Alper Daron's Posts

Looking Back... Final Evaluation

Posted by Alper Daron on April 27, 2010 at 9:49am

See the attached document!

Final Work.docx

Cultural Response 4 - Hora Dance

Posted by Alper Daron on April 26, 2010 at 3:00pm

Here is a youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSakToFMQsw

Hora is an Israeli Folklore dance, typically originated in the Balkan countries, and then became part of the Jewish life in Israel. It is acircle-type of dance, where everyone holds hands and dance with harmony.The Israeli Hora dance became the symbol of the reconstruction of thecountry by the
socialistic-agricultural Zionist movement, when Israel was formed. Inthe past, hora has been very famous in kibbutzim. In Bar Mitzvahs andweddings, it is very traditional to dance hora.

Learning Journal #7

Posted by Alper Daron on April 11, 2010 at 4:30pm

Last week we in our meeting with Haya, we worked on our communicative tasks. For the first communicative task, all the Hebrew learners wrote down a dialog in class between an American guy, who goes to Israel on Birthright and an Israeli girl in a bar. The conversation is short, as our Hebrew is still not good enough to write a long dialog. First, we write down what we would want each character to say in English, and then Haya helped us translating it to Hebrew. Once we translated it, Nora and I recorded our voices and we posted it on Ning. Although I am not focusing on writing that much, I also asked Haya to help me in writing the dialog using Hebrew letters. It took me so long to write all the dialog in Hebrew, but I think in time I will get used to writing in Hebrew.

Another communicative task that we worked on was the Hebrew version of Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes song. Haya taught us how to sing this song in Hebrew, and once we all felt comfortable enough and memorized all the lyrics, we decided to perform and record. Zach, Nora and I had a lot of fun while recording it. I think this was a useful way of learning new vocabulary. Also, because we repeated the song so many times, the song got stuck in my mind all day, and now I can actually remember all the vocabulary.

Head --> Rosh
Shoulders --> Ktafaim
Knees --> Berhayim
Toes --> Etzbaot
Eyes --> Enayim
Ears --> Oznayim
Mouth --> Pe
Nose --> Af

Learning Journal #6

Posted by Alper Daron on April 6, 2010 at 1:57pm

In the sixth week of our classes, we covered "bgadim" - clothes. And I also learned how to say I have, you have, s/he has, we have, you'll have and they have. Grammatically, there are big differences in conjugating verbs.

I have = Yesh lee
You have = Yesh leha/lah (depending on the gender of the person)
He/She has = Yesh lo / la
We have = Yesh lanu
You all have = Yesh lachem
They have = Yesh lahem

I feel like every week I am learning more vocabulary, but I begin to forget the ones that I have learned earlier, so I think the best way to remember all of them is to keep looking at the old notes and reminding myself how to say words in Hebrew.

I also realized that I started to form very short sentences like: I have white shoes ( Yesh lee naalayim levanim) , We have two black coats (Anahnu yesh lanu sney meilim shahorim) or she doesn't have a car (Hi en la mehonit ahat).

Learning Journal #5

Posted by Alper Daron on April 6, 2010 at 1:41pm

In the fifth week of our classes, we covered the numbers after 10. I think the numbers are not as complicated than I thought they would be. It is only important to remember the ones between 11 and 20, and the ones that go 20, 30, 40 ... all the rest is easy because they just say for ex; 40 and 5 for 45 or 70 and 9 for 79. We also covered "zman - time" and how to say for ex: "shaa eser - it's 10 o'clock"

Also, In Rosetta Stone, I learned how to make nouns plural, depending on whether they are masculine or feminine. Masculine nouns usually get -im, and feminines get -ot.

Ex: Apple = Tapuah, Apples = Tapuhim or Car = Mehonit, Cars = Mehoniyot

Also, unlike English apparently the adjectives also become plural.

Ex: One Red Ball = Kadur (Ball) Echad (one) Adum (Red)
Two Green Apples = Sney (Two) Tapuhim (Apples) Yarokim (Greens)

Learning Journal #4

Posted by Alper Daron on March 25, 2010 at 2:29am

In the fourth week of our classes, I started to study some Hebrew grammar and asking basic questions like "Ma ze? - What is this?' or "Ha kelev sohe? - Does the dog swim?". Rosetta Stone has been somewhat helpful in learning about the grammar, but I think writing what I hear in Rosetta Stone helps me remember better, so I decided to keep a notebook and practice by writing.
Also, in our meetings with Haya, we went through some of our old vocabulary and we watched a video clip that shows an Israeli street market, and we practiced on our listening a little bit. However, I think it is still too early for me to try to understand without the subtitles in English. But, I could learn some new vocabulary (cheap, soft, fresh, shopping, taste, and etc.) from the video.

Cultural Response 3 - Israeli Road Signs and their representation in Israeli culture

Posted by Alper Daron on March 25, 2010 at 2:00am

The Israeli population is both linguistically and culturally very diverse. And the road signs in traffic are perfect examples that show this diversity. Unlike the USA, which is also a very diverse country, in Israel the government recognizes two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic, and the road signs in Israel are trilingual. They not include Hebrew and Arabic, but also English for visitors or newcomers (new aliyah immigrants), who do not know Hebrew or Arabic characters. Because Israel was formed with immigrants from all over the world, other than these 3 languages, there are also several other languages that are used by large populations. The main ones are; Russian, Romanian, Yiddish, Ladino, Polish, Spanish, French and Ukranian.

