Carleton College Winter 2000
Hebrew Program in the Department of Classical Languages
Hebrew 101 - Elementary Modern Hebrew (for daily assignments, click here.)
Class Meets: M-Th 12:30-1:40, F 1:10-2:10. Leighton 305
Office: Laird 15D. Turn left as you approach the Registrar's, left again through the doors.
Office Hours: M-Th 2:00-4:00, F 2:30-4:00
Phone: 7033. If you have a significant need to reach me at home, please do not call after 8:30 pm.
E-mail: sbeckwit@carleton.edu Mailbox: In the Classics Department, 310 Leighton.
Bruchim ha'ba'im - Welcome to Hebrew 101! We can think of Israeli Hebrew as a contemporary language with an ancient Semitic foundation and structure. As such, a combined learning approach is especially effective. We will speak continuously throughout the term, and we will do a lot of listening; to each other, and to selections from Israeli radio and television programs, and popular music. At the same time, we will also read from our texts from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and from Israeli newspapers and magazines; digesting, and reacting to what we encounter both orally and in writing.
We will couple these communicative aspects of the course with steady discussions of the language's structure in English, so that you will always have a clear understanding of the developments and changes we encounter. Since the Hebrew terms which Israelis use to describe their grammar frequently provide visual or graphic illustrations of what is going on, we will gradually learn and apply some of these terms, as well. They are also essential for advanced study in Israel or for learning biblical Hebrew.
Learning modern Hebrew is especially fun and exciting because we are joining a great line of experimenters. Ever since the full compilation of what we know as the Old Testament in Hebrew, Jews and non-Jewish Hebraists (scholars and users of Hebrew) have been pushing the limits. Could the language be used for secular as well as religious communication (post-biblical era through 1920's in pre-state Israel)? Could Hebrew furnish vocabulary relevant to new times, places, and circumstances (eg. in medieval Jewish Spain, and 18th-19th century Europe)?
How could you, for example, as a Jewish novelist in Europe in the industrial age, keep to the poignant task of writing a modern novel in Hebrew without finding the vocabulary to describe contemporary factories and the urban life outside your window? Just as the Sephardic philosopher Moses Maimonides was the first to introduce the word "imagination" into Hebrew in the Middle Ages, Israelis are still inventing and importing new terms in today's technological age. We're invited to join in all the preserving and adjusting that keeps the language spanning the centuries; often with amusing, always with fascinating results.
Course Books and Materials:
Chayatt et al. eds., Hebrew from Scratch. Jerusalem: Hebrew University. (blue, in Hebr.)
Kobliner, H. Hebrew-English Dictionary.
Two cassette set of tapes that go with our books.
Dahan, H. Verb Book, Beginning Levels. (yellow, Hebr.)
Tilscher, G. Hebrew in Jerusalem. (orange, Hebr.)
Glinert, Lewis. Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar. New York: Routledge.
Diament, Carol ed. Zionism: The Sequel. New York: Hadassah Organization of America.
In addition you will need a sizeable 3 hole binder (w/ 3 sections) & paper or hole punch.
Activities/ Assignments:
As you will see, the calendar below describes what we will do and cover each week. It does not lay out specific daily assignments. On Mondays through Wednesdays I will assign daily homework exercises or activities in class. By 5:00 p.m. I will post these same assignments on this Hebrew web site, at the daily assignment link. Each week will also include:
· Each Monday - a written assignment due, given out the previous Friday.
· Each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - we will cover and work with new material.
· Each Thursday - pull together and review, with no, or rarely any new material.
· Each Friday - in class test and -
Written out corrections from Monday's assignment due (see below).
New writing assignment for coming Monday given.
Essays or Written Pieces:
As noted in our calendar, you will have 6 short written assignments over the term. You may drop the one with the lowest grade, or you may skip one of these assignments, leaving 5. Each time I grade and hand back a written assignment with comments, please keep it in its own section in your binder (portfolio - see below). By Friday of that week, hand in a newly written out, corrected version of the assignment. Since Hebrew uses a non-Roman alphabet, one of the best ways to learn from all of your strengths and mistakes, and to practice your handwriting as well, is to figure out and write out all suggested corrections. In class we will go over how much need be re-written in different circumstances. If a piece is near perfect, updating or extending it with new structures and vocabulary we are using will be especially beneficial.
