EFL Teaching in Israel, Sigh...

Tzivia, Adventures in AliyahLand, recently posted about her opinions of the "English" her kids are "learning" here in Israel, Unseens: How NOT TO learn English in Israel. Sigh...

It's hard for me to get started on the topic without getting lots of people upset and angry. As you probably know, not only have my own children gone through the system, sometimes as the only home grown English speaker in the class, but I've also spent more than a decade as a teacher and am still called on to help.  I've even opened up an official "small business" to tutor, though I still must get receipts printed.

First of all, an "unseen" is the term used for a Reading Comprehension. It can be as simple as a sign or invitation or as long and complex as a multipage article or essay. The emphasis on answering questions about a text is because a very large grade percentage of the Bagrut, Israeli Matriculation/College Boards/Regents whatever you think of as a national "final exam," is made of unseens. And, unfortunately, instead of concentrating on teaching Israeli children ENGLISH, the powers that be want high/passing test grades, so they teach for the test.

In all honesty, I was horrified to discover that even in the good schools, it can take more than one year to learn how to read English. The Education Ministry has been trying to give the impression that the students are learning more English by starting it earlier, but all they have done has been to divide the few hours allocated to elementary schools into more years. So, just like if you take a teaspoon of cream and divide it among four cups of coffee, the coffee will still be very black, giving the kids one or two hours a week of English from the 3rd grade won't teach them more than if they learned four or five weekly hours from the 5th or 6th grade. And for effective teaching/remembering these hours must be daily, not in two double lessons a week.

For decades it has been proven that the most effective way to teach a foreign language is to first speak, sing and play in it, even ulpan style. Yes, the classic ulpan, which emphasized functional spoken Hebrew and then reading and writing, was extremely successful. A half a century ago, my sister was in an experimental program which gave the students oral French before they began reading and writing the language. That produced students fully fluent and comfortable in French.

Another problem in the Israeli system is that, especially in the smaller schools, all of the elementary school students learn English together, whether they know the language from home, don't even hear it on the TV, are gifted learners or have problems even reading their native Hebrew.

That is why I would never teach classes younger than high school.

Parents must be proactive and take the initiative. Don't trust the school to know what's best. Get together with other parents to make groups, even if it cost money. Pressure the school to start English later with more hours per week.

Even more important is to make sure that your kids have good Hebrew language skills, grammar, literature, composition-writing etc. That is something that Israeli EFL teachers must lobby for, but that's for another blog post.

I had to teach these very basic elementary words to my high school students last year. 

Visiting The Grandkiddies After Their Trip to NY

I don't get to see my grandkids all that often. Until the end of June I had been working, and it was very hard to find the right time. Remember that I also study in Matan, and I have my "senior citizen arts & crafts club." And then as soon as I finished working, the four who live the closest went abroad with their parents for a few weeks.

Now they're all back, so I went over yesterday afternoon. They were doing their usual, school vacation plus jetlag relaxing... So, I did a little "testing."

"I presume that now after three weeks in New York your English is perfect."

That's what I said to the three younger ones. The eldest already understands everything and speaks beautifully. From the "you must be crazy" looks the two middle ones gave me, it was clear that they understood exactly what I had said. And the youngest, reacted with her usual question to her siblings:

"What did savta say?"

She'll catch on. Actually, she does understand most of what I say. And the others know more English than they would have if I hadn't been speaking only English to them all their lives.

Actually, I had a nice conversation with the second one. I spoke in English, and she answered in Hebrew. She understood everything without even once asking me to repeat or explain. The eldest speaks to me in English rarely trying to sneak in Hebrew.

Once the weather cooled down a bit, I was able to bribe the youngest with a trip to the grocers to buy ice cream. And then we went to the playground. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them... And then maybe I'll convince the younger ones to speak English, even just a few words...

Another EFL Teaching Trick

Modern pedagogy aka teaching methods stresses that people/children everybody learns differently. When I was doing my teachers license, we were told that there were three basic methods:

• visual
• audial
• kinesthetic

As an EFL Teacher who specializes in "mild" remedial classes, who is also a CPA's daughter and, as my sister likes to say, from a family of artists, I've sort of expanded that. I also use numbers whenever I can connect them to the meanings of words. 

