Photo by Ben Harmon

Teaching middle and high school students to understand and prize the Hebrew language takes more than just a great curriculum. It also takes master teachers, well versed in that curriculum, who can infuse Jewish teens with a love of their people's language, ancient and modern.

That's the principle underlying three Hebrew language teachers' seminars at Hebrew College this summer organized by NETA, a project team that is designing a pioneering Hebrew language curriculum for Jewish day school students in grades 6–12. On June 29–July 3 and August 17–21, a total of about 80 day school Hebrew language teachers from across the U.S. and Canada will attend intensive, weeklong seminars introducing them to the NETA curriculum. And from July 6–16, more than a dozen teachers already experienced with NETA will study with Hebrew linguist Rami Saari and NETA curriculum designers to sharpen their knowledge of Hebrew and pedagogic skills.

Administered by Hebrew College and funded by The AVI CHAI Foundation, neta draws on the talents of Hebrew language curriculum specialists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hebrew College faculty. Directed by Hilla Kobliner, NETA is now in the third year of a five-year pilot phase that includes curriculum development, research and evaluation as well as mentoring and support for educators who are teaching the new program.

"Our goal is for Jewish teens to be able to read, write, speak and understand Hebrew, to enjoy the richness of the language through a variety of sources, from classical to modern," says Naomi Stillman, NETA Associate Director. "We want them to gain access to our history and tradition through our language."

Recent evaluations indicate the program is already achieving its goals. At the Solomon Schechter Upper School in West Orange, N.J., one of the pilot sites working with the new curriculum, SAT II Modern Hebrew pretest scores were nine percent higher than the national average, compared to three percent above average last year.

The project's early success is due to the combination of enticing, teen-friendly Hebrew language texts and comprehensive teacher training. Curriculum specialists Kobliner, Shlomit Chayat and Sara Israeli have written 23 of a planned 30 texts for beginning, intermediate and advanced students. In addition, a series of five texts for pre-NETA, mechina students are now under development. To help teachers implement the curriculum, mentors provide support to teachers in schools that have adopted NETA during its pilot phase; as part of the training process, the summer workshops, now in their second year, are required for teachers new to the program.

And the list of teachers and schools is growing. In just the past year, the number of day high and middle schools participating in the NETA pilot phase has more than doubled to 30. Schools in Boston—including the Hebrew College Prozdor—Metro-New York, Philadelphia, Rockville and Baltimore, South Florida, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles and San Diego have signed on, and a long waiting list includes schools in Atlanta, Winnipeg and Australia. Inquiries have come from as far away as Russia and South America. According to Stillman, NETA is projecting 5,500 students will be using the curriculum this coming academic year.

With the curriculum-writing phase nearly complete, and research and evaluation underway, Stillman says the project's emphasis has shifted toward teacher training and support—through the summer workshops, a new website that will serve as a resource center, and mentors. "In order for NETA to succeed," says Stillman, "it is critically important to train teachers with an outstanding sense of professionalism.

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