TORONTO — Two Toronto Chabad locations – Chabad on the Avenue and Chabad of York Mills – are launching Hebrew schools this fall that will use a Chabad system based on martial arts belt levels to teach Hebrew reading.
Chana Gansburg, director of Aleph Champ Hebrew School, shows some of the materials to be used in the Aleph Champ program for teaching Hebrew reading. [Frances Kraft photo]
Chabad on the Avenue’s school, Aleph Champ Hebrew School, which will be housed at Ledbury Park Elementary School, is named for the system. “Aleph Champ” was inspired by an American Chabad Hebrew school director’s experience as a karate student.
Chabad of York Mills’ school will have an added focus, reflected in its name, the Bayview Hebrew School of the Arts.
Under the Aleph Champ system, children are divided into 10 different levels according to their ability to read Hebrew. Each level has a colour, and children receive a medal when they complete each level, in the same way that martial arts students receive a different colour belt to mark each level of achievement.
Chana Gansburg, director of Aleph Champ Hebrew School, said the system, which takes students through the aleph-bet one letter at a time, is “extremely motivating.” Students proceed at their own pace and start at their own level, although they are in classes with children their own age who may be at different levels of Hebrew reading.
They are issued an “Aleph Champ” timer, and their reading ability is tested after each letter.
The first lesson couldn’t be more basic, featuring the letter “aleph” but no vowels. With time, students learn to read familiar English words transliterated into Hebrew, and then Hebrew words that they will use in prayer services and that relate to Jewish life.
The program is not meant to teach conversational Hebrew, said Gansburg. She added, however, that if there is a core group of at least four or five students who achieve “black belt” (or black medal) status, a Hebrew-language program could be created for them.
Rather, said her husband, Rabbi Menachem Gansburg, the emphasis will be on words associated with Jewish holidays and “anything they’re going to come across when practising as a Jew.” The Gansburgs, like all Chabad couples, work as a team.
“Once they really master the reading, we go up to prayers,” Chana Gansburg said. The highest levels focus on prayer and the significance of the prayers, she added.
The school, which has an annual tuition of $525, will run two hours at a time, of which 45 minutes to an hour will be devoted to the Aleph Champ method. Students will attend either on Wednesdays or Sundays. “There will also be Bible stories, holidays, songs, drama and all the stuff other Hebrew schools have,” she said.
Above all, the Gansburgs want to create a positive experience for the students. “Bad Jewish experiences make you want to disassociate yourself from those Jewish experiences,” said the rabbi, who hopes to see the same type of enthusiasm students display at hockey award nights when the school year culminates in an Aleph Champ award night.
Rabbi Levi Gansburg of Chabad of York Mills (Rabbi Menachem’s brother), whose wife Rivky is director of the Bayview Hebrew School for the Arts, said the curriculum at the school will be taught using song, art and drama.
Classes, which will serve students from ages four to 13, will be held at Crescent School on Sundays only. Annual tuition is $600.
“If [students] enjoy what they’re doing, they’ll come back for more,” he said. “I think Aleph Champ is unique and innovative, and the arts [component] is unique and innovative.”
For further information about Aleph Champ Hebrew School, go to hebrewschool.ca, and for the Hebrew School of the Arts, to bayviewhebrewschool.com.