This is how I teach basic "frequency words." As you can see, besides the fact the the words are written in a logical order, they are in a triangle. And I've assigned percentages to the words. "Always" is at the bottom, the largest part of the triangle and 100%.  On the top, the tiny tip of the triangle is "never," 0%.

What do you think about this? Do you agree that it should help students to picture and "calculate" the meanings of the  "frequency words?"

Teaching: Turned a Game into a Graded Quiz

 OK, I must admit that in my 9th grade group, only three students show up, but they are a nice enthusiastic three. I teach EFL, that's English as a Foreign Language, and I teach to very weak students. I had to teach them how to read when I began with them at the very end of October. I have a simple method, and it seems to have worked.

One of them knows English from home, but that just means that he understands the spoken word and can reply in kind. The other two are pretty new to the language.

They get four hours a week divided into three days, which means that there's a double lesson on one of the days. And, davka, that double lesson is at the end of the day when they are just too tired to stay attuned to what I'm trying to do. And the school doesn't let me do what I did in my other one, when I could combine the lessons without a break and finish earlier. When I complained, I was told to "play games."

Nu? I'm not the game sort of teacher. These students are so weak that they spend an entire lesson on a simple quiz which shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes. So the game time has replaced quizzes. In a sense they are quizzes, since I get them to translate words, and they compete to see how many words they've done by saving the little pieces of paper on which the words are written and then counting them at the end.

Yesterday I made a new version in which the two who didn't understand English could work together. There were thirty words. I told them if neither new the definition I would take three points off, from one hundred, and the remainder would be their grades. And for the English speaker, I told him that if he shouted out an answer when not his turn I'd take off three points per word. They all accepted the rules, and in the end the weaker students got a nice high 94%, and the English-speaker got 97%. And I was able to register additional grades for them.

Back to EFL Remedial Teaching: Better Than Ever!

I really can't believe it. Yes, I am overwhelmed by how well I'm doing back in what's considered one of the most difficult teaching "specialties." My students aren't retarded; it's not a school for that sort of "special education." The students in Yeshiva Tichonit (High School) Ahavat Chaim are average and above average intelligence, but they have various issues and learning problems, like dyslexia, dysgraphia etc. My sons both studied there and are grateful that I discovered the school when it was in its infancy, when nobody including my older son's 8th Grade Guidance Counselor.

Just like when I first began as an English Teacher close to twenty years ago, this year, too, I was asked to take the very weakest students in the 9th and 11th Grades. Then I hadn't a clue as what to do, but this time, after a very long break from teaching, I discovered that my reputation was still excellent, even though I hadn't left under the best of circumstances.

I accepted the offer, because I really wanted to leave Yafiz, the clothing store where I had worked for almost six years. The night shifts which had become my regular "gig" were just too late for me, and the store manager said that her bosses had insisted that was my main shift. I'd get so hyper in order to work well, that I'd fall asleep very late. Also, there is no salary raise or extra bonus for veteran workers. A seventeen year old high school student got exactly the same salary. But I really loved the job. It was fun seeing lots of old friends, former students etc.

It was pretty traumatic getting back in the classroom, and I still haven't gotten my salary stuff taken care of. The Education Ministry insists I never existed, have no file, and my degrees aren't any good. My students started off as students in name only, and I had to use a form of threat/bribery to get them to bring even a pencil to class. With the agreement of the Principal, I was able to make a rule that anyone who shows up without minimal writing implements and book is considered "absent."

Luckily they hadn't yet been assigned textbooks, so I started off checking their levels and teaching by my own methods. For the 9th Grade I did find a good book, UPP's Entry Point 2, which they got after I taught them to read all of the letters, but the 11th grade ended up on too low a level for the simple A Bagrut prep books I offered them. So, began giving them much easier work, and they are having fun and working hard.

My biggest challenge was keeping their attention during the last lesson of the week. The principal told me to "play games." Honestly, I was never a "game person." I hadn't a clue of what to do with them. But I've always been creative, so I asked for ideas and made up games.

They taken turns pulling out from a bag either a word, or letter, depending on what I've prepared, and then they have to read and translate if it's a word, or say a word that has the letter.  If they don't know the answer, someone else gets a chance and the paper. The one who has the most when we finish gets a bigger prize, but they really don't care and just have fun. And I've discovered that these games are the best reviews, better than a quiz, and the kids are overjoyed at getting a couple of inexpensive candies.