Friday Tests:
Beginning at the end of Week 2, each Friday (since it is our shorter class, and also so everyone can relax during Erev/ Shabbat), we will have a test on the week's material.There will be 6 tests in all, and again you may drop your lowest grade or you may skip one test.
Individual Portfolio:
You should maintain a binder divided into three sections: one for all returned tests, one for all written assignments,and their corrected versions, and one for handouts, brief homework assignments, notes, etc. Once at mid-term and once at the end of the term, I will go over your entire portfolio with you in my office. I have found that I received some of the best guidance and made the most progress in Hebrew this way. Together we will be able to look at your writing, your comprehension, and your use of grammar and vocabulary over several weeks. This will give you insight into areas you might approach differently in terms of awareness, practice, and/or self-challenge. At the end of the term your portfolio should contain all relevant work from the entire course.
Oral conversations with Stacy
When you come for your portfolio consultations we will also speak for a bit in Hebrew. We will then discuss what to keep doing and what to practice in your oral skills. We will have one conversation at mid-term and one at the end of the term.
Midterm & Final - There will be an in class comprehensive mid-term exam, and a final self scheduled exam during final exam days.
Daily Participation and Preparation
You are a key ingredient in creating a fun, productive environment in class, and in making the progress you want to, individually. This is especially true since so much of our learning will be done through talking with and listening to each other, and listening to Israeli radio and television, etc. Please keep latenesses and absences to a minimum, though I always appreciate hearing about unusual circumstances. Coming to class prepared means having thoroughly completed all steps of each assignment for the day it is due. It also means having listened to our tape, read aloud, or spoken with friends from class, so that you are able to speak as smoothly, using as much vocabulary as you can, in class. I will always be available during my office hours to practice or go over any material with you.
Grades:
Essays or Written Pieces (6; drop 1) - 15% of final grade
Friday Tests (6; drop 1) - 25%
Individual Portfolio - takes into account all weekly corrections of written assignments and effort on them. - 10%
Oral conversations with Stacy - 10%
Midterm exam - 15%
Final exam - 15%
Daily Participation and Preparation - 10%
Grading criteria for all assignments and exams will be discussed thoroughly in class.
Latenesses and Missed Work:
Late weekly written assignments will be marked down one grade level (B+ to B) for every day late, including weekend days. Please talk with me about unusual circumstances. Turn in any late work to my mailbox in Leighton. If you have a significant medical need or emergency and you need to miss a Friday test, you may make it up at the very beginning of the following week if you speak with me beforehand - if at all possible. Test make ups will be very rare, especially since you may skip one, as described above.
Special Needs:
If you have any special needs that will affect your learning or performance in this course, please talk with me as soon as possible so that we can make arrangements that will be helpful.
Course Calendar. Hebrew 101, Winter 2000
Week / Shavua 1 - Wed. 1/5 - Fri. 1/7
Ani: "Yofi ! I'm in Israel! But how do I read what's all around me? If I know the letters of the alphabet, can I get beyond sounding out She-ra-ton, Heel-ton, and Ba-nk?"
Stacy: "Behechlet - Absolutely! And one of the best ways is to combine learning the individual letters in print and in script with an overview of how the alphabet works as a system. Since 99% of Israeli Hebrew is written and read without vowels, knowing what to expect from certain letters alone or in combination will give you an excellent start."
This week we'll be:
· Getting used to reading and writing consonants alone.
· Learning the vowel signs and their names, and using them (there is a difference, I've found, between knowing how to read and being literate in Hebrew. Since the consonant letters of individual words often reflect and respond to grammatical change by shortening or lengthening their vowel sounds, being familiar with these, and how they look on paper, will allow you to talk and ask about the language as Israelis do.)
· Getting to know each other and what we study.
