Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Source: Contact: The Journal of the Jewish Life Network, Vol.13/no.2, page 15 

In this article,the author contends that as we contemplate the best ways to teach Hebrew in our schools, we should note that the best learning pedagogy can emerge only when the language educator is adequately equipped. When teachers are knowledgeable about the theories of second-language acquisition, aware of learner variables and responsive to learning conditions and environments, they will be able to reflect on their practices and modify their activities, either during or after the lesson, in order to make the right decisions as they choose or create the most effective pedagogies in support of the language acquisition process.

The author then outlines three different models for the language-teaching profession articulated by Donald Freeman:

• "teaching as doing"
• "teaching as cognition"
• "teaching as interpretive"

and discusses how the Hebrew teacher should be aware of these models as well as different learner variables and learning conditions and environments to allow them to reflect on their practices and activities in order to make the right decisions as they choose or create the most effective pedagogies in support of the language acquisition process.