Tracks & Workshops

Professional Tracks

The Conference workshops are organized around four different tracks based on the following target audiences:

• Novice/Intermediate Teachers: Hebrew teachers in their first three years of Hebrew language instruction
• Veteran Teachers: Teachers with four or more years in the field, advanced degrees in Hebrew & second language acquisition, or graduates of significant professional learning programs’
• Hebrew Leaders: Individuals responsible for managing the Hebrew department faculty and curriculum
• School Leaders: School heads, principals, or other instructional leaders who work primarily outside of the Hebrew department

All Conference participants are invited to attend any of the workshops offered in any one of the tracks; however, the sessions will be designed for the specific audience of the track.

School Leaders Track 

• Finding the Intellectual, Human, and Financial Resources to Enable a Potent Vision for Hebrew 
  Having a vision for a stronger and more impactful Hebrew program is critical to fulfilling the value proposition for your Jewish day school – but it is not enough. Visions must be nurtured, grown, and sustained with a range of resources, including an articulated set of objectives, curricular materials that align with those objects, pedagogic expertise, the right faculty and leadership, and the financial resources to maximize these other investments. Join a panel of school leaders from different sized schools and different communities that have successfully moved through this process and are seeing results in the classroom and beyond. 
• What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Hebrew? Building a Bridge Between Jewish Studies and Hebrew Language Classes 
  How can we leverage the various Hebrews–biblical, liturgical, mishnaic, and modern–to elevate the learning and understanding of the other Hebrews? We will brainstorm ways of creating faculty collaboration and curriculum alignment to strengthen both text access and modern language facility. Educators will leave with a paradigm on how to coordinate Judaic Studies and Hebrew classes to improve proficiency in both and how to expose students to “the Hebrews” both organically and through specific teaching of constructs and conjugations.   
• Advancing Hebrew Beyond the Hebrew Department – Ruach and Avirah 
  In addition to the ways in which Hebrew teachers and department chairs work to strengthen Hebrew, more and more schools are also looking to see how to reinforce Hebrew as a value and a living language outside of the Hebrew classroom. This workshop will include: an opportunity to learn about a sociolinguistic approach to understanding the role languages play in community and identity building; an introduction to a new approach to Hebrew infusion that emerged from the camping and informal education space but is now being used in day schools; and the sharing of some of the ways this is working successfully in a school from a field practitioner. 
• Establishing a Virtuous Cycle for a School’s Hebrew Program in a Systematic Way: Tying Together Leadership, Assessment, Data-driven Instruction, and Achievement 
  With the understanding that effective Hebrew is a central element in the value proposition for Jewish day school, many schools want to learn new ways to maximize time, talent, and finances to strengthen student outcomes. This workshop session will feature: the newest tools to access student language learning in a objective manner; use this data to inform instruction and guide students, teachers, and the school towards their specific Hebrew goals; and discuss ways in which this progress can be recognized within the school and beyond to increase support from parents, board leadership, and the community. In addition, a school that has effectively put this in place will share lessons learned and the essential role that clear vision and leadership play in making this happen. 