Texts:
Ivrit min hahatchala - our main book, intro. pages.
Glinert, Essential Hebrew Grammar 3-5
Gideon Shimoni in Diament ed., Zionism, The Sequel. 3-44.
Week/ Shavua 2 - Mon. 1/10 - Fri. 1/14
B'kitzur - This week at a glance:
Mon. 1/10 meet in the Modern Language Center computer area.
Thurs. 1/13 - in class review, Fri. 1/14 - first in class mivchan; test
Ani: "The history of this language is so cool - and using an ancient alphabet! But this is the 21st century, already. I can see learning how to write, but what about computing in Hebrew?"
Stacy: "!Ain b'aya No problem! This week we're going to hit the keyboard in Hebrew. Don't worry about touch typing - this will come as you gain practice throughout Hebrew 101-204. For now, finding the print letters on screen & keyboard and matching them with their script equivalents will do wonders for that spanning-the-centuries feel."
This week we'll be:
· Polishing off the rest of the Hebrew letters; print and script.
· Practicing hand - eye coordination, literally.
· Gaining insight into Hebrew's structure as a verb intensive language.
· i.e.: learning about root letters which are the language's building blocks, like DNA,
and verb patterns that have specific characteristics, like genes.
Texts:
Ivrit min hahatchala , intro. pages
Glinert, p. 27 (#24) - to top of p.29 - only skim this the night it is assigned!
Week / Shavua 3 - Mon. 1/17 - Fri. 1/21
B'kitzur - This week at a glance:
Ø Mon. in regular classroom. First chibur - written essay/ assignment due.
Ø Fri. mivchan; test #2, corrections on chibur #1 due.
Ani - "What?! Wait a minute! She wants to live with us too? Another roommate? Who is she? Where's she from? She's from there? Where's there? Oh. And she wants to live here, of all places? All right, yes, nice to meet you. Yes, the supermarket and the bank are right around the corner (and I'm quietly going around the bend)..."
Stacy - "You've now got a fourth for your tiny Jerusalem apartment? al tid'ag Don't worry! This week
we'll learn how to ask all the right questions in Hebrew!"
This week we'll be:
· Asking for information about people and things.
· Starting to learn about Jerusalem and its history by many of its street names.
Texts:
Ivrit min ha hatchala 1-3
Ivrit b'yerushalayim (orange) 7-9
Mordechai Kaplan in Zionism, the Sequel. 58-69
Week / Shavua 4 - Mon. 1/24 - Fri. 1/28
B'kitzur:
Ø Mon. chibur #2 due. Fri. mivchan #3, corrections on chiburr#2 due.
Ø This week or next, meet w/ Stacy to go over your portfolio and for sicha #1 -
midterm oral conversation.
Ani - "Shalom! I'm Debbie - I'm from Boston. Where are you studying? You're from Chicago, right? Do you read any Hebrew?You want to learn - what - Biblical, too? Cool. Do you want to grab a bite with me later? Oh, and what's that you're writing?"
Stacy - "She just moved in and she's a nightmare. Hoping for a little peace and quiet? You'll have to earn it by answering Debbie's barrage of questions! Here's how..."
This week we'll be:
· Learning to talk and ask about what we're studying, reading, writing, speaking, and doing, as well as where we're living and where we want to travel. (Binyanim pa'al and piel, present)
· Saying what we want to study, read/ and or write, and what we know and don't.
· Noticing that if all these syllabus notes were in Hebrew there would be no ...ing.
· Mastering singular and plural personal pronouns.
· Talking about things that are and are not there in your Israeli neighborhood.
· Takin' it to the streets...working with our maps of Jerusalem.
Texts:
Ivrit min ha'hatchala - shiyurim 4-6
Ivrit b'yerushalayim - sha'ar 1. pgs. 10, 14-15, 17-19.
Sefer hapo'al - yellow verb book - 31 '5#
Hillel Halkin in Zionism, The Sequel. 76-81.
Week / Shavua 5 Mon. 1/31 - Fri. 2/4
B'kitzur:
Ø Mon. chibur #3 due.