Believe it or not, the kids are actually thanking me for teaching them! I don't remember that ever happening before!!!!

Now That I'm Back in the Teaching "Saddle," Some Tricks #1

It's funny how natural it has been for me to be back teaching high school boys, those who had never really gotten the fundamentals of English. During the decade plus I had taught in Beit El, I developed a lot of methods to teach reading that sometimes work with those who had never succeeded before. It's very phonetic, but not as detailed and tedious as the Hickey Method which can take eons to finish.

When I find myself with a group of 9th graders who still can't read English I need a solution and fast. There's no book that works quickly and suits our needs, the students and mine. Of course teaching vocabulary is even a great challenge, but this year one of my students is davka an English speaker, so the plan is to get him reading, and then by the end of the year he can go up a few groups to a much higher level. And for the others, I have the two challenges, reading and comprehension.

This year, I'm having major problems with the paperwork necessary for teaching, the lesson plans and the records etc. When I had done tutoring, after leaving the classroom almost ten years ago, I didn't need to keep records. The kids would come with their notebooks etc, and I'd continue with whatever was needed. Sometimes I'd have to prepare a bit, but nothing very complicated.

Now I've been photographing the board to keep a record of what I had taught.

I also printed out a page of the alphabet for all my students, and we mark off each letter learned:

Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo,
Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, (Yy), ZzCh, ch, -gh, Ph, ph, Sh, sh, Th, th

And as you can see from the photos above I teach the long and short vowels together. I don't call them "long and short," because the terms make no sense, neither in English nor in Hebrew for sure. I call them "strong and weak." Think of the use of muscles when vowels are "long" versus "short."

Also when you start off teaching them that an "A" is "ah," they have trouble when weeks or months later, you suddenly expect them to learn that "A" is also "aye." It's much easier in the long run to teach both at the same time, and then they know from the beginning that vowels do more than one thing.

I've labeled this post as "#1," because if you like it, I'll write more about my methods.

Never Say Never!

It has taken me a few weeks to blog this. I really can't believe what I'm working at, yet, again. After leaving teaching almost ten years ago, I'm back in that difficult, uncomfortable saddle. Yes, I'm back to teaching EFL high school English to boys, weak students, "false starters," according to the still popular euphemism, MLD* or just plain ornery** and disinterested.

Boys like these had been my specialty about fifteen years ago, and recently when I've run into some former students and told them that I've returned to teaching they are my biggest cheerleaders and fans.

No, I'm not back in the same school, where I had taught for over a decade. I'm now teaching in Yeshiva High School Ahavat Chaim, which is in Kochav Hashachar, southeast of Shiloh, and the alma mater of my two sons, who graduated in the second and fourth graduating classes.

Why did I leave my easy job at Yafiz, selling clothes, which I really did enjoy even though the salary was the bare minimum according to law?

There are many reasons, which I can't go into right now. But the main one was that I couldn't sleep well working night shifts. I'm a morning person by nature, and working, getting myself in a "hyper mode" until 9:30pm to deal with customers plus and then having to stay awake and alert until I was home well after 10pm, meant that frequently I couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight.  I was not hired as a night shift worker; it was just to do it "sometimes."

Is teaching EFL here in Israel better today than it was when I agreed to be fired?

To be honest, no! The things that irked me then are worse now. And now there is no, even mildly, convenient way to travel between my home and Kochav Hashachar by public transportation. Every night before teaching I have to call other staff members to arrange a ride. So far, it hasn't rained when I've had to travel, so the mile, kilometer and a half, between my house and the pickup point is a nice morning's walk. Going home also requires similar logistics. But there is one thing I enjoy now, which I didn't have in my former teaching job. The staff I work with now really makes an effort to go out of its way to help me and others. It also helps that my teaching hours are morning and afternoon. In my former school it was only afternoon/evening, I'd finish as late as 7:15pm, and nobody cared if I was stuck waiting an hour for a ride in my direction.

Teaching is a talent I have. I can pretty much teach anything I know and have. I don't mind having to "change a lesson plan" on the spot, because the kids just don't know one of the prerequisites. That's a key for success as a Remedial Teacher.

