After reading the articles for this week, it is clear to me that each person learns very differently. These articles helped to me understand various tactics I should take when trying to learn Hebrew. In the article titled “How the brain handles language,” I realized the differences in being left-brained versus right brained and what this means for my learning. I do agree with the article in the sense that I am very organized and learn best from lists, so I think that this will be a useful tactic for me. The article also taught me the importance behind actually speaking and practicing the language and how we learn best from hearing ourselves speak. I thought it was very interesting how we can self-correct or self-regulate each time we speak out loud. This will become most helpful when speaking with my language partner because she knows exactly how the words should sound.
In the “How we mean” article, I learned the importance behind understand the word meaning. Because it can be interpreted in many ways, it is important to filter out the right words for the meaning we truly desire. I think it will be important to understand the difference between sense and reference and this is best understood by learning other languages. This article made me very excited to learn Hebrew because I think it is important to learn how people from different cultures learn things differently and from a different perspective.
Finally in the “How to investigate language structure,” I learned the various approaches to studying a language and the importance of learning the meaning of words or phrases. This article was helpful for me to develop my learning plan for the semester. Rather than memorizing words or phrases for a vocabulary quiz, I look forward to truly understanding each word’s value and meaning in the Israeli culture. I think it would be interesting to try and go back to some Torah passages, either from my Bat Mitzvah or a new passage, and explore these passages further. What does each passage mean to the culture of the language? I believe that these articles allowed me to digest and better understand the rational behind learning the meaning and importance of each word, rather than just memorizing a word for a test. I hope that throughout my lesson plans I am able to keep this lesson in the back of my mind and learn the words for their meaning.
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