Training

Training started at Talpiot college in Holon (just south of Tel Aviv) last Sunday. It is a religious college so we have to dress conservatively on training days, which is a pain considering the heat. Also I am much too fidgety to wear a skirt on a bus ride for an hour and a half twice a day but I just keep telling myself that if the orthodox men who wear suits every day are able to survive that I should not be complaining. At training we started learning formal grammar (yay!) so that we aren't embarrassed when Israeli children know what the past progressive tense is and we don't. We also learned about different types of games and even created our own board games to help students with English. Mostly the lectures have either been about grammar none of us have ever learned (even as a linguistics major I am often clueless as to what they are talking about), or about making songs, games, chants, and other engaging activities for our students.

One of our training days involved a school observation. We went in groups of five or six to various schools in Netanya where we were all met with warm Israeli hospitality. The school I visited even had a sign welcoming us to their family, and the principal's daughter gave us a tour of the school! This was definitely my favorite day of training so far, as I learned more in a half hour there than at all of the other training days combined. It was very interesting to see the differences between the Israeli and American school systems. Besides the small differences (the students raise their pointer finger instead of raising their hand), there were some differences that were quite noticeable. In a fourth grade classroom two students broke out into a kicking fight in the middle of the lesson. In America both students would have been sent to the principal and their parents certainly would have been called. Instead the teacher simply moved one of them to her desk and went on with the lesson as if nothing had happened. I know that it is the Israeli way to just go on with life whenever things get tough, but it still took me by surprise.

Some highlights of the day came from talking to the Israeli children during their recess. The children were so happy to have us at the school and found us fascinating simply because we are Americans. They wanted to know everything about us--where we are from, what music we listen to, and how long is it going to take us to be able to speak to them in Hebrew. I can't wait to get my school assignment and meet the students I will be working with all year! None of the ones I met during observation could even come close to pronouncing my name though, so once I get my school assignment I might just say my name is Mel.

I have been a bit behind on my blog, and for that I apologize. Hopefully I will have time later today to write another post about my weekend seminar trip to the Sea of Galilee and update about everything else that has been going on here, but for now that's all!