Hebrew Learning Journal Entry #2
Over the past two weeks, I have had two lessons with Rabbi Sherry, and I can already see progress in my Hebrew comprehension and speaking skills. During these last sessions, we focused on more extensive dialogue readings, deeper conversations, and a greater focus on gender assignments in Hebrew. Additionally, I have been consistently practicing on Duolingo for at least 20 minutes daily, which has reinforced my vocabulary and sentence structure. In these sessions, I aimed to enhance my fluency in reading and speaking Hebrew by working with longer dialogues and more complex grammatical structures. A significant portion of my lessons was dedicated to understanding how gender affects various aspects of Hebrew conversation, such as verb forms and adjective agreements. Another key focus was learning to use connector words and phrases effectively to create more natural-sounding sentences. Additionally, Rabbi Sherry and I engaged in interactive discussions that pushed me to apply new vocabulary and grammatical rules in real time. She encouraged me to construct longer, more fluid sentences using the gendered forms correctly. Additionally, we discussed the cultural and linguistic significance of these grammatical distinctions, which helped me understand why Hebrew is structured the way it is. These interactions made learning Hebrew feel more immersive and meaningful. To reinforce my learning, I implemented several strategies like extended dialogue readings which had me read longer texts and improve my comprehension and fluency. Secondly, in-depth conversations had Rabbi Sherry and I discussed gender assignments in Hebrew, deepening my grammatical understanding. Lastly, connector word drills made me practice linking words and transitional phrases which helped my speech flow better. Further, each of these strategies contributed significantly to my progress. The extended dialogues allowed me to see grammatical patterns in context, making them easier to recall during conversation. In-depth conversations with Rabbi Sherry helped solidify my understanding of gendered grammar, although I still need more practice to internalize these rules fully. Using connector words has made my speech sound more fluid and natural. Duolingo has also been an excellent supplementary tool, reinforcing new words and grammatical structures through repetition. Moving forward, I plan to increase the complexity of the texts I read to expose myself to more advanced sentence structures. Also, continue daily Duolingo exercises and incorporate additional flashcard drills for gendered vocabulary. As well as expand my use of Hebrew media, including watching news clips and listening to Hebrew podcasts to enhance listening comprehension. I still find myself struggling with spontaneous speaking, especially in gendered forms. There were moments when I couldn’t recall the correct form of a word quickly enough, but I recognized this as a normal part of language acquisition.
Over the past two weeks, I have had two lessons with Rabbi Sherry, and I can already see progress in my Hebrew comprehension and speaking skills. During these last sessions, we focused on more extensive dialogue readings, deeper conversations, and a greater focus on gender assignments in Hebrew. Additionally, I have been consistently practicing on Duolingo for at least 20 minutes daily, which has reinforced my vocabulary and sentence structure. In these sessions, I aimed to enhance my fluency in reading and speaking Hebrew by working with longer dialogues and more complex grammatical structures. A significant portion of my lessons was dedicated to understanding how gender affects various aspects of Hebrew conversation, such as verb forms and adjective agreements. Another key focus was learning to use connector words and phrases effectively to create more natural-sounding sentences. Additionally, Rabbi Sherry and I engaged in interactive discussions that pushed me to apply new vocabulary and grammatical rules in real time. She encouraged me to construct longer, more fluid sentences using the gendered forms correctly. Additionally, we discussed the cultural and linguistic significance of these grammatical distinctions, which helped me understand why Hebrew is structured the way it is. These interactions made learning Hebrew feel more immersive and meaningful. To reinforce my learning, I implemented several strategies like extended dialogue readings which had me read longer texts and improve my comprehension and fluency. Secondly, in-depth conversations had Rabbi Sherry and I discussed gender assignments in Hebrew, deepening my grammatical understanding. Lastly, connector word drills made me practice linking words and transitional phrases which helped my speech flow better. Further, each of these strategies contributed significantly to my progress. The extended dialogues allowed me to see grammatical patterns in context, making them easier to recall during conversation. In-depth conversations with Rabbi Sherry helped solidify my understanding of gendered grammar, although I still need more practice to internalize these rules fully. Using connector words has made my speech sound more fluid and natural. Duolingo has also been an excellent supplementary tool, reinforcing new words and grammatical structures through repetition. Moving forward, I plan to increase the complexity of the texts I read to expose myself to more advanced sentence structures. Also, continue daily Duolingo exercises and incorporate additional flashcard drills for gendered vocabulary. As well as expand my use of Hebrew media, including watching news clips and listening to Hebrew podcasts to enhance listening comprehension. I still find myself struggling with spontaneous speaking, especially in gendered forms. There were moments when I couldn’t recall the correct form of a word quickly enough, but I recognized this as a normal part of language acquisition.
Comments
To your comment about not recognizing the form of the word fast enough, I totally understand that and think everyone goes through it to some degree. Connector word drills sound interesting; would love to know more about what that's looked like for you.
I don't entirely know your language learning plan, but I would highly recommend not just practicing your Hebrew with Rabbi Sherry. No matter how good the rabbi is, one speaker never has a strong enough perspective on all the words, idioms, and phrases of a language. I believe interacting with multiple speakers even to a limited extent is important. I also think if you only meet with one foreign language speaker, it's easy to feel comfortable with them and mistake that confidence for genuine language skills.