Ulpan

I haven’t wanted to write on my blog in a while because I was supposed to write all about my wonderful Ulpan experience and that experience never happened. Don’t get me wrong, we did start Ulpan, it just hasn’t been wonderful. I spent the last year learning what ‘good teaching’ is and spent quite a bit of time discussing how to approach teaching students who do not speak the language. During that year I unfortunately observed some teachers who did everything backwards….and here I am again observing that…yet this time I am the student. Here is my bullet point list of everything our teacher does wrong (I am super critical!):

-Talks quickly and seems to think speaking louder will make us understand

-Corrects students before they have the chance to correct themselves

-Moves on to another student while the first one is trying to answer a question

-Favors the students that came to the class knowing more Hebrew and makes it seem as though the rest of the class doesn’t work hard enough!!!

-Expects us to read quickly, not sound anything out, and if we can’t do it without sounding it out she does it for us (or for one of her worse moments says in Hebrew: ‘what’s happening, come on!”)

-Gives no time for students to process a question

-Does not have a lesson plan

-No pictures or images, it’s like playing charades all in Hebrew

-Gives no time to write things down

-Does not allow questions or any interactions/help among students

-Expects us to know a word even if she has only said it once

She is one of those teachers who has been teaching for 30 years and hasn’t changed since her first year. In a nutshell she is impatient, disrespectful, and ineffective.

I was going to try to get my money back and find a private tutor (by the way I’ve spoken with at least two other students who feel the same way), but decided to stick it out and do my best not to explode with anger in her classroom. I am meeting with a friend (Sandra) from class during the week so that we can study and do the homework together (the homework isn’t difficult yet, but it’s nice to have someone else to work with). I am also planning to ask her in advance what we will be covering in the next class so that Sandra, Ben, and I can pre-teach ourselves some of the vocabulary and avoid being caught totally in the dark and getting yelled at in Hebrew!

It’s a bit disappointing considering I was so excited about Ulpan (actually it’s more than just a bit disappointing), but I still really want to learn Hebrew and will just have to suffer through the class and do most of my learning outside of it (I just hope I don’t blow a fuse at this woman!)

Next up….Sinai!