Because I have to travel when others need to get to work, which is earlier than me most days, I take advantage of the computers in the Teachers Room for my lesson planning. One of the reasons I didn't want to return to teaching is that it can take over your life. I only teach two classes and have very few students.

I don't know if my salary will actually be much better than the one I had gotten from Yafiz, but I did need a change. I also don't plan on doing this very long and told that to the department head. But as we all know, life is full of surprises. May Gd give me the health and humor to continue and succeed.

*Mild Learning Disabled, normal to high IQ suffering from one or various conditions like dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADD, ADHD, poor motivation etc.

**If at first you don't succeed, just give up and disrupt the class so efficiently nobody can learn anything.

My Return to an Old Haunt

Last week, I went back to the yeshiva high school (Bnei Binyamin) in Beit El, where I had taught English for eleven 11 years. There were good years and bad years, enjoyment and sorrow, success and failure and lots of good friends. Actually, that's how I had gotten the job. I hadn't been trained to be an English Teacher. I hadn't a clue to teach reading, writing, spelling etc.

The only pedagogy I had ever learned was in the Fred Burk "Leadership and Choreography" course I had taken as a representative of NCSY at the Jewish Agency during my first year of college. And one thing for sure is that teaching Israeli Folk Dance and English aren't quite the same, except that you have to make it fun no matter what the talents of the students.

About eighteen 18 years ago, just after the beginning of the school year, I got a call from Toba Frankel, a friend, who was the English coordinator in the yeshiva high school in Beit El. She told me that she and her husband David, who was then principal, had decided that I was the perfect person to teach a couple of remedial classes. It didn't put them off that I had absolutely no experience; we had spent much time waiting around schools on parent-teacher nights discussing education, learning problems and our children's educational needs etc. She promised to train me, and she did.

It ended up being a perfect match. I had a wonderful and successful time teaching the boys who had thought they could never learn English. I even took the David Yellin Teachers College's certification course and became a licensed English Teacher. My only problem was teaching regular classes, so that when there were no longer any remedial classes plus transportation difficulties and reduced enrolment, I found myself out of a job. That's why I now work as a salesperson in Yafiz.

So, nu, why was I back there last week? Again I had gotten a call from Toba. This time she told me that after all these years (decades) David was officially retired (after years of being principal he had become "just" an English Teacher) and there would be a party in his honor.

It was truly wonderful seeing so many old friends together. Some of them I see in Sha'ar Binyamin and are now customers of mine at Yafiz.

The Frankels and I are among the very old generation in Mateh Binyamin, our regional council. Our children were in the first (early) graduating classes when the schools were small and in temporary structures. The Frankels, as teachers and administrators, were truly pioneers in their contributions to local education. With all of the deserving praise they received that night, I don't know if the younger generation truly comprehends their contributions. But maybe that is the sign of success.

I look at the history of education here, and I see the thirty plus years as rapid growth, but for young people, thirty years is a very long time. That younger generation, which has no memory of the pre-June, 1967 Israel sees a normalcy and permanence of the Jewish Life in Judea and Samaria that Israel's Left can't comprehend or accept.

May David and Toba Frankel be truly blessed with long, enjoyable and healthy retirements. And may the younger generation of educators come to them for training, because they will not find anyone more qualified to teach and advise.

English Lessons over Lunch

Yesterday I did some sitting for my grandkids and made them lunch. In order to distract them from the mindless stuff they do on the computers, which they fight over at times, and improve their English, I brought some DVDs, cartoons in English. They enjoyed the classic Bugs Bunny so much, I had to move the table in front of the screen so they could watch and eat simultaneously.

OK, I agree that Bugs Bunny is rather stupid and has very little actual dialog, but they didn't complain about the incomprehensible language, and maybe something will sink in.

Effluents? Guess My Vocabulary isn't Good

I noticed this sign in Jerusalem near a decorative fountain.

It bothered me. I guess I'm stupid. I wasn't familiar with the word "effluents," though I could easily guess the meaning, the intention of the sign. The colors of the sign, red and white indicate dangers, and the rest of the words do, too. It is clear that the water in the fountain is polluted or poisoned. That's obvious.

