Online Biblical Hebrew Internet Class

Testimonial of a Recent Modern Hebrew Students

   To anyone seriously interested in learning Hebrew, I strongly advocate taking Neal's course. And I also strongly suggest, if at all possible, Gold membership -- receiving tapes (and extra materials printed up). The tapes are an outstanding aid -- two 2-sided tapes for  each four lessons. The extra materials and Lesson plans also greatly  enhance and solidify learning. 

   Out of curiosity, after only 7 lessons, I took a Hebrew proficiency  test for a 4-level series of courses in Hebrew, and already I qualified  for the 2nd course. This is purely thanks to Neal.  I am extremely  grateful for the availability of Hebrew Resources and this course and  also for the time, care, hard work, and thought Neal puts into preparing  the wonderful tapes, exercises and other learning aids and in keeping  up with the bulletin boards. Neal has shown himself to be a very kind,  responsive and helpful instructor. He is flawlessly responsible.  He seems to think of everything, and welcomes, seeks feedback and questions. I most highly recommend this course. 

   I also give utmost praise to the "At Home With Hebrew" program. It provides an exceedingly strong basis for the study of Hebrew. Like everything Neal offers -- including Hebrew Word Of The Day, which I would terribly hate to miss -- it is surprisingly thorough and enjoyable.

Karen D. 
New York, NY 

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Testimonial of Another Student

   I am so happy to have had the opportunity to take the HaYesod Hebrew Language course.  I had been struggling along with other books on my own for about a year when I found Neal and the HaYesod Course on the Internet.  

   I have learned more in the few months of taking the HaYesod course than I did in the year with other books and tapes.  

   I like the progression of the lessons in  HaYesod  especially in the way it deals with verb conjugations.  It is not overwhelming.  

   The text is good, but Neal makes it better with his exercises and tapes.  The drills reinforce the learning process.  Without them the learning process would lack the needed practice.  Neal seems to understand what is needed to reinforce the learning material in each lesson.  

   I also enjoy the Gold Membership because with each lesson comes not only the drills but tapes reinforcing the vocabulary and story.  When I’m in the car, I pop in the tape of the lesson that I’m working on so I can also hear the material.  I would recommend Neal’s Gold Membership of this HaYesod course for anyone who would like to learn this wonderful language.

For the love of learning,

Miriam W.,
Deltona, Florida

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Testimonial of a Third Student

   I questioned him about the requirements for his college course and he showed me his text book. They are not required to learn the cursive script, or engage in conversation or read without vowel marks. I don't exactly know what it is he is studying, but he was amazed at the scope and depth of this course. Not to mention that his text book was all in English, with an exception of the lessons, which were in Hebrew. It didn't contain pages of Hebrew text like ours does. I gather that his text was printed in America where ours was printed in Israel. 

   How could someone study a foreign language and not also learn how to write and speak it?

   Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I feel this Hebrew class is one of the best Hebrew courses available. Thank you for giving us all a chance to learn Hebrew. 

Kristenea L,
Spokane, WA 

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Here are details about the Biblical Hebrew class:

The Hebrew class will use the book "A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew" (Second Edition) by Joseph Weingreen.  The first edition was published in 1939, and this is the book that everyone else quotes!  The book is 314 pages, consisting of 42 exercises.

We will work the book by the exercises.  Weingreen does have content separate into sections (he doesn't call them chapters).  Sometimes there might be two or three of these sections before an exercise.  So we will consider Lesson 1 to be the material up to and including Exercise 1, Lesson 2 to be the material after Exercises 1 and up to and including Exercise 2.

I would not recommend Weingreen's book as a sole source for self-study. Without a teacher or a support group, I think a beginner student would get frustrated and confused.  That's where my materials and my website comes in.

The Members-Only web site benefits include the following:

1) Get your questions answered. A discussion forum will be provided, organized by lesson number. I will regularly answer questions, and your fellow classmates can answer your questions.

2) Quizes  - Yes, you need a quiz to assure yourself that you
really understand the material. At the end of each Weingreen lessons, there will be an online quiz consisting of 12 to 20 multiple choice questions.

3) Exams - I may offer a written exam at the end of each 8 to 10 lessons.  You would take the exam and mail it to me for grading. Upon passing, I would send you a certificate of achievement.

Other benefits of my course:

1) Audio Tapes - In my HaYesod modern Hebrew course, I send two 90-minutes tapes for each 4 lessons (thus 45 minutes recorded material per lesson).  I have not yet made the tapes, but I'm anticipating a similar amount of material.   I will make up drills for the tapes, so hopefully you can learn a lot of your Hebrew while driving to work. 

2) Answers to exercises - I may make the answers available only after you have taken the quiz for each lesson.  I know that it is too tempting to look at the answers if you have them in front of you.

3) My exercises will push you to learn to read without vowels.  The Weingreen textbook does not emphasize this.  This, along with grammar and vocabulary will prepare you for Torah reading in the future.

 

How fast will we go?

Ideally, we could do one lesson a week.  But based on pass students results, I think it would be better to allow for two weeks per lesson.  If this is too slow for you, you can work at your own pace.

How far can we go in Weingreen?

My initial commitment is only for the first 8 lessons.  At two weeks per lesson, that
will carry us through April/May, then we might take off for the summer.