Ø Fri. mivchan #4, corrections on chibur #3 due.
Ø Portfolio and midterm, sichot , individual appointments ongoing.
Ani - "I've begun talking to a few Israeli students at the Hebrew University during our coffee breaks, between classes. Today I ordered shoko cham - hot chocolate. There were too many people crowding the coffee bar, though, and when my oj ueua was called out I had to ask someone to reach it for me. "Could you please pass my shoko cham ? It's in the tall, white cup." The guy passed it to me, but he looked at me a little funny, like I had made a mistake. What did I say?"
Stacy - "It may sound silly, but I don't think you had enough "the's" in your sentence. In Hebrew all nouns and their modifiers agree in gender, number, and definite or indefiniteness.You needed to say: "Could you please pass my shoko cham? It's inthe tall, the white, the cup." Phew! Fortunately, only one letter, heh, before each approrpriate noun and adjective, takes care of everything..."
This week we'll be:
· Practicing definite/ indefinite noun and adjective agreements by learning how to describe and look for an ideal apartment in Israel, or how to advertise some great property and find an ideal tenant.
· Learning that this has a masc. and a fem. form and takes the v prefix, as well.
· Learning about artist Anna Ticho's sketches of Jerusalem's hills and characters during the period of the Yishuv; the pre-state Zionist settlement in Palestine.
· Discussing what we're passionate about or love to do - binyan pa'al
and places we feel like going to - binyan pa'al
Texts:
Ivrit min ha'hatchala shiyurim 7-9
Ivrit b'yerushalayim sha'ar 1 12-13, 20-22
Glinert, 3-16 (pg. 12 #11 not needed yet)
Shlomo Avineri in Zionism, The Sequel. 85-88
Week / Shavua 6 - Tues. 2/8 - Fri. 2/11
B'kitzur:
Ø Mon. no chivbur due - midterm break.
Ø Tues. - in class review
Ø Wed. mivchan - Midterm exam.
Ø Fri. no mivchan.
Ani - "You know, there is so much logic in this language that I think I'm really getting a handle on it. Yesterday, though, my Israeli roommate Dina told me that if we're learning when to use v, something that's unique to Hebrew isn't far behind. Arabic doesn't even have this feature. What is it?"
Stacy - "Dina's right. Today, Hebrew is the only Semitic language with this feature. It's called a direct object marker - the word ,et (aleph tav), which you must use every time you do something to a definite direct object - people and things alike. The thing to remember is that whatever absorbs the impact of an action must be definite - it must have the heh prefix unless it is a proper noun, such as Sarah, or Jerusalem. Take a look at our copies of the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, and you'll see how often the combination comes up!"
This week we'll be:
· Returning to lesson 9 briefly to solidify v///,t, practicing it further in lessons 10-12.
· Learning the difference between verbs with 3 strong consonant root letters and
those with one weak root letter - in this case, with v as the last of the three letters.
· Learning how to refer to these weak and strong letters and verbs by their Hebrew
terms - which help us visualize just where the differences lie.
· Can't get that annoying roommate, Debbie, off your back? Start answering her
persistent "But why not?" with "...hf" - Because! By the way - I've got a "lama"
question for you - why are there so many different "because" expressions in Hebrew?
· Learning to count and understand numbers in conversation - especially on the phone.
Texts:
Ivrit min ha'hatchala shiyurim 10-12
Ivrit b'yerushalayim sha'ar 3. 30-24
Sefer ha'poal pg. 35 # 20, 21
Glinert, 16, 29-41 (select area)
A.B. Yehoshua in Zionism, The Sequel. 99-106
Week / Shavua 7 - Mon. 2/14 - Fri. 2/18
B'kitzur:
Ø Mon. chibur #4 due.
Ø Fri. mivchan #5, corrections on chibur #4 due.
Ani --"Hey, slow down -l'at l'at! I'm still marking my direct objects,
answering "lama" questions from everybody, and learning to take down phone numbers!"
