madeline miller's Posts (18)
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As I celebrate Hanukkah, I am able to sing Hanukkah songs in Hebrew to my roommates (and with family over Facetime) and better explain the Hebrew terms to my friends who have questions about the holiday. I love having the opportunity to practice the language both during weekly lessons with my language partner, but also outside of the lessons in other spaces with other individuals. I have enjoyed playing the Hebrew songs (assigned to me by my language partner) with my friends who do not speak or understand Hebrew, as I am able to translate for them and better grasp the new vocabulary and material in a fun and exciting way.
I recently attended Shabbat services at a local Richmond synagogue, where I was able to confidently recite prayers and songs that I had forgotten over the years. I was able to help my friends follow along in our prayer books, as I felt more confident than I previously did in services and was better able to read and translate the Hebrew text. I flipped throughout the book during the service to test my knowledge, and was able to directly experience my progress in the language while doing so.
Over Thanksgiving Break, I was able to speak Hebrew with both my brother and sister. Since my sister gives my brother weekly religious school lessons, I was able to sit in on the lesson and learned a Hebrew prayer song with the two of them. I was able to expand my vocabulary and show my family how my Hebrew has improved, while helping my brother with his lesson. He was also able to teach me new Hebrew and Israeli songs that I was not familiar with. My family also celebrated Hanukkah early since we were all together, and we all sang Hebrew songs.
This week (12/3), I listened to a song called "Tel Aviv" by Omer Adam and also read a blog post to help better understand the song while discussing it with my language partner.
http://1israelisong.blogspot.com/2013/06/arisa-featomer-adam-tel-aviv.html
This week (11/26), I watched another episode of Srugim and answered the discussion post and questions about the show, as well as listed words I was not familiar with.
This week, following the events that took place in Pittsburg, I read and responded to a Ha'Aretz article about the shooting and the aftermath of the tragedy.
This week, I listened to the song "Barbie" by Static and Ben El Tavori, and responded to the discussion post, asking me to compare the last song I listened to with this one. Then, I wrote down and defined words with which I was unfamiliar and answered the other discussion questions in Hebrew.
This week (10/8), I listened to the song "Shnei Meshugaim" by Omer Adam, and wrote down words with which I was unfamiliar. I then answered the discussion post and questions listed below.
This week, (10/23), I read a Ha'Aretz article that discussed the "Me Too" movement, and specifically how it is present in Israel, as well as America. I responded to a discussion question asking me to summarize the article, and then to the follow up questions listed below.
This week (10/2), I watched the first episode of Srugim and responded to questions, as well as the discussion post, "Why do you think the title of the show is "Srugim?"
My first lesson, I listened to "Zahav" by Static and Ben El Tavori. The lyrics are about a man pursuing a woman, as portrayed in the Youtube music video below, so my discussion post was to write a letter as the young woman, responding to the man singing the song.
During my first session with my language partner, we planned out the semester and decided what days and times to meet, what we will cover, and what format to use to exchange learning materials. We decided to alternate among learning through music, TV shows, and news articles. Each week, I will answer questions (in Hebrew) written and asked in Hebrew by my language partner over the phone, and respond to a discussion post in Hebrew before the phone call on our shared Google Drive document.
This week, I listened to "Zahav" by Static and Ben El Tavori and responded to the discussion post my sister posted on our google document. The week after, I watched my first episode of Srugim, an Israeli TV show, often referred to as the "Jewish Friends." It was a bit difficult to watch the episode and follow along while the actors were talking so quickly, but it helped me to pause and play the episode often to give myself time to look up words with which I was not familiar. This also allowed me to expand my vocabulary and even learn more casual, slang terms.
SDLC%20reflection%20paper%201.docxjournal%20entries%201-10.docx
