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GROUP TEACHING OF HEBREW
—continued from page 10
ing should not be attempted.
2. A typical lesson might in
clude the following:
a. Silent Reading. Written seat
work in the form of carefully
designed exercises prepared to
meet the needs of pupils in
each group. These may include
fill-ins, multiple choice ques
tions, vocabulary quizzes, etc.
Teachers should prepare the
group for this. (Comprehen
sion should naturally be
stressed.) The material should
be mimeographed or duplicat
ed. The use of the ditto ma
chine is highly recommended.
b. Recreational Reading. Children
should be encouraged to read
collateral materials selected
from other textbooks. These
readings should contain the
basic vocabulary familiar to
the pupils. Children should
also be encouraged to read
Hebrew library books. The
collateral reading published
by the United Synagogue Com
mission on Jewish Education
is highly recommended.
c. Oral Reading. Under the direct
guidance and supervision of
the teacher, but in real audi
ence situations. Suggested are
dramatic readings of class ex
ercises.
d. Arts and Crafts and projects
such as composition writing,
stories, poetry, experience
charts and dramatization.
3. It is important to remember
that pupil preparation and specific
instructions should he given before
the group begins its work. The
teacher should demonstrate all ex
ercises in advance to avoid con
fusion, and arguing among the
children. Group leaders or pupil
helpers might be selected for each
group. These leaders might be given
definite responsibilities for seeing
that the work is completed.
4. The teacher under the above
plan will be able to spend approxi
mately 20 minutes with each group
in oral reading while the other
groups will be preoccupied with
assigned activities.
5. A classroom library containing
various textbooks should be avail
able to the children to increase
their reading interests.
PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN
GROUPING CHILDREN
IN THE JEWISH SCHOOLS
1. One of the most serious prob
lems is the lack of sufficient grad-
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ed materials in the Hebrew lang
uage for primary and middle-grade
children. In the secular school, the
teacher has access to many more
textbooks, workbooks and materials
to meet the needs of each group
than in the Hebrew school. Thus,
in one fourth grade observed, the
writer found the class using five
different reading primers. While it
is true that our Hebrew textbooks
are graded in language and word
structure, most of them are of the
same nature, The teacher, to be
effective, in the grouping method,
will have to prepare suitable grad
ed silent reading exercises to meet
the specific needs of each group,
to supplement the selected text
book or books. While this will mean
much work, the exercises can be
saved from year to year and new
material can be mimeographed or
still better, duplicated on a ditto
machine.
2. Another serious handicap is
the lack of sufficient recreational
materials anil library books. It is,
therefore, suggested that the teach
er assemble various Hebrew text
books. The children can be assign
ed different stories in the many
textbooks which correlate with
their own vocabulary and class
text. The excellent series of text
books prepared by the United Syna
gogue Commission on Jewish Edu
cation are especially recommended
for the better students having two
or three years of Hebrew. The
children might be provided with
Hebrew dictionaries which they
can learn to use in connection with
the recreational reading.
3. Grouping is basically an indi
vidual and not a class approach to
study. This undoubtedly will cre
ate many problems. To insure a
unified plan of study for the entire
class, materials can be arranged
according to unit topics or interest
areas of the class such as the Sab
bath, the Jewish home, the family,
the school, etc. This would provide
the class with a complete unit of
study for later discussion and re
view. The writer actually attempt
ed to do this with a class and met
with considerable success. Each
group studied the same unit topic
and section in the textbooks. The
material for each group was care
fully graded according to the chil
dren’s ability. The brighter stu
dents were given supplementary
work in the unit, while the weaker
students covered the basic work in
a simplified form, provision being
made to meet their specific needs.
Each pupil was thus given a sense
of accomplishment. After the com
pletion of each unit, general class
work was done, in which all pupils
were able to participate actively.
All experienced a sense of accom
plishment.
4. Another serious problem is, of
course, the time element. The
grouping plan to be effective will
necessitate a minimum of one hour
and ten minutes. (See above sched
ule.) Most congregational schools
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