MONTREAL — Seven Bialik High School Hebrew teachers were to fly to Boston last Sunday for a two-week immersion course on teaching a new Hebrew-language curriculum being introduced at the school this fall.
Rabbi Daniel Rosenberg
Judaic studies director Rabbi Daniel Rosenberg said the new curriculum – called NETA – represents a sea change in how Hebrew as a second language is taught at the school.
Bialik will be the only school in Eastern Canada – and only the third so far in the country – to use NETA, he added.
The Hebrew curriculum change is the first important step in an overall restructuring of the school’s Judaic studies program formally initiated by Rabbi Rosenberg last fall that would, within a year or two, see more elective options in the upper grades – including one to study more Halachah and Talmud, and another to stop studying Yiddish if proficiency is deemed sufficient.
In an interview, Rabbi Rosenberg conceded that support for these changes from teachers and parents has not been immediate or unanimous. The existing Hebrew curriculum, he noted, was “built by the teachers” and has served the school well.
Similarly, Yiddish – one of four languages taught at the school – is seen by more than a few parents and by longtime JPPS/Bialik supporters as a sacrosanct underpinning of the school’s Judaic studies curriculum.
Yet, Rabbi Rosenberg, a 39-year-old native of Rochester, N.Y., who speaks Yiddish himself and is affectionately referred to as “Rabbi Dan” by everyone at Bialik, sees these changes as essential if the school is to produce more students who can actually converse in Hebrew and benefit from more choice in order to reinforce their Jewish identities and equip themselves for the outside world.
Rabbi Rosenberg has also received full support from the school’s board of directors.
“NETA’s primary goal is to instruct in the Hebrew language, to use Hebrew as a gateway for everything else,” Rabbi Rosenberg said. That “everything else,” according to a May press release from the school, includes “more rigorous standards for Tanach education that emphasize valuing Jewish practices and traditions, while building a strong connection to the State of Israel.”
In terms of the latter, Rabbi Rosenberg hopes that the gradual Judaic studies changes will better equip students entering the CEGEP and university systems to counter anti-Israel sentiments.
In general terms, Rabbi Rosenberg said that as a result of the historic educational reforms put into place by Quebec over the last few years, Bialik has felt the squeeze of incorporating reforms while maintaining the four-language curriculum that is unique among Jewish high schools.
When he began to reassess the Judaic studies program, Rabbi Rosenberg consulted extensively with parents, teachers, other schools and rabbis, and listened to anecdotal reports from all concerned.
Most of Bialik’s approximately 650 students come from its main feeder schools, JPPS (Jewish People’s and Peretz Schools) and Solomon Schechter Academy, but Hebrew proficiency can be at different levels as they enter Bialik, and Yiddish is non-existent for those from Solomon Schechter.
NETA, Rabbi Rosenberg explained, was designed by Hebrew University of Jerusalem language specialists. It’s specifically geared to high school students and moves the overall focus away from the traditional methods of literature and reading to speaking and writing.
According to the NETA website – www.netahebrew.org – students are required to take a multiple-choice placement test, and the program is “linguistically sequential: tests and tasks increase in length and complexity as the student’s Hebrew improves.”
The system incorporates themes that teens would enjoy, including Hebrew-language pop songs, computers and sports, as well as modern Israeli culture, general world knowledge, art, current affairs and Jewish texts.
“A unique and important feature of the NETA curriculum is its adherence to a steady pace that allows students to experience tangible progress… so that by the end of the advanced level, students will be able to study subject matter in Hebrew,” its website says.
About 100 schools – mostly in North America – now use the NETA Hebrew curriculum program, which is supported by the Avi Chai Foundation. The foundation also supports the Montreal-created and renowned Talam Hebrew program used at Jewish elementary schools worldwide.
In regard to changes to be made in Judaic studies as early as the 2011-2012 school year, Rabbi Rosenberg was quick to reassure that students in upper grades will have to demonstrate a reasonable grasp of Yiddish before they have the option of choosing between Yiddish and Hebrew.
“One Jewish language would still be compulsory, but they could still do both,” Rabbi Rosenberg said.
Electives will include more Tanach and Talmud study for students who want it, but he emphasized that the “religiosity” of the school will not change.
“Our goals are not ‘movement specific,’” Rabbi Rosenberg said.
