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LadyAberlin
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Shalom Alef bet from Behrman House .

 

It's a colorful workbook that introduces the alefbet and vowels. I used it with ds 7 and 4 last year; this year we are using Shalom U'Vracha, which reviews the consonants and vowels and introduces some vocabulary. My dc love the interactive CD, although I require them to do the workbook pages as well. The CD is helpful as a model for pronunciation, but it also includes computer games that students can play as they master various lessons. The games provide an incentive for my dc to finish each lesson, and the program keeps track of their scores on the exercises in each chapter. They do the lessons a the computer somewhat independently, and I use the workbook to check what they are learning and to reinforce the lessons.

 

My primary interest is in teaching them Biblical Hebrew, but dh has relatives in Israel, so I am introducing them to Modern Hebrew as well. We are using Shalom Ivrit for Modern Hebrew. I have the book and the flash cards.

 

If you decide to wait until your dc are older, you can begin directly with Shalom U'Vracha.

 

The New Siddur Program for Hebrew and Heritage is also well done; this book introduces vocabulary a bit more slowly than Shalom Ivrit.

 

Since my dc are still learning to write fluently using the English alphabet, and Hebrew introduces a second alphabet, different vowels, and reads from right to left, I am taking it a very incremental approach with my dc this year.

 

Please let me know if you have other questions!

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So did you only do shalom Alef Bet when your youngest was 4 and then move in to the others the next yr? I've wondered if the different Alphabet and way of reading would be confusing or not at this age. We are Messianic and it is my language of choice. We hear it a lot at our congregation.

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I'm pretty sure that our congregation uses Shalom Alef Bet for our kinders also. Then, after the children learn the alef bet, they go into Shalom Ivrit.

 

Many of the children seem to learn English and Hebrew together, with no problems. In fact, there are children who know how to read Hebrew better than English. LOL

 

In our family, I wait until the child is reading English well before going into Hebrew. The girls also learn snippets of Hebrew during services and also during Shabbat School.

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So did you only do shalom Alef Bet when your youngest was 4 and then move in to the others the next yr? I've wondered if the different Alphabet and way of reading would be confusing or not at this age. We are Messianic and it is my language of choice. We hear it a lot at our congregation.

 

 

We attend a Messianic Jewish congregation as well.

 

Ds 8 was reading well last year and ds 5 had a good grasp of phonics before I introduced the Hebrew alphabet. They didn't find it confusing to associate the sounds with the letters and vowels, but I had to watch for reversals when they were writing (both in English and In Hebrew.) My 8 yo ds tends to reverse letters and numbers anyway, so this might have been an issue for him in any case.

 

One of the reasons I opted to begin with Shalom Alefbet rather than Shalom U'Vracha is because it doesn't require them to write the Hebrew letters. I thought it best to teach reading and writing as separate skills. Ymmv, however.

 

While Shalom U'Vracha is repetitious, in the sense that it reviews the alphabet and vowels again, the guided reading exercises are more challenging. The text also introduces printed Hebrew letters (block printing). I anticipate introducing them to Hebrew script gradually, beginning next year.

 

Ds 8 struggled with his reading skills (in English) initially as well, due to some visual processing issues, so it's possible that I was more cautious than I needed to be in my approach to teaching Hebrew. However, I wanted to lay a good foundation in Hebrew, and felt no need to rush them. Ds 8 has improved greatly in his ability to read English this year, so I feel more confident about moving ahead with more vocabulary and grammar for him next year.

 

We are using FLL for grammar this year, so they both know the basic parts of speech, which will help next year as well.

 

We use Hebrew quite a bit at our congregation as well, so they are familiar with some of the prayers and blessings in Hebrew. Last year we focused on blessings before meals, and the Sh'ma and V'ahavta, as well as a couple of songs.

 

I also taught ds 8 the names of the parashiot in Hebrew, along with the associated stories.

 

The children's service at our congregation is fairly informal, so he was able to approach the bema, along with teh other children and some interested adults, to find the portion name for himself. This was a real incentive for him to learn them week by week!

 

I used Jot and Tittle to teach him the portion names. We focused on printed Hebrew last year, and will use Jot and Tittle again next year, focusing on the sections that teach Hebrew script. I used Search the Sidrah to teach him to locate the potion names in the Torah scroll.

 

Jot and Tittle was written by our congregation leader and his wife, and they were developing materials for Sing the Sidrah last year. I had a prepublication copy, and ds 8 learned to chant some of rishonim in English last year as well. This is unconventional to be sure, but gave him a feel for the rhythm of the trope, and he memorized a lot of the verses in English this way. We will continue with this next year as well; he and ds 5 can learn some of the shorter and less complex verses in Hebrew while memorizing others in English.

 

They also know some of the vocabulary associated with teh Jewish Holidays, and some of the most common words found in familiar stories in the Torah.

 

If you're looking for something to teach them about the parashiot and associated stories, you may be interested in Explore at some point as well.(scroll down to the books in green).

 

HTH!

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