In early June Eric Tully, a graduate student in the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies and the Biblical Hebrew TA, attended the Coheleth workshop on the campus Ashland Seminary in Ashland, Ohio.
Coheleth (a Hebrew word serving as an acronym for “Communicative Hebrew Learning and Teaching”) is a new program and curriculum currently in development by a team of Hebrew instructors from a wide variety of institutions. It seeks to teach Classical Hebrew as if it were a living, spoken language.
The Coheleth approach seeks to take advantage of the latest research in language acquisition in order to more effectively engage students in the learning process.
Key concepts of this approach include using meaningful communication which conveys information important to the students, “chunking” or learning the language in phrases rather than individual forms, and explaining grammar only on a need-to-know basis.
Participants in the workshop discussed the new approach and materials, participated in dialogues and role-playing using the new techniques, and taught a grammatical unit using the Coheleth approach.
Appreciation is due to the Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies for helping to fund Tully's participation in this workshop. For more information, see the Cohelet Project Web site.