Like way back when, during my days as an EFL English Teacher, here I was stuck like many students, understanding only some of the words in a text. We used to be told to tell our students to guess the missing/incomprensible/unknown word. The experts insisted that the technique helps, and I would insist that it only helps with a certain higher level of students. My lower level and remedial would misinterpret the messages/texts and come up with incorrect ideas. And the wordier the texts the harder it would be.

I took a course to help lower level students to understand reading comprehension passages, and the first step we taught them was to step back and look. That's why I I considered the colors here so important. They mean danger. And the word danger also appears in the text. The problem is that the word water doesn't, though hopefully someone weak in English would know what "drinking" means.

For me the message was clear:

Don't drink the water! Dangerous!

Could it be poisonous or polluted? I had to look up the mystery word out of curiosity.

effluent [ef-loo-uh nt]

adjective

1.

flowing out or forth.

noun

2.

something that flows out or forth; outflow;effluence.

3.

a stream flowing out of a lake, reservoir, etc.

4.

sewage that has been treated in a septic tank or sewage treatment plant.

5.

sewage or other liquid waste that is discharged into a body of water, etc.

and
noun

1.

liquid discharged as waste, as from an industrial plant or sewage works

2.

radioactive waste released from a nuclear power station

3.

a stream that flows out of another body of water

It's Nice to Know I'm Missed

Last night, the second of the three, tremps or rides, I got to take me home was with a former student from my days of teaching English mostly in the Yeshivat Tichonit Mateh Binyamin in Beit El. I taught boys, since it's a boys school. My glory days were when I had these tiny groups of boys who had only known failure before I got to them. After that it's not that they all became excellent students, but they remember our classes as fun. And many did go on to being better, at least passable English students.

I'm not a really great teacher, but my style seemed to fit these kids, and my flexibility, actually a manifestation of my own ADHD meant that I could easily stop in my tracks and take a completely different direction aka lesson plan when I realized that some or all were lacking in a basic skill or knowledge needed to do what had been planned.

That sort of flexibility is more than crucial when you're teaching, especially when the class is considered "remedial." I'd even have students who were English speakers, but they had never really learned to read and write the language. In many cases it was because they were dyslexic and in other cases it was because their English knowledge made the Elementary school English curriculum so unsuitable for them that they were told not to go to those classes.  But they had a such a sense of humor.

Even some students who had been insufferable in the classroom are now the happiest to see me when we run into each other in various places.

It's hard for them to accept that I left teaching soon after and now I'm working at a low level sales job instead of helping others the way I helped them.  Even those who staff members knew me in those days ask how I could have left teaching. And parents of those students tell me what a great influence I had on their sons.

My specialty was teaching those small groups. I couldn't cope with regular classes and standard curriculum. I needed to do my own thing with lots of independence. My ADHD made it hard to keep on track, so that the "emergency lesson plan changes" were just my speed. That works with six students and not twenty-six or more or even sixteen. At work in the store that "skill" at noticing all sorts of things means that I see a girls size skirt in the women's rack, a man's shirt stuck under the shelves or a clothes hangar on top of the scarves.

It is nice to be missed. My students have gone on with their lives, and I have, too.

Fun With The Grandkids, Playing with Classic Play-Doh

I try to encourage the grandkids to play with something other than a keyboard and screen.  The most willing is the three year old.

I was happy to find some classic Play-Doh in the closet. That kept her (and me) busy for quite a while.  At one point she decided to turn the "snakes" into jewelry.

This activity was also good for teaching her the names of the colors in English.  At first she'd argue with me, saying that "it's not blue; it's cachol," the Hebrew for blue.  But then after I'd repeat that it's blue a few times, she'd use both words.  We did that for all of the Play-Doh colors plus the balloons I had blown up for her.

My grandkids are being raised in Hebrew, but I speak to them in English.  Sometimes they understand everything I say, such as "wash up," but other times I need a lot of pantomime and a few key words in Hebrew.

PS You have probably noticed that this time she happily posed for me.  And as usual, I'm only posted pictures which make it very difficult to actually see her face.  That's on purpose, not due to photographic ineptitude.

Tada.... FINALLY!

