Seventy American Teachers Arrive to Teach English to Israeli Periphery Kids
Source: eJewish Philanthropy
Seventy young teachers from across North America are working with 2,500 underprivileged Israeli elementary school students to boost the students’ English skills. Meanwhile, the visiting teachers are getting a rare look behind the headlines of Israeli life. It’s all part of a novel immersive educational experience called TALMA, the Israel Program for Excellence in English, an English-immersion program for Israeli elementary schoolchildren. Operating for three weeks in July, TALMA provides a meaningful opportunity for schoolchildren who often do not have worthwhile and affordable educational options during the two-month summer vacation. In the long run, these students can leverage their enhanced English not only to bolster their educational achievement in high school and university, but also to land better jobs in the global economy.
TALMA is a national program operated in partnership with the Ministry of Education in conjunction with the Steinhardt Family Foundation in Israel and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. TALMA places a teacher from the United States alongside an Israeli teacher in schools across Israel, and has assisted over 1,200 students since its inception in 2014.
For the 2015 program, the TALMA teachers were spread in schools across Israel, from Jerusalem to Migdal Ha’Emek, Upper Nazareth and the Jezreel Valley. The northern portion of the program was also made possible with the support of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
See more at the TALMA website.