Hebrew Through Movement

Our Edot track 5th and 6th graders were introduced Sunday morning to a new, and hopefully fun way to build a working Hebrew vocabulary. It's called "Hebrew Through Movement," an adaptation of a technique used by many second language instructors called "Total Physical Response" (TPR).  TPR  was developed around the same principles which allow a baby to learn his/her first language - hearing the parent suggest actions, watching the parent model the actions, then eventually responding by acting. Eventually, after a year or so, the baby will respond not only with the actions but with the vocabulary as well. Over the course of the school year, I will be introducing basic vocabulary and, eventually, holiday and prayer vocabulary.

We met outside for our first session, to take advantage of the warm, summer-like weather. The photos share a little bit of the fun we had.