Hebrew Leaders Track 

• Teacher Observation: A Pathway to Support Your Teachers’ Growth 
  As coordinators in the schools, we assist in lesson planning and observe and give feedback, as part of our roles as instructional leaders. This process may create emotional stress for new and veteran teachers. However, it can be a positive process of collaborative learning, creativity and innovation. In this session, we will review various models for observations and discuss the benefits and the challenges of each model for teachers’ professional growth. 
• Teaching a Foreign Language as a Nonnative Speaker 
  In this workshop, we will discuss a range of issues surrounding non-native and native speaker language teachers, and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each group. Among these are concerns about credibility, proficiency (both linguistic and cultural), and empathy. Through this conversation, I hope to provide an opportunity for teachers to examine their beliefs about themselves and their colleagues with regard to language background. In addition, I hope to encourage program coordinators and school administrators to broaden their conception of who is qualified to teach Hebrew. 
• Comprehensive Approach to Align Curricular Choices, Professional Learning, Vision, and Support to Maximize Schools’ Hebrew Goals 
  Hebrew leaders are like gourmet chefs, pulling together the right combination of ingredients, herbs and spices, equipment, and experience and knowledge to create extraordinary dishes that are flavorful and satisfying. Come join in a conversation with some master Hebrew leaders who have created their own recipes for success in their schools as they work to align and integrate curriculum professional learning, and a vision for their Hebrew faculty. 
• Integrating Israeli Culture in Ivrit Classes in Preparation to Visiting Israel  
  For many Jewish day schools, the Israel trip is an important capstone experience that solidifies the students’ commitment to learning, their peers, and to the global Jewish community. Come learn how to approach the integration of your Hebrew program into this experience, including ways in which contemporary Israeli culture can enhance learning in both the Jewish and general studies program as students gear up for their Israel experience. 
• Bridging Israeli Community to Israel through Hebrew Language: Beged Kefet School as a Model for Community  
  From the classroom to the community – “Beged Kefet,” the community school for Hebrew, was founded in 2008 to respond to the growing Israeli community in Silicon Valley. The school curriculum is based on the richness and diversity of Israeli culture, strengthens the connection with Israel, and develops the Jewish-Israeli identity of its students. The curriculum has three main axes that combine the Hebrew language as a central tool for intergenerational communication, heritage values, and skills necessary for the optimal functioning of the learner in the 21st century.  We will present how, through identifying and mapping the needs of the population, the school grew, within a decade, from one class to a school of over 500 students and leading an active community. We will share the dilemmas and challenges we face. 

Advanced Educators Track 

• Curating the Past – Creating the Future  
  Join us on a journey through unique treasures from the National Library of Israel that tell the fascinating story of Israeli and Jewish culture. Get to know the resources and programs that we have developed especially for educators, and hear about the latest programs designed for you in honor of Israel’s 75th birthday! 
• Unpacking Hebrew Poetry Through Multiple Lenses 
  Hebrew poetry provides a wonderful entrée into culture via short but meaningful units of language. This session will demonstrate how a piece of poetry can be analyzed through a range of lenses: historical context, gender, power, linguistics, Judaism, and a range of other ways that demonstrate how art encourages multi-vocal exploration. The presenters will also add the pedagogic lens, showing workshop participants ways to translate the interpretation of texts into meaningful language instruction, and will invite the participants into this rich discussion. 
• Enhancing Cultural Competence Through the IMAGE Model  
  Cultural Competence in L2 includes the ability to understand and apply cultural products, practices and perspective (3P’s) in authentic interactions. This workshop will introduces a pedagogical strategy, the IMAGE model to enhance the 3P’s 
• MADYK? Now What?  
  Teachers and school leaders will gain an understanding of what the MaDYK assessment helps us evaluate in our emergent readers. We will then discuss ways of interpreting results and changes that were made to the curriculum design as well as interventions to further support our learners. 
• Taste of Israel Culture Through DEI  
  In this session K-12 Hebrew teachers will look at Hebrew and Israeli culture through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Takeaways will include guiding principles to make educated selections of authentic Hebrew materials related to Israeli culture and society. Teachers will also gain some insights on instructional practices that help raise their students’ awareness toward issues of personal and collective identity and social change. 

