Hebrew at Yachad
Yachad utilizes the Onward Hebrew pedagogy, a sound-to-print approach for building Hebrew skills for synagogue life in which Hebrew and Judaics are integrated.
Onward Hebrew consists of four elements:
Tefila (prayer) in Hebrew (K-6th Grade)
Students practice tefila in Hebrew through once or twice weekly spiritual, musical tefila sessions with our rabbis, cantors, and song leaders. Students can engage with the prayers by following along in transliteration, Hebrew, singing along by memorization, and/or listening. By immersing students in tefila in Hebrew, in whichever ways they choose to engage, the prayers of our people are learned in authentic and spiritual way, rather than by practicing line-by-line.
Jewish Life Vocabulary (K-6th Grade)
By infusing Hebrew vocabulary and letters into the learning environment at Yachad, we aim to expose learners to the Hebrew that will enable them to participate in Jewish life in America, ie phrases like mazel tov (congratulations!), bikur cholim (visiting the sick), and btzelem elohim (in the image of God; as well as words like tshuvah (repentance), tanach (the Jewish bible), and mezuzah. Familiarity with these words not only lays the groundwork for successful Hebrew decoding, it also transmits important Jewish values and cultural elements.
Hebrew Through Movement
HTM is taught by our Yachad lead educators who have taken the intensive HTM training. Lead educators will both be able to (1) utilize HTM’s highly-developed version of ‘Simon Says’ in which teachers give verbal commands and the students follow with corresponding movements and (2) incorporate these words into the everyday language of the lesson and classroom. Vocabulary words largely focus on those related to Jewish holidays, blessings, prayers and Jewish values/living. Sight words are incorporated in the classroom space. HTM is intended to prime students to read Hebrew with a fun, movement-based activity that is motivating and engaging!
Let’s Learn Hebrew Side-by-Side (5th Grade)
“Put Hebrew learning directly in the hands of each and every student! Your digital natives will learn to read Hebrew in a technology-rich interactive online learning environment, reinforced by hands-on activities.”- letslearnhebrew.org
Let’s Learn is an online program comprised of 24 thirty-minute lessons during which a teacher, madrich(a) (high school helper) works one-on-one with students, teaching them to decode Hebrew, which involves sounding out the letters and vowels in combination to create words. Ambitious students are encouraged to use Let’s Learn at home and involve older siblings, zoom family or parents. The lessons contain interactive games on a computer, followed by hands-on reinforcement activities. The small group environment (5 students max) ensures that students can work at their own pace and that the teacher can tailor the instruction for each student. Additionally, the program tracks student progress and can be accessed by parents online.