‘You have to ask for chips!’

Hebrew language students from New York and New Jersey get their first taste of Israeli culture

By JUDITH SUDILOVSKY
Members of the first graduating eighth grade classes of Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn, New York and Hatikva International Academy in East Brunswick, New Jersey spent 10 days immersing themselves in modern Hebrew and Israel on their capstone trip (photo credit: COURTESY HEBREW PUBLIC)
Members of the first graduating eighth grade classes of Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn, New York and Hatikva International Academy in East Brunswick, New Jersey spent 10 days immersing themselves in modern Hebrew and Israel on their capstone trip
(photo credit: COURTESY HEBREW PUBLIC)
 “SHALOM. MY name is Amanda and I love to eat pasta,” Amanda Quiñiones, 13, says, as she enthusiastically speaks in (almost accent-less) Hebrew, which she has been studying for two years at the Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn, New York.
Nearly a week in Israel as part of the first graduating eighth-grade class school trip along with some 32 other students from the academy and the Hatikva International Academy in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Quiñiones has been continuously excited by the prospect of communicating in Hebrew and being surrounded by the sounds and rhythm of Hebrew conversations everywhere she goes. But just a wild guess about the perpetually smiling teen says she probably is continuously excited about life in general. A believer in spirituality more than in any established religion, she is sporting a hamsa pendant on a thin chain around her neck. The hamsa hand-shaped amulet is a common symbol of protection throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean countries.
“I love the feel and the vibe here,” she says reverting back to English. “It’s very exciting.”
During the November trip, her classmate Thadd Allonce, 13, is a little less enthusiastic.
He’s home sick and though he enjoyed the falafel he ordered on his own in Hebrew and ate for lunch, he’s bummed that he had a hard time explaining that he wanted French Fries to go along with it.
“Chips,” chimes in Quiñiones. “You have to ask for chips!” A hearty discussion about French Fries/ chips and ordering food in Israel ensues among Quiñiones, Allonce and two other HLA students, Michael Brukson, 13, and Justin Matushansky, 14, who both come from families of Jewish-Russian backgrounds.
The trip to Israel had a special twist for Quiñiones, who is of Puerto Rican descent and whose mother just finished receiving results from a DNA genetic testing and discovered that the family has 4-5 percent Jewish genes.
“I want to learn more about Jewish traditions,” said Quiñiones. “My grandparents and whole family speak Spanish. And usually languages are not taught in schools until junior high school or high school. Hebrew is something different. Friends ask me how I got to the school but they are not judgmental, they are like ‘oh, that’s cool.’ I am doing something new and know so much about Hebrew.”
The students visited religious sites important to the three monotheistic religions, and nature and historical sites; they went to the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to learn about Israel’s role in the business and hitech world, and met with their Israeli peers in Sderot and at the Hand in Hand bilingual Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew Language Academy is part of a 10-school chain of Hebrew Language charter schools supported by the Hebrew Public Charter Schools for Global Citizens in the United States. The US state-funded Hebrew-English school network is open to all Americans regardless of background and was founded in 2009 by several Jewish philanthropists, including Michael Steinhardt of Birthright.
The Hebrew-language schools are mostly in the New York-New Jersey area but also in Minnesota and California, with one planned for Pennsylvania. The schools teach Hebrew and Israeli culture without the course load of Jewish religious tradition found in the traditional Jewish day schools. Eight other Hebrew Language Charter schools are in the works and the whole Hebrew charter school system has 309 full-time employees nationwide.
HEBREW PUBLIC is a national movement with the mission to create “exceptional and diverse” public charter schools that teach modern Hebrew to children of all backgrounds, give them a good education and prepare them to be global citizens, says Jessica D. Lieberman, director of Israel Studies and Partnerships for Hebrew Public, who was in Israel on the schools’ first capstone graduation trip.
Hebrew Public currently administers four schools in New York and is affiliated with six schools across the US, which serve the local population. Many of the schools have a large majority of students from African-American, Hispanic, and Asian communities, who become proficient in Hebrew and learn about Israel, its history and culture, she says. Some students are Jewish and Israelis, who prefer the Hebrew Public system over a Jewish day school system because they are seeking a diverse school environment and a secular approach to Hebrew and Israel studies. There is also the financial consideration that since the schools are officially recognized by the US Department of Education they are considered part of the public school system and, as with other charter language schools, enrolment in a Hebrew public school does not involve extra tuition fees or special requirements.
