Stories and Pathways

Best part of today: meeting with and saying a sweet goodbye to Dagitu and Baush! After finishing the book, In God's Name, we answered the questions of who the characters were, what was the problem, and what was the solution. In this particular story, every character had a different name for God. They finally came together, saw each other's reflections, and called God the name One. The girls loved the illustrations and the idea that each person can think of God differently, AND that they could come together. We shared snacks and addresses, took pictures, and wished we could continue. I gave them each a phrase book, telling them they should study it! Daily! They know English is useful and important to know, even as they devote some of their time this summer to studying Amharic and Mathematics. What touched me most was a beautiful letter they had written, which they read to me, thanking me for volunteering to help them with English. What lovely young people, who cared enoug...

"You Are Not Alone" was the subject of today's lesson, another song. This was more of a traditional love song. We then switched to a book called Elijah's Angel, the story of a friendship between an African-American Christian man and a Jewish boy. Avi joined us--hooray! He has an excellent command of Hebrew's nuances, so he can better understand shades of meaning in English. What a pleasure. Perhaps this is due to his schooling. He is very bright! Something I noticed is that Elias pays attention to the names of the authors and illustrators of the books I bring in. In this particular case, the illustrator had a very long name. Avi laughed and remarked how that would be a challenging name to write on one's te'udat zehut--certificate of identification. The book referenced American black slavery and the Underground Railroad. Tomorrow we will finish the book and say goodbye, with the help of Stevie Wonder lyrics.

7/15 Song lyrics are powerful teaching tools. I've known this for as long as I've been a student of the Torah. And American song lyrics even have their place in education, as evidence by the great interest my students here have had in We Are The World. They have asked for other lyrics as well. Today I was intrigued to see some new faces sitting down at the table. It seems that the English teacher (or the chance to learn English) is interesting, and the regulars bring someone new to meet me, check me out, see what the fuss is about. So I met Trngo, and Bobeh. Trngo seemed to feel that there was not much I could teach her, quickly taking a pen and writing words down faster than her friend could. Though hesitant to read out loud, she finally joined in. She seemed impatient with me, finding the story illogical. It was challenging. However, Dagitu hung in there, and was able to address the results and solutions to problems in the narrative. The boys: Again, they were not...

7/9 I shared a book with Dagitu and Bayush this morning about Pesach (Passover) around the world. The section on Ethiopians was somewhat interesting to them, though it describes the world of their parents and grandparents more than theirs. They were excited to see the map yet had not idea how to read it. They were most interested in the recipe that accompanies each chapter, though the one described was nothing they had eaten. It used matza meal, which they did not understand/have a context for. Yet, they did recognize noog, an Ethiopian sesame seed paste that they love. They still enjoy some native foods, which are available here, along with the pots in which to cook them. They celebrate Pesach like more modern Israelis, complete with an egg and a Haggada. They were less knowledgeable about traditional Ethiopian ways of observing it. 2 boys didn’t show…2 did and one did not like the lesson, which began with a discussion on racism. Elias felt that people are people, no matter whe...

The topic of one of my sessions today was the meaning of the following song: Title: Michael Jackson - We Are the World lyrics There comes a time When we heed a certain call When the world must come together as one There are people dying And it's time to lend a hand to life The greatest gift of all We can't go on Pretending day by day That someone, somewhere will soon make a change We are all a part of God's great big family And the truth, you know love is all we need [Chorus] We are the world We are the children We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start giving There's a choice we're making We're saving our own lives It's true we'll make a better day Just you and me Send them your heart So they'll know that someone cares And their lives will be stronger and free As God has shown us by turning stone to bread So we all must lend a helping hand [Chorus] We are the world We are the children We are the ...

Today: down to the business of figuring out a story's characters, problem, solution. Probably the challenge of every language learner to --you get the content but can't communicate well about it because you don't have the vocabulary. One girl asked for Michael Jackson's song about feeding the hungry.. if we can read and translate it. Our books have included Sandy Sasso's In God's Name, and a book called Stellaluna, about a bat who has to accommodate to life with birds. I chose these because of their themes of variety and tolerance, acceptance of difference and even embracing those differences, teaching each other. A bit more... A classroom I work in seems to be in the "school's over, what a mess" stage... a few doors down is a clean, state of the art computer lab! So I cleaned up and set up my room, and I was all set to use it and visit the computer room when I discovered a few things-- -only one student of my group of 4 had shown up and did ...

Judy's experiences in Israel continue… 7/7 Today was a day for Hop on Pop, just for me to get a sense of what I was dealing with. The girls felt successful with this! It is hard to believe coming from the States, that HS girls were finding Dr. Seuss so interesting. I was truly afraid of insulting them, but they really enjoyed it. I also showed them how I use the Internet, which was rather foreign to them. I thought it might be a great tool for furthering their English reading ability. They seem to live in a kind of bubble of poverty and ignorance in some ways. One student didn’t come simply because she hadn’t the money for bus fare that day. 7/8 The day began with Yisraela, who walked from Armon HaNatziv to German Colony to study with me, a good 40 minutes. It was wonderful to sit with her in Café Hillel, soaking up the mellow jazz, enjoying a great pastry and coffee, and working with this super-motivated young woman. The topic: CD reviews. It wasn’t all that difficult, a...

ENP's newest volunteer in Israel is Judy Massarano, an English teacher from Berkeley, California who came to Israel for the express purpose of volunteering with ENP. Judy is volunteering in Jerusalem and sharing her vast teaching experience with ENP youth. Her blog posts are written in a free-style, stream writing format. ENP hopes that Judy will inspire you to come volunteer with us here in Israel as well! 6/28-29 Early impressions I always wanted to volunteer and specifically, learn about this population. Earlier trips had been as a student, then 22 years later as a tourist, then as an educator with a group looking at how Israel is taught in America, then finally as a chaperone for an 8th grade school trip. it was time to give back. I met 3 girls, Azanash, Menna, and Merdana, all in 9th grade, all wanting to become more successful English speakers. They seemed typical in some ways, but have less affect than most teenage girls, either American or Israeli that I know. Th...