Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks wrote that “Judaism is not so much about believing in a set of creeds or doctrines as about feeling linked to other Jews throughout the world”.
A small, yet significant and personal experience provided me with a tangible insight which links to this phenomenon.
I remember vividly many years ago when my family and I moved from Israel to the UK to a new house in a new area. I was strolling along our new road with my then two-year-old son, and naturally spoke to him in Ivrit.
A neighbour, who was busy doing his gardening, overheard our conversation, approached me, shook my hand and said: “Shalom, at miyisrael?”, “Hello, are you from Israel?”. He told me he had been learning Ivrit for years since he was a child.
I was extremely moved by this encounter and, more than anything, it gave me a sense of belonging. I was not alone and not on my own.
I knew from that moment that I wanted to teach Ivrit in the UK. My guiding force in my Ivrit teaching career (in foundation and up to KS2 age groups) was to instil a positive attitude and a love for the Ivrit language learning among our young generation.
Notwithstanding the very limited time our children are exposed to Ivrit, I believe this can be achieved.
Professor Stephen Krashen, renowned linguist, argues that people “acquire a language in one way and only one way — when we understand messages”. He coined the phrase “comprehensible input”. In order to make Ivrit learning comprehensible, I needed to make it an enjoyable experience.
I believe I learnt the most from my students. Working with such a diverse group of young people, I needed to devise the best tools and teaching approaches in order to bring out the best in each one. I learnt to see each child as an individual, to bring out the positive within each, and to reward and acknowledge achievement, no matter how small.
I learnt that understanding each child’s specific needs and ability, and treating each as an individual, is paramount. Furthermore, to understand their world, to know what makes them happy or unhappy, what motivates them and what frustrates them — all enabled me to reach each individual in a different, tailored approach, and even more helped me establish a positive and a relaxed relationship with each and every one.
One day, as I was walking to my next lesson with my bottle of water filled with fresh lemon and mint, a new student, who was experiencing some behavioural difficulties at the time, walked alongside me and looked at my bottle and asked: “Does it taste nice?” I said “Yes, I love it”.
After a few seconds pause, she asked, “Have you ever tried it with tutim [strawberries] ?” ‘No,” I replied, “is it nice?” “Yes! Very,” she said. The next day, I filled my water bottle with strawberries.
To see the smile on her face and the spark in her eyes was an extremely rewarding and emotional experience for both of us. From that day on, she became an eager student, always striving to achieve her best with newfound confidence and pride.
Hopefully this girl will have the desire to continue learning Ivrit as an adult to be able to communicate with another Jews in other parts of the world.
Dalia Wittenberg is UK advisory Ivrit teacher at PaJeS