I hope to have more Lessons done by May, but possibly not until the Fall of 2002. 

Can you tell me more about the textbook?

Click here to see more info about the book on Amazon.com.
Amazon now has a few exercpt pages available, as well as the front
and back covers, and part of the index.

Outline of Material Covered in First 16 Lessons:

Don't be scared of the terminology used here.  It helps if you know what nouns, verbs, adjectives are, but you will probably learn a lot about English grammar as you go through this course.

Who is Neal Walters? and Why is He teaching this class?

What are my qualifications to teach and facilitate the class?
Basically, I have learned Hebrew on my own as an adult. I was frustrated
with many of the learning methods that were available, and thus began
writing my own computer program to teach Hebrew (in about 1992). Originally it was just three diskettes, but when I added the sound files, it became the CD/ROM (At Home With Hebrew) now found on my web site.

I have taught using the Ha-Yesod Modern Hebrew book and the Weingreen
Classical (Biblical) Hebrew  at my synagogue in the Dallas area, and frequently read from the Torah.  I have learned which topics cause the students the most trouble, and I have built exercises and special explanations and examples of those topics in my course materials. Also, many of you are familiar with some of my teaching styles in the "Hebrew Word of the Day".

My schooling includes a BBA in Accounting, a MSBA in Management
Information Systems, and a JD (Juris Doctor). That last degree took
about 8-11 hours of class, plus study time, per week for four years!
So surely, you can spend 2 hours a week, studying Hebrew!
I took 1 year of Latin and 3 years of Spanish in high-school, and I
tested out of 14 hours of Spanish in college, and took several Spanish
literature classes. I have also studied some French and Brazilian
Portuguese, and a wee bit of German. I have travelled to Israel,
Brazil, Columbia and lived in Puerto Rico for 9 months.
So I think I can combine some unique fields of study to provide 
what will perhaps be the first online Internet Hebrew Class.

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Anticipated Questions:

Q. What if I am a WEBTV or I-PHONE user, and don't have a regular computer?

A.  I am currently not offering an online-only version of the class.  You will get audio tapes and printed materials via the mail.  I realize this makes the postage too expensive for some international students. 

Q. How much time study will this take?

A. Of course, this will vary from person to person. Each Weingreen exercises introduces about 12 new vocabulary words.  The biggest challenge is to learn the prefixes and suffixes and the irregular verbs and nouns. 

Each Ha-Yesod lesson is usually 4 to 6 pages, and introduces and one major point of grammar (and sometimes a secondary poin).. I think a good guess would be four 30-minute study sessions per week, plus maybe 30 minutes/week of internet interaction with me and the other students. Everybody learns at a different pace, some students take more time, some less. 

Remember, you will not have a formal class-room meeting.  My Dallas class meets for about 1 1/2 hours per week. So by self-study, you actually save time!   The Internet and the Audio tapes take the place of the classroom meeting.

If you get the audio tapes, and listen in the car, I think you will learn faster and develop a better "ear" for Hebrew. I used to spend about 40 minutes, twice a day, driving to work. That adds up to over 7 hours per week of potential learning time!

Q. Can I go at my own pace?

A. You are probably asking: "Can I go at my own pace?". Yes, you can, with the limitation that I may not post the material for future lessons until I have it all ready. So in other words, you can drag behind; but if you work ahead, you will be on your own. 
   However, if you drag behind, you may have fewer students to interact with;  so everyone is encouraged to stay on the same lesson together. One reason for taking classes, rather than self-study, is to have the discipline to stay with the rest of the class.

Q. How can I pay?

A. You begin by ordering a starter pack which includes your textbook, audio tapes, and printed materials for Lessons 1-4.   The first order is more because it includes extra materials, including the $39. textbook.   Additional tapes and exercises and on-going membership for each 4 lessons will be approximately $24.   You can order online and pay by credit card or Paypal, or you can order by mail, and send a check or money order (but I really prefer online payment!).

Q. How do I get future lessons?

When you sign-up for the course, you are registered as a student of that course.  You then can order any of the lessons available for that course from a special online catalog listing.

Q. Is this a fair price? 

A. Our local Jewish Community Center charges $10/week, thus $40/month for Hebrew lessons.  (Books probably separate.)  And they don't have my exercises, online quizes, or audio tapes! 

Q. One last question: What if I want to join the class later? Can I?

A. I think I will offer two classes per year, probably starting in August,
January. Each semester will allow new students to come in - and
work together through the same lessons at more-or-less the same pace.
 

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To register for this class requires the following:

I'm still trying to determine the initial price and materials.  I'm trying to also create flashcards, and have not determined their price yet. 

The retail value of the textbook alone is $39.95 at Amazon.com.

Estimated Price:  Price $49 to $69  + $7 shipping/handling.

I might make the flash cards an optional item that you can purchase separately.

This also includes your first month access to our members-only web site for students taking
this class. If you already have a copy of the Weingreen textbook, you can subtract $25. 

 

Registration Forms: 

Deadline:  To start the online class, forms should be submitted by Jan 15th, 2002 in order to ship the materials to you on time to be able to start in February, 2002.

ORDER ONLINE, then when you get your starter kit, you will get instructions on how to sign-up online for the ongoing membership.  Starter kit is $59, other order options for people who have textbook, or want a package deal are also available here.

                           Neal Walters            http://HebrewResources.com