The Hebrew language charter schools are part of a growing trend in the US to immerse children in a foreign language at a younger age as parents realize the importance of languages in this era of globalization.
According to data from the Center for Applied Linguistics in 2011, there were 448 foreign language immersion schools in the US, with the most popular being programs in Spanish, French, Chinese, and Arabic, but there are also language charter schools in Danish, Russian, German, Japanese and a number of indigenous languages such as Ojibwe, Yup’ik and Diné.
Among the founders of the Hebrew language immersion charter schools were Russian-speaking Jewish families who felt connected to their Jewish roots but not in a religious way, and the schools have given them a way to maintain their ties to the Jewish tradition. Over 20 percent of the children at Hebrew Language Academy and Hatikva School come from Russian-Jewish homes.
“Most Russian-speaking Jews are not observant,” says Valerie Khaytina, Hebrew Public chief external officer who is originally from Ukraine and was among the first to enroll her two daughters in the Hebrew Language Academy. Jewish identity for us was a nationality, not a religion. We have a connection to Israel, a connection to the Jewish people.”
Interestingly, though she says, her own family has started to observe more Jewish religious customs now that her children are attending the Hebrew Language Academy although religion is not at all part of the school curriculum.
“People are looking for a great education and to teach their children a second language,” she says.
The Hebrew immersion schools’ curriculum teaches the Hebrew language and aspects of Jewish culture in a non-religious context and a key element of the program at Hebrew Language Academy also includes technology integrated core subjects and advanced algebra classes for eligible eighth graders.
“We are not a Jewish school. No religion is taught. We are completely secular,” notes Tim Heckler, a trip chaperon and third grade teacher at Hatikva Academy. “The schools are open to all students and admission is done by lottery. It is a regular public school and the reason many parents want to go to our school is because it is near their homes and they feel that the home district schools are failing their children. Hatikva has a higher academic performance level and good school values.”
Some Christian parents are also eager for their children to learn Hebrew, the language of the Bible, he says. And yes, he says, there is also the stereotype that Jews give their children a good education.
Hebrew is taught as an integral part of the learning experience in the school through the oral proficiency approach, which mimics the way children naturally learn language, he said, and it is used as a common language in a majority of school classes.
With the exception of core subjects such as English language, arts and math, Hebrew is woven into the curriculum through a team-teaching model with Hebrew teachers alongside general education or special teachers. With the oral proficiency approach, Hebrew teachers reinforce the Hebrew-only rule during classes and during down time, like during recess, lunch and morning assembly, which Hebrew teachers generally oversee.
“Just like not everybody who goes to a Spanish school has to [have Spanish roots], not everybody who goes to a Hebrew language school has to be Jewish,” says Alexia Newell, 13, of the Hativka International Academy. As a Christian, her parents were happy with the idea of her learning Hebrew, the language of the Bible and having that connection to the places where Jesus lived and walked. “My mom saw a new school that was teaching a language in elementary school and thought that was unique. Learning another language is helping me get ahead in life. I like it when I am here and can understand what people are saying.”
“It has always been our desire for our children to learn another language other than English. As immigrants coming from the Caribbean, we value other cultures and experiences. When we heard about Hatikvah opening its doors years ago, we were intrigued by what the school had to offer and excited that our daughter would get the opportunity to be in a setting that was rigorous, innovative and multicultural. We have been very pleased with the result and pleased at how meaningful her experience has been. The recent trip was a wonderful way to wrap up her K-8 experience. Not only was she able to travel to Israel and strengthen her Hebrew fluency, being a Christian, she was able to walk the same land that she has read about in her Bible,” said Laurie Newell, Alexia’s mother.
HLA STUDENT Ariel Mulkin, 13, whose parents are Israeli-Russian said he felt a sense of pride in the country and his Jewish heritage on the trip to Israel. “If I come here later in my life it is good to know the language,” he says. “It can’t hurt to learn more of anything.”
His classmate Brukson, who has been listening in on the conversation wearing aviator sunglasses and exuding a tweeny attitude, agrees.
“I’ve gone to a synagogue a few times, and attended my cousins wedding,” he says.
But what really got him psyched about Jewish history was a 45-minute talk at the Museum of the Underground Prisoners, which commemorates the activity of the Jewish underground of the Hagana, Irgun and Lehi during the struggle for the establishment of the State of Israel and actually being in the place where that history took place, he says.
“The actual history, the modern history and the creation of history and talking about the bomb factory, that was more interesting than all the history lessons I have had in my life.”