Novice Teachers Track 

• First and Foremost – Let’s Communicate in Hebrew!  
  In this workshop we will discuss the philosophy that guides us in teaching Hebrew as an additional language, which is a variant of the “communicative approach”, which strives to achieve a balance between the four language skills and between form and content. Within the framework of this approach, we are guided by the European assessment scale, which serves as a tool for building curricula on the one hand and evaluating students on the other hand. This is the foundation on which we develop new teaching methods and teaching materials while dealing with current topics, as a means to share our culture with our students and invite them to share their culture with us. 
• Teaching Hebrew Decoding: Strategies and Tips  
  In this workshop, three presenters will share about their unique approach to teaching Hebrew decoding: Eyal and PHD methodologies, ‘Hebrew Reading Magic’ curriculum, and “LEARN TO READ HEBREW IN 18 STEPS: Color Coded Vowels Method 
• Conducive Language Strategies Promoting Language Acquisition in Early Childhood  
  Strategies and fun ideas for immediate implementation in the classroom – games, drama and art – adapted to young learners at the beginner-intermediate level 
• The Phonetic Approach to Teaching Hebrew Reading According to the Orton Gillingham Method 
  Teaching Hebrew reading/decoding as a second language is the area of Jewish Education that often suffers from the gap between knowledge and practice; thus, many students with learning difficulties at times remain underserved. The purpose of this workshop is to address the specifics of teaching Hebrew reading as a second language to students with Language Learning difficulties as well as majority of struggling students in our classroom. This workshop presents the summary of studies in this area of special education, analyzes the unique features of Hebrew and specific aspects of Hebrew reading acquisition, and presents an instructional methodology based on findings and research in this area both in Israel and United States. The teachers will leave having clear understanding of the essentials of the approach, variety of teaching tools to use, systematic and structured instruction, including lesson plan, materials and assessment tools. 
• Strategies for Student Engagement  
  How do we create a classroom culture of total participation? This workshop offers a toolbox of best practices where anxiety fades, confidence increases and risk taking is embedded in the classroom culture. Students notice and delight in their progress daily.  
• Methods to Enhance Language Acquisition  
  Explore JI’s innovative new platform – Jigzi – and learn how to make Hebrew learning in your class engaging and effective. Together we will explore techniques to infuse Hebrew acquisition into classroom culture through building and using interactive and fun activities. This session will be a hands-on Jigzi workshop, you will leave this session with new ideas and strategies as well as the skills to make a JIG (Jewish Interactive Game) for your students. 
• The Story in Early Childhood as a Tool to Enhance Emotional Intelligence  
  Mirik offers a unique approach – which relies on the sources and her experience, and uses original materials that she created and are suitable for teaching Hebrew from infancy to acquisition. 
• How to Encourage Students to Speak Hebrew?  
  How do you make students feel comfortable speaking Hebrew? In this workshop we will try out exciting tools to encourage oral expression in Hebrew, happily, easily and in a natural way. 
• Designing Learning Units: Authentic Materials  
  In the workshop we will examine the importance of using authentic materials to promote students’ learning a second/additional language. Together we will learn about the CLT methodology as a language promoter, what authentic materials are and what are the challenges facing teachers in finding and using authentic materials.  
• Teaching Hebrew Decoding in Varying Contexts 
  In this workshop, participants will learn from two educational specialists about engaging ways to teach early literacy in Hebrew. In the first part, the presenter will share tips and techniques for structuring fun and successful learning for all students—both with and without disabilities. The second part of the session will focus on helping Hebrew students begin the Journey of Learning Torah Scroll Navigation. 

Research, Trends, and Innovation in Hebrew Language Learning

A highlight of Hitkadmut is the opportunity for conference participants to learn about key trends and new ideas emerging from research in the field of Hebrew language education. These deeper insights and leading data inform instruction, build shared knowledge, and ensure a living bridge between researchers and practitioners. We are pleased to feature two components in this year’s gathering: the sharing of highlights from the annual State of the Field of Hebrew language education in Jewish day schools and a dedicated block of presenters sharing their latest research and providing an opportunity for questions and conversation. 

The following papers will be presented during the paper session at Hitkadmut:

Carmit Burstyn: Examining Learners’ Perception of the Instructional Practices and the Motivation that Support Their Hebrew Language Acquisition

T’helah Ben-Dan: Hebrew Learner Perceptions of Nonnative Hebrew Speaking Teachers

Hanni Goldfarb: The Development of the Speaking Skill in a Second Language among Adolescent Learners as a Result of the Emotional Changes They Experience at this Age

Liat Kadosh & Aliza Sandalon: Leading in Hebrew – Proven Proficiency Achievements

Sarit Klir-Peisach: Parents’ Perceptions of Their Child Learning Hebrew

Michal Lev: How to Adapt the Teaching Methods in Teaching a Second Language to Students’ Learning Preferences and Styles

Shelli Putterman-Kennet: The Impact of 21st Century Globalization on Approaches to Second Language Teaching

Dina Roginsky: Language Education: Heritage Students’ First Names as a Cultural Asset and a Pedagogical Tool

Israela Weiss: Patterns of Women’s Dealings with Their Spouses In the Last Novels by A. B. Yehoshua

All sessions will be recorded and available to all Conference participants for the balance of the month of February.