About
The story of this website
I know that so many students who want to start learning Hebrew roam the internet in search for good materials... and cannot find. Confused and disappointed, many even give up. And I - I knew that there was no coherent and self-sufficient resource for the self-study of Hebrew, and I knew why. I had only me to blame. Because these materials were at my PC. :\ Available only to the students who take Skype lessons with me. