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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/18274/full/18274/hebrew-immersion-school-programs-winning-high-praise/ <br /><br /> <b>Hebrew-immersion school programs winning high praise</b> <br /> Friday, August 9, 2002 | by <p>JULIE WIENER </p> <br /><br /><p>NEW YORK—It's 10:30 on a sunny spring morning at Ben Porat Yosef: The Sephardic Yeshiva of Bergen County, and the 3-year-olds are seated at low tables, nibbling on animal crackers.<br /><br /> Surrounded by books, toys and colorful laminated displays with Hebrew and English letters, the children at the Leonia, N.J., school chat among themselves in toddler English.<br /><br /> When their teacher, Sara Pearl, walks by, a girl in red overalls requests, "od mayim," Hebrew for "more water."<br /><br /> Another girl asks in Hebrew for oogiot, or cookies, and a boy in a red baseball cap announces, "Gamarti," Hebrew for "I finished."<br /><br /> The children, most of whom come from families in which the parents speak only English, are part of a new experiment in American Jewish education—Hebrew immersion nursery schools.<br /><br /> Amid a growing body of research showing the benefits of teaching foreign languages to young children, a small but growing movement is taking hold to offer intensive Hebrew education for the pre-kindergarten set.<br /><br /> So far, the number of communities other than Leonia with full-fledged Hebrew immersion preschool programs can be counted on one hand—Baltimore, Washington, suburban Philadelphia and suburban Detroit.<br /><br /> The programs face great challenges, ranging from difficulty finding qualified instructors to the dearth of curricular materials to skepticism from parents worried that the programs will interfere with other learning.<br /><br /> Proponents of Hebrew immersion say the programs offer several advantages:<br /><br /> *They introduce Hebrew at an age when children readily absorb foreign languages, giving students a head start on Hebrew school and day school.<br /><br /> *Spark early connections to Israel.<br /><br /> *Boost a child's brainpower, vocabulary and self-esteem, according to some research.<br /><br /> *Do not seem to hinder children's English language development.<br /><br /> The programs "deliver not only language, but also culture," said Frieda Robins, early childhood project director at the Jewish Theological Seminary's William Davidson School of Jewish Education.<br /><br /> Robins helped several Conservative synagogue preschools start such programs.<br /><br /> At the Ben Porat Yosef program, which is Orthodox, 3-year-olds spend about an hour each day speaking Hebrew. Administrators hope to expand the Hebrew time as the children get older.<br /><br /> The school plans to add a grade each year and become a full day school that will be "Ivrit b'Ivrit," meaning the Judaic curriculum will be taught entirely in Hebrew.<br /><br /> Rather than translating or using textbooks, as in traditional foreign language classes, immersion programs teach using only Hebrew. Teachers use body language and context clues to convey the meaning, and most children pick it up quickly.<br /><br /> Pearl, Ben Porat Yosef's Hebrew teacher, uses songs and stories, and covers much of the typical preschool curriculum—such as colors, days of the week and weather—in Hebrew.<br /><br /> She speaks Hebrew with the children all day, even at lunch-time and recess, when the other teachers speak English.<br /><br /> For a native Israeli who is a little homesick, it's an ideal job.<br /><br /> The children "use my 'reysh,'" Pearl says proudly, referring to a Hebrew letter that most Americans pronounce without the guttural element, as if it were the English letter "R."<br /><br /> "They say everything with an Israeli accent,"<br /><br /> Parents have been responding enthusiastically, and enrollment in this and other programs are increasing.<br /><br /> "The kids love it. It's fun. And the kids are really learning a lot," says Jordana Weiss, director of the synagogue's nursery school and kindergarten.<br /><br /> The Hebrew emphasis also is spurring parents to think more seriously about their ongoing Jewish education, Weiss says.<br /><br /> Some parents are for the first time considering sending their children to day schools, she says, and others who were not interested in afternoon religious schools now are considering them.<br /><br /> The elementary schools where the children eventually will enroll also are being forced to change.<br /><br /> Like all avenues of Jewish education, however, the growth of Hebrew immersion programs has been somewhat stymied by staffing difficulties.<br /><br /> Most Jewish early childhood programs, which tend to offer relatively low salaries and no benefits, have difficulty finding qualified teachers with Judaic knowledge. Add Hebrew fluency—ideally that of a native speaker—and the pool of eligible candidates is even smaller.<br /><br /> "People who have the early childhood education skills don't necessarily have the Hebrew skills, and the people who have the Hebrew skills don't necessarily have the education background," Kempenich says.<br /><br /> So far, most parents seem happy with the immersion programs.<br /><br /> Norma Dorman, whose 5-year-old twins, Hershel and Pearl, are in the Adat Shalom nursery school in suburban Deroit, says their Hebrew already surpasses that of their older siblings, who are in day school.<br /><br /> "This program is the most awesome I've experienced or seen," Dorman says. "The two little ones are walking around the house speaking in Hebrew.<br /><br /> "They're just like little sponges," she adds. "The earlier you can catch them, the better you are."</p> <p> </p>

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