם הראשונה נפתחה כיתה לרמת דוברי עברית (ישראלים)  שהצריכה תכנית לימודים שונה ויצירת יחידות לימוד חדשניות. שרונה גיבעול, שבמשך שנים עמדה בראש המחלקה לעברית ופיתחה את כל יחידות הלימוד, ענתה לאתגר ופיתחה יחידת  לימוד חדשה – ״שביל ישראל״ -מסלול טיולים המשתרע לכל אורכה של ישראל. כל תלמיד בכיתה ח׳ קיבל משימה של מדריך טיולים לקטע אחר בשביל ישראל, ויצר תוכנית שיווקית מלאה לבתי ספר מחו״ל שרוצים לטייל. כל תלמיד הקים אתר אינטרנט בעברית שכלל מידע חברתי, סביבתי, דמוגרפי והיסטורי ובנוסף אפשרויות לינה, תחבורה, ארוחות ,בידור ותקציב. 

יכולת בית הספר לקיים סביבה דו תרבותית ודו לשונית שבה חיים ונושמים את התרבות הישראלית עד כמה שניתן לעשות זאת מחוץ לישראל, מעידה על המחוייבות לחזון בית הספר והתאמתו  לנסיבות הזמן. 

 

Unabashed Zionists bring joy to Hebrew at Gray Academy, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Some of us live in communities where there are five Jewish day schools and yeshivot within a mile’s radius, while some of us live in states or provinces with only five such schools. Few of us, however, are part of a Jewish day school or yeshiva that is the only game in town and within a five-hour radius! Welcome to the Gray Academy of Jewish Education, a pluralistic Jewish day school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the only K-12 Jewish day school in Western Canada, and a proud member of Hebrew at the Center.

For those who are unfamiliar, Winnipeg is on the Prairies, 536 kilometers (about the length of New York State) due north of the US border, between North Dakota and Minnesota, halfway between Vancouver in the West and Toronto in the East.

Hebrew language educators at Gray Academy of Jewish Education may be few, but they are mighty! The school was founded in 1997 as the result of the amalgamation of three founding Jewish day schools. Today, Gray Academy is the crown jewel of the Winnipeg Board of Jewish Education, supported by the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, accredited by the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools, and a member of Prizmah.

Winnipeg’s P2G region in Israel is the Gallil and this relationship has run deep over 25 years. Gray’s grade 10 & 11 students provide home hospitality to their Israeli-teen counterparts from Danciger High School in Kiryat Shmona, and then travel to Israel touring, going to school and living in the homes of their host brothers and sisters in the Galil. Real bonds of friendship are formed and often last a lifetime. Many of the parents of today’s students are themselves graduates of Gray Academy or one of its predecessors, including Ronit Amihude, Gray’s Director of Learning and Innovation. Ronit says that approximately 25% of her childhood classmates made aliyah. The Zionist-Jewish community of Winnipeg wants their children to see Hebrew language as a prominent and intentional feature of Jewish life.

As part of a recent accreditation self-study, focus groups with various stakeholders – including with high school students – revealed that attention needed to be paid to revitalizing Hebrew language instruction at Gray Academy. The love of Hebrew was there in the lower grades, but older students in the middle and high school were looking for more when it came for learning the language. Said Ronit, “We learned from teen students that joy and excitement around the language wasn’t what it could be. The structure of the program did not make them understand what is so amazing about Hebrew. Students said they want to be able to have real conversations with their Israeli peers. They want connections.” Gray Academy’s students were able to clearly articulate the sentiments we suspect exist in Jewish students around the globe. Their school’s leadership and teachers decided to take on the challenge to help students find the intrinsic motivation to use and love Hebrew language.

Thus was born a new partnership between Gray Academy and Hebrew at the Center, a non-profit that envisions a world where Hebrew is vibrant, celebrated, and pivotal to a thriving Jewish identity and the global Jewish community. Gray Academy became an HATC Member School, applied for and received a grant from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba to invest in a two-year deep dive into making Hebrew language instruction more communicative, relevant, contemporary, and youthful.

Teachers entered this process with enthusiasm and excitement and have gotten more clarity about the goals of teaching and learning Hebrew. Says Ronit, “we don’t want our students to learn content through Hebrew, rather, to learn Hebrew as a communicative language.”

At the same time, the process of change has been challenging. While all members of the Hebrew faculty are licensed teachers, none were formally trained as foreign language teachers. With guidance from HATC, they are learning the theories, experimenting, and tweaking their techniques and lessons. At one point or another, each of these dedicated and professional teachers has hit bumps in the road, yet the remain committed to the process.

Because Gray Academy’s leadership recognizes that this kind of deep, nuanced work never happens on a straight, upward-bound trajectory, each of their 13 Hebrew teachers receives individualized coaching from a member of the HATC team. Additionally, HATC’s Chief of Staff and Director of Education, Dr. Esty Gross, has twice visited Gray Academy and she collaborates with Ronit Amihude. However, since Ronit’s responsibilities at Gray Academy span both General and Jewish education, her dream is to one day have an in-house Hebrew language leader at Gray Academy.

Ronit Amihude and the dedicated Hebrew faculty on the prairies of Manitoba continue to grow, persevere, and develop as a team and as individuals, with their eye on their students’ desire to communicate in Hebrew, with authenticity and joy.