One way students can improve their language skills is through learning the background and lyrics to songs and then singing them. Karaoke is one way to learn the songs since it highlights each word being sung throughout the song. For Hebrew specifically, one approach I feel can benefit students is to learn song backgrounds and the vocabulary for songs with nikkud (vowelized Hebrew) and then sing the unvowelized version through karaoke videos. There is a site online called www.karaoketv.co.il/ with thousands of songs presented as karaoke videos. It is also available as a phone app. This site is ..read more

Any Google search shows that there is a plethora of online games out there, all the way from sophisticated Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) to very basic games like Memory or Concentration. Many of these games are not primarily intended for education. If teachers plan and implement them carefully though, these games can motivate students and help them learn perhaps without even realizing it. One area that is growing in scholarship about the use of games in learning is foreign language education. There is still much to be done in this area, but there are a range of initiatives and proje ..read more

Gamebooks, sometimes informally called Choose You Own Adventure (CYOA) stories due to the popular series, allow readers to interact with stories by letting them guide the storyline through their choices. For example, you could be reading about an alien who is getting away by boarding his spaceship. From here, you could decide to either pursue the alien or let him escape. Either choice has its own set of consequences, and can alter the rest of the story line. These stories are often considered engaging reading, and can lead readers to read a story multiple times to explore different possible st ..read more

There are more and more resources for learning and practicing Hebrew online, but I thought I would share some great sites that are hosted by university faculty and colleges: UT at Austin Hebrew Multimedia, http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew This site not only has the materials for Esther Raizen’s two books publicly available (dialogues, etc.), but it also has several videos, audio, games, and many other resources including additional units depicting the lives of heritage learners in ebook or print format. Routledge Modern Hebrew, http://routledgehebrew.com/index.html This is the website for Gi ..read more

On my youTube channel I created a few simple videos for Hebrew learning that present Hebrew vocabulary, basic sentences, and music. The full list of these resources can be found on my channel listed on the right sidebar or on the page Created Resources. One in particular I discuss here presents a basic song, Old McDonald, in Hebrew translation with pictures and lyrics to teach Hebrew and reinforce learning. Because lyrics are grouped with pictures, it is easier to remember the vocabulary (and it is a song that should be familiar to most English speakers at least). There are many other songs wi ..read more

I have gathered another 50 Hebrew covers of English songs as the library on iTunes and Spotify has grown. This list too includes songs that are available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. Later I will present rare cover songs that are generally not available for streaming or purchase.  Even though most of these songs are oldies that many younger generation of students will not be familiar with the tunes are probably somewhat familiar, and you could always have students listen to the original song before class. As before I use the word “cover” freely, since the list below includes some Hebr ..read more

A great way to practice Hebrew listening is by listening to audiobooks in the language. This can be done by hearing only or you can buy the book itself in print or digitally and read along simultaneously. These audiobooks are difficult to find online and only exist in a few places. The most common site for this with many different books to choose from is iCast. This tool includes a website and an Android/iOS app with hundreds of audiobooks that can be streamed with a monthly subscription or purchased individually. The site also includes summaries for each audiobook along with free audio sample ..read more

One valuable tool for foreign language teachers is to use songs in their instruction. Often a teacher wants to teach songs with specific vocabulary (from that week’s section or to reinforce concepts, for example). It is very easy to search for these songs online using the advanced search on a web browser, which this post will discuss. First, you should look for a web site that contains lyrics for your particular language. For Hebrew, this is easily accomplished by typing “hebrew song lyrics” into Google. This same approach can be taken with other languages. Alternately you can type in familiar ..read more

For this post I will discuss several types of reference books that in my experience really come in handy for Hebrew language learners. In each case I present you with links for the examples I mention directing to good places to get these resources, although not necessarily the cheapest places. 1. A dictionary from one’s native language into the target language, and/or vice versa: This is probably the main type that comes to mind for learners and teachers. These books are good so that we can get a feel for how a language translates into our own (or at least lists translation possibilities). One ..read more

On the internet today, there are countless methods to record audio and then share it. These methods all vary more or less in their purposes and strengths. This blog post will review a few tools that look promising for the second language (L2) classroom, based on three different sharing purposes: Students → Teachers Students → Students Teachers → Students These purposes will be referred to in the rest of this post as purpose #1, purpose #2, and purpose #3. Here are a few of the audio sharing tools online: SpeakPipe Briefly, this tool enables visitors to leave voicemails on a site, blog, Faceb ..read more