Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Source: eJewish Philanthropy

Starting in 2018, the three of us – a researcher of language and identity (Benor), a researcher of heritage language education (Avineri), and a rabbi-educator (Greninger) – investigated how Hebrew is taught and perceived at American Jewish part-time schools. After interviewing 20 Jewish educational leaders, we conducted a survey of 519 school directors (across diverse denominations, regions, and school sizes). Then we conducted observations at ten schools and surveyed students, parents, teachers, and clergy at eight of those schools.

Through our research, a number of key findings emerged that can help Jewish professionals and lay leaders to debunk myths and to collaboratively strengthen Hebrew learning in part-time Jewish educational settings:

Myth: Students (and their parents) dislike religious school and learning Hebrew.

In fact, we found that students and parents generally express positive feelings about their school and learning Hebrew, and their responses suggest that schools are generally succeeding in affective (emotional) goals more than school directors believe.

Myth: Students (and their parents) are only interested in Hebrew learning for the purpose of bar/bat mitzvah preparation.

This is true for many students and parents, but some also have other goals, including gaining conversational Hebrew skills. In fact, parents and students value Hebrew for reasons besides bar/bat mitzvah more than school directors and clergy expect them to.

Myth: Part-time Jewish schools are teaching Hebrew like they always have.

Most school directors reported that they shifted their approach to Hebrew in the past few years (before COVID-19). However, their changes were diverse. Some schools increased the hours of Hebrew instruction, while others decreased them. Some stopped teaching cursive; some started teaching cursive. Some are focusing less on conversational Modern Hebrew while others are focusing more on conversational Modern Hebrew.

Myth: Most Hebrew teachers are Israeli.

We found that most part-time schools have few Israeli teachers. In fact, many schools have trouble finding teachers with sufficient Hebrew knowledge and/or pedagogical skills for teaching Hebrew beyond decoding.

Other key findings:

• It is very difficult to learn a language when exposure is only 1-2 hours a week. Our research found that lack of time is a major challenge for Hebrew learning in all schools. Even schools on the high end of contact hours (5-6 hours/week) wish they had more time.
   
• About half of school directors report that they are full-time, paid employees (which means half are not!). A majority of school directors consider their Hebrew conversation skills minimal.
   
• Clergy exert more influence than they realize. On average, clergy believe they are involved in goal-setting and developing curricula for Hebrew education to a small extent, but school directors believe they are involved to a moderate/great extent. This may reflect school directors feeling pressure from clergy to teach Hebrew a certain way, even if clergy members do not participate in dedicated meetings regarding the school’s Hebrew-related goals and methods.
   
• Schools infuse elements of Hebrew throughout the school experience, from greetings and songs to Jewish life vocabulary and visual displays. This fosters students’ belonging in a Hebrew metalinguistic community – a group that values Hebrew as a central facet of Jewish life in America.

One major recommendation of our study is that schools involve all stakeholders in making decisions about goals, rationales, and expectations for Hebrew learning. A discourse of failure is the result of conflicting views of what Hebrew skills should be (and are currently) taught. If a parent expects her child to understand the Hebrew prayers she is reading and converse in Israeli Hebrew, but the school’s goals are only Hebrew decoding and recitation, the parent will undoubtedly be disappointed.

This is the first study of its kind, and we hope that our findings will spark conversations among Jewish educators, clergy, teachers, parents, students, and communal / lay leaders about the rationales, goals, and practices of Hebrew education as they work to strengthen Hebrew learning in the months and years to come.

Read more at eJewish Philanthropy.