Constant Transfer of Learning

People ask me - couldn't you learn Hebrew in Boston? Aren't there programs locally?

The answer, of course, is "yes." What there isn't in Boston is the constant reinforcement in the environment. Everything feeds off everything else.

The word for "madam" or "lady" or "miss" is geveret. I learned this word early in my Hebrew studies - back in the mid-90's. I'll tell you, though, when you keep forgetting to take your ticket on the bus, or take all your change from the bus driver or stand at the wrong bus stop but the bus driver recognizes you and stops anyway - well, they all begin their remarks with "geveret!"

I'll never, ever forget the word and could pop it out of my mouth to another woman at the appropriate occasion without thinking twice.

In our text yesterday we learned the word pair for military reserve duty - sheirut miluim. Well, after having gone over it in class and then used it again in my homework, where do I see it but on the news program than evening on the crawl line at the bottom of the screen. I didn't have to figure it out - I recognized it on sight - which is the entire idea about language acquisition - more and more words become sight words and sound words - without the intervening translation.

Two days ago Shimon Peres was sworn in as the 9th president of the State of Israel. It was informative to see how the entire process was managed and to hear him speak. Since it was a state occasion there was more precision and decisiveness in people's speeches so that was easier to "catch" as opposed to daily conversations where the speech is understandably more rapid.

You may remember the live TV program called Sabrina the Teenage Witch and then the animated programs that followed. I've been able to watch bits and pieces of the animated version. It's quite fun to follow along with. I also have watched Clifford - the Puppy Days and other children's programs from the USA, all in Hebrew.

I've picked up Disney DVD's for Alice in Wonderland, Hercules and a couple more titles which I hope to have fun watching with others over these next months. I've found on Amazon the correct DVD player which will play any DVD format onto any TV format (it's not as easy as you might think) for under $100.

Enjoy your July - Rabbi Heath