When I first developed my goals for learning Hebrew in January, my goals were a bit advanced for what I could practically accomplish in 16 weeks. After adjusting my goals, however, I feel as if I have successfully accomplished most of my goals this semester. I can read Hebrew with vowels and thus would classify myself at a Kindergarten speaking level. With help from Emily and Michelle, I believe I can pronounce words correctly. I have enjoyed reading the children’s book because I think the vocabulary is easy to understand and I can contextually understand the story. I have learned the alphabet, greetings, and farewells successfully. I did not learn how to write a Valentine’s day card, but chose to learn other things instead. I know how to read the vocabulary for ordering food, but I don’t know the words by memory. Finally, I know how to read the words that describe my family, but I do not know them by memory.
The stumbling blocks I encountered were making time to practice my Hebrew for at least 15 minutes a day. There were times when I was away for a weekend or for spring break and found it hard to practice my Hebrew. I think that this made it harder for me to remember vocabulary. Because of scheduling differences, another obstacle for me was finding the time to meet with Emily. Michelle and I had difficulty finding two hours a week that would work with Emily's schedule because of her rigorous course load and her playing tennis. That being said, when the three of us did meet, we were productive and I found I learned the most during these meetings.I was able to overcome my stumbling blocks by using Rosetta Stone and other resources such as YouTube to practice my pronunciation. I also found it helpful to practice with Michelle because we were at the same speaking and reading level.
What I found to be most interesting throughout my learning Hebrew was the freedom we had in choosing what to learn. I decided it was not important for me to memorize vocabulary and so I focused more on pronunciation and on reading. I enjoyed being able to pick and choose the subjects that I wanted to learn and how these were applicable to me. Knowing that I will be going to Israel on my Birthright, I chose subjects that would be relevant to that experience. What I found to be least interesting to me was learning the grammatical side of Hebrew. Both Michelle and I were not heavily interested in this, so we hardly focused on this in our studies.
I would like to continue my self-directed Hebrew studies post college, but understand this may be difficult with the motivations of a language partner and the resources available to us at University of Richmond. I think that before my trip to Israel I would like to review what I have learned so that I can better immerse myself in the culture throughout my trip.
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