[etni] Fw: The Oral bagrut

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Esther Revivo - estherrv@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The Oral bagrut

A few points:

I am adamantly against teaching grammar in any but the mother tongue. 
English grammar is  diametrically opposed to that of our pupils' native 
tongues, (primarily Hebrew and Arabic, which my husband speaks fluently. ) 
Thus, it is hard enough for pupils to grasp the intricacies of the grammar 
we teach without having the language barrier make understanding it even more 
difficult.

HOWEVER, even in the weakest classes, English should be spoken with a 
minimum of Hebrew sentence thrown in here and there only if absolutely 
necessary. (i.e. 1 pointers cannot follow a lesson given entirely in 
English! People who think otherwise have never taught in what we used to 
categorize as Masmar/ Masmam classes!)

In NY state (in the Middle Ages, :) I studied Spanish for 7 years 
culminating in a regents exam, on which I got a very high grade. We were 
taught in English; had listening comprehensions and unseens galore, but were 
never called upon to speak in Spanish.  Hence, we could barely say a single 
complete sentence in that language! In college, thankfully, when required to 
speak entirely in  Spanish (in our Spanish Literature Classics lesson,) only 
then did the flood waters of Spanish come gushing out of my mouth! Moral of 
the story? In classes taught in the mother tongue, with virtually no 
communication in the language being studied, oral proficiency is zilch!

So, despite the faults of our present oral exam, in my opinion some oral 
exam must remain an intrinsic part of the bagrut. That is, if we want pupils 
who can speak English, albeit peppered with mistakes, and not just pupils 
who can successfully  complete an unseen.

Esther Revivo
Ulpanat Tzvia Sedot Negev


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