Cultural Response 2 Israel - Individualistic or Collectivistic?

Posted by Alper Daron on March 25, 2010 at 1:30am

Since I study Hebrew, and Hebrew is widely spoken mainly in Israel, I made some research on whether Israel was an individualist or a collectivist country. Our reading suggested that no country can neither be completely individualistic nor collectivistic. I guess this statement couldn't be any truer in any other country, but Israel, because Hofstede suggests that although being slightly individualistic, Israel can be both. This did not surprise me, because Israel is a country that created the idea of "kibbutzim" - collective communities that work together in agricultural areas, but at the same time in the business life Israelis tend to be very individualistic and they focus on individual goals and achievements.

Learning Journal #3

Posted by Alper Daron on March 18, 2010 at 11:33pm

In the third week of our meetings with Haya, we went over the previous vocabulary that we discussed in the video, and we also listened to a Hebrew song, sang by an Israeli singer and we added some more new vocabulary. I learned some basic love-related words that we hear very often in many songs.

Also, I wanted to learn the colors, so I found a website, which taught all the colors in hebrew. I wrote them down to my notebook, and I am trying to memorize all of them. But it seems like it is not that easy to remember all of them, because the colors also change depending on whether the word is a masculine/feminine/plural form. For ex: white can be "lavan" for mas.sing. "levana" for fem.sing. "lvanim" for mas.plu. and "levanot" for fem.plu. depending on the object/s that is/are white.

Other than that, I keep on working on Rosetta Stone, which I think helps a little bit on learning some more random words such as: water, bread, rice, apple, milk, car, newspaper, fish, eggs and etc. I also find Rosetta Stone helpful on learning how to say basic things in proper grammar.

Learning Journal #2

Posted by Alper Daron on February 25, 2010 at 4:23pm

In the second week of our classes, we started learning the months, the numbers (1-10) and the days in Hebrew. Also, in one of the language partner meetings, in order to develop my listening skills, Haya made me watch a small video. The video showed a street market in Israel, and I learned some new vocabulary. I feel like in the beginner level, it is very important to learn as many words as you can, because without knowing enough words, it gets very difficult to try to speak in that language. I feel like making some grammar mistakes is very normal at this point, so I try not to stress myself so much with grammatical rules.

Learning Journal #1

Posted by Alper Daron on February 25, 2010 at 12:53pm

The first week, when we started meeting with our language partners, we started off with the Hebrew alphabet. I didn't know that the alphabet is different in cursive script. So after learning the letters in the regular alphabet, we also had to learn the cursive script. The letters were so different that I decided to spend the whole week on learning them. And now, although I still write very slowly, I think I can recognize all the letters. In fact, this much writing knowledge is already good enough for me, because I want to focus on reading and speaking more.
Also, this week in our meetings, we learned how to greet and say how are you and etc.
Our language partner, Haya, has been very helpful, and she is very good at explaining things to us. I think we are lucky to have her. Also, it is really interesting to get to know Israel from her point of view, as she is an Arab and an Israeli citizen.
I also started working on Rosetta Stone, and I think it adds some to my Hebrew knowledge. I learn some grammer, and some new vocabulary from Rosetta Stone.

Cultural Response 1 - Challah Bread

Posted by Alper Daron on February 9, 2010 at 3:00am

Challah is a special type of bread eaten by the Jewish people all around the world especially in Sabbath dinners. The ingredients in a challah bread are typically white flour, eggs, water and sugar. What makes this bread special is its unique rope-like shape. Traditionally, in a typical Sabbath dinner, two whole challah breads (one for the dinner, and one for the Sabbath day) are kept covered during the Sabbath prayer inscribed for wine. Once the routine Sabbath prayer is over, the cover is taken off and the prayer for Challah is said.

Multiple Intelligence Inventory Response

Posted by Alper Daron on January 28, 2010 at 12:16am

I have done the multiple intelligence inventory survey, and my highest learning style turned out to be interpersonal. I scored 45 on that one. Apparently, an interpersonal learner likes to have a lot of friends, talk to people and join groups. Also, this type of learners are good at understanding people, leading others, organizing, communicating, manipulating and mediating conflicts. The best way to learn for an interpersonal learner is by interviewing, sharing, cooperating, comparing and relating.These results have not really surprised me, because I know that I am a person, who needs other people to be able to learn. I generally get better grades in the tests, which I studied together with a friend. I like to share what I know, and to hear what my friends know about a subject. That way, I tend to get a complete understanding of a subject. In fact, I have never been a self-learner, which contradicts with my preference to study a language, Hebrew, on my own. Yet, I think I could solve this problem by working closely with my language partner, asking him/her to cooperate with me.My second highest score was music. I scored 39 on that one. Music learners tend to learn by listening to music, rhythms and melodies. I think this also is a good way for me to learn especially a language, because I used to listen to English songs, when I was learning English in High School, and I remember learning a lot of new vocabulary from the songs that I listen and repeat. I think perhaps I could download some Hebrew music online and listen to them when I have free time, and that way I could hear and learn some new vocabulary.