Stacy - "al tid'ag (m.)/ al tid'agi (f.) - don't worry! I know, last week we only had 2 days of new material. We've got a built in review coming up in chapter 14!"
This week we'll be:
· Identifying and using "et...ha" in more contexts.
· Comparing verbs with a weak final root letter (v) with those with a weak middle
root letter (u).
· Identifying and using all the verbs we know and love (as a great professor of mine once put it!) as binyan pa'al & binyan pi'el verbs.
Texts:
Ivrit min ha'hatchala shiyurim13-14.
Ivrit b'yerushalayim sha'ar 3. 31-33, sha'ar 4, 34-37
Sefer ha'po'al 16-18
Yossi Beilin in Zionism, The Sequel. 107-110.
Week/ Shavua 8 - Mon. 2/28 - Fri. 3/3
B'kitzur:
Ø Mon. chibur #5 due.
Ø Fri. mivchan #6, corrections on chibur #5 due.
Ø This week or next, meet w/ Stacy to go over your portfolio and for sicha #2 -
final oral conversation.
Ani - "It's really funny how, when you learn something new in Hebrew, all of a sudden you hear it all around you here in Jerusalem - it's as if a certain word or phrase never existed before, and suddenly you see and hear it everywhere! The trouble is - in real life some things don't sound like they do in class. Take ohrpxn misparim; numbers, for example. I ordered "one ice cream" on Ben Yehuda Street yesterday, but the vendor said, "Here's ice cream one." But then my friend asked for "Two cones," and the guy said, "Two cones, coming up!" Why the difference?"
Stacy - "The difference you hear is in the word order when it comes to phrases or sentences with numbers in them. In Hebrew, as in Arabic, when one is used the item described is always first and the number second. From two up, the order is familiar to us - first the number, then the item described. The other thing you'll notice is that we can't say "I have two cones" word for word in Hebrew, since there is no specific verb for "to have". Any ideas?"
This week we'll be:
· Practicing reading and using numbers in all kinds of sentences and contexts -
and finally understanding the Passover song, "Who knows one?" line by line!
· Learning how to use l + pronoun endings to indicate indirect objects (to/for someone or something).
· Having fun possessing things.
· Learning about the many lives of yesh and ain.
· Learning a new way to give and soak up lots of praise.
Texts:
Ivrit min ha'hatchala shiyurim 15-18.
Ivrit b'yerushalayim sha'ar 4. 38-42.
Sefer ha'poal 25, $43.
Jacob Neusner in Zionism, The Sequel. 121-128
Week/ Shavua 9 - Mon. 3/6 - Fri. 3/10
Bkitzur:
Ø Mon. chibur #6 due.
Ø Fri. no mivchan - review for final exam. Corrections on chibur #6 due.
Ø Portfolio and midterm ,sichot, individual appointments ongoing.
Ani - "Yofi! Term's almost over! But if I organize a study session for our Hebrew mivchan - exam - how can I ask, "Does everybody know what we need to study?" And I've got a really hectic schedule next week - especially since I have to hike up Har Hatzofim (Mt. Scopus) every morning to the Hebrew University campus. I'm always too late for the bus. I really have to set my alarm clock - and even so I know I'll always be asking people the time since I generally forget to wear my watch. I can't be late for my exams. How can I get the time from people?"
Stacy - "Ain b'aya!" This last week we'll cover two great essentials - necessity and time! We'll wrap up with the question word which in both genders, so you can even ask which way you're going and which exam you're supposed to be taking, when!"
This week we'll be:
· Learning how to need (!)
· Learning how not to be caught out when you're asked the time on a Tel Aviv street.
· Doing a full out chazara - review!
Texts:
Ivrit min ha'hatchala shiyurim 19-21.
Ivrit b'yerhushalayim sha'ar 4. 43-46.
Sefer ha'poal, 27 #50, 28 #51-52, 29 #54
rthur Herzberg in Zionism, The Sequel. 135-139
Self scheduled final exam during exam days.
B'hatzlacha u'l'hitra'ot b'ivrit 102!!
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