Yes, the grapes are ripe for picking and eating!  We brought a lot to the kiddies for Shabbat.  I had the little ones telling me in English how many they wanted at a time:

"one, two, three"

And suddenly when I asked them, my grandson said:

"six"

So I gave him six!  That's a good way to get them using a bit of English.

First Lesson, On Track

I'm back in the saddle, as they say. I just got up from the other computer after writing up what will probably be my first lesson of the year.

I have an idea for an additional "first," and after those two, I'll be teaching from the books, more rather than less.

I love making up my own lessons like this. That's the fun of teaching, being creative. The girls in the school are very different than the boys I had taught. I'll also be having more weekly hours than I had with the boys. That gives me more of a chance to get things done. I'll be teaching all levels, which is interesting.

It's funny that I was schlepping around in my slipper-shoes and feeling very schleppy. So I took them off and changed into more energetic sandals and the energy really began to flow.

Getting "More Real"

I had no warning before the call came from the nearby girls high school. Over a month before, I had sent the English coordinator an email asking if they could recommend me as tutor, but there never was a reply.

Suddenly, I was asked to substitute for a teacher going on maternity leave. In the end, I'll be doing a bit more than that, which is great.

This past week I met with the coordinator in her home to get an idea of how things work and what's expected of me. The school is very different from my previous one. It'll be quite a challenge. But considering that I began my teaching career without any real training, and now I have eleven years experience as an EFL teacher...

Yesterday I hiked to and from Shvut Rachel, which actually isn't far, just through the valley across the street from my house. I visited the teacher I'm subbing for and got some instructions from her.

Last night, I picked up the package of textbooks sent by ECB, from our local "post office." The woman in charge opened it specially for me, since I couldn't get to the regular hours. She's flexible, since the set hours are very limited. And Thursday night the super-grocers is open for pre-Shabbat shopping. Afterwards, we both went to shop, and she saw another neighbor and told him that he had a registered letter. They went to her "office" to get it.

So, now after two meetings and receiving that new supply of books, teaching is looking and feeling closer than ever!

Reflecting on the tests

Today was the big day for English Tests in Israeli High Schools. In a long marathon triple-session, seven English Bagrut, national finals, were given. It was a major undertaking and reminds me why I'm happy to be just an ordinary teacher and not in charge of anything.

I didn't want to distract the students, so I took a couple of pictures of the reflections and from the "studio."

Before each session, I searched for my students and gave them very small bags of treats. Just enough sucrose to make sure they wouldn't "fall asleep" in the middle.


I was part of the "oral testing staff." Some students have special accommodations and are tested orally. I really enjoyed it, especially since the boys did well. Of course I can't test my own students. We did the oral testing in the "radio classroom."


Today and yesterday, I was very busy with my students. But now, the 11th and 12th grades wont be studying English. They'll be concentrating on their other tests.

Making the best of...

What can I say, sometimes, things just don't go the way we want or the way we've planned.

For weeks I've been promising my 10th grade class...

"When we finish reading the book, and you've taken the test, you'll see the movie."

And yes, today was to to be the day! Only problem, ok a couple of problems. Even though the store had mailed the movie to the school, the mail hadn't been picked up from the post office for a few days. So the movie hadn't arrived at the school. Then I discovered that apparently in all the "excitement" after the accident last week, which prevented my getting to work on Thursday, that had I never reserved the video room.

Perfect match, no movie and no video room! Now, what could I do with my disappointed teenage boys? A "regular lesson?" Nope, wrong answer. I decided that the time had come for them to "write a story in English." For that they need inspiration.

In my over-stuffed little "box" in the Teachers Room are some black and white print-outs from my son's adventures abroad. A couple of years ago I used them to spur a more advanced class into writing stories.

I showed them the pictures and told them to pick out a few and make up a story about them. On the board, I wrote the "question words:"

What

Who

When

Why

Where

How

And I asked them to answer the questions about their story. They had to say when and where what happened to whom, why and how. Or who did what, when, where, how and why.

I have been teaching them literature.

Somehow, it began to work. We were laughing, and they were using English and using the Hebrew-English Dictionary when necessary.

I wrote their English story on the board, and then they translated it into Hebrew. Then I told them that next year, they're going to have to write a short little "composition" for the English Bagrut (state final.)

Thank G-d, miraculously, it turned out to be a good lesson.