Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Breaking through the language barrier

Channah and I have both made major breakthroughs on our hebrew learning this week.

The hebrew language consists of 7 families of verbs. Each family has it's own rules for conjugation with differences in subgroups and abnormal situations. Using verbs properly takes up most of our class time. We learn how to conjugate in the past and present tense.

On Tuesday the teacher put a list of 39 verbs we had learned on the board. We had to take the verbs and place them in the proper subgroup. I was finished way ahead of the class. I decided to use the extra time to review translating the different words. The teacher then announced that it was time to move onto the next family of verbs. I was really proud of myself.

Channah has been having a rough time in the hebrew enviornment at school. We have spent many nights dealing with her lashing out to the frustration of her situation. Since returning from the break she has been a different kid. Her best freind the only anglo only kid has been transferred to another school. Channah has responded by putting her full effort into school. She is particpating in school. She is bringing home art work. She is telling us what she learned in school and demonstrating her growing hebrew vocabulary. She makes brachas with a beautiful Israeli accent. She even made friends with one of the Israeli kids in class. Best of all she is happy.

We knew the hebrew would be hard. Channah and I both feel great about the progress we have made.

No comments: