Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Hebrew Through Movement

Hi Parents,
This past Sunday we had a Tu B'Shevat lesson, since the holiday began that day at sundown.  Our new vocabulary words are:
aytz=tree
p'ree=fruit
l'ntoah=to plant
This is because, as you may know, Tu B'Shevat is known as the birthday of the trees, the Jewish equivalent of Arbor Day.   We practiced walking, jumping, spinning, and running both to pieces of fruit and a little replica of a tree, and doing the same to pictures of an Israeli acacia tree, a pomegranate tree, and one of President Obama planting a tree in Israel alongside former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres.

Think about taking your children outside one day and saying lalechet el aytz--walk to the tree.  Or if you'd rather be inside, you could put a piece of fruit on the table and say l'hatzbeeah el p'ree, point to the fruit.  I'm going to try and work with them for longer now that their vocabulary has increased.  I see tremendous gains in their confidence in following Hebrew commands.  Working with them is great fun!
Have a great week!
Emily

Monday, January 11, 2016

Hebrew Through Movement

Hi Parents,

Yesterday I taught the Gan, Alef, and Bet classes together.  We focused on synagogue objects--specifically the bimah (platform from which the service is conducted), ner tamid (eternal light), aron hakokesh (holy ark), and Torah.  During the lesson I reinforced some of our basic verbs by having students pick up pictures of these things, and either walk toward the ark, sit on one of the chairs on the bimah, or point to the eternal light.  You can try some at home, if you'd like:
lakachat=to pick up
lahtet=to put down
l'hatzbeeah el=to point to something far away
l'hatzbeeah al=to point to something and touch it
lashevet al keesay=to sit on a chair

No class next week because of MLK Weekend.  I look forward to seeing your children in two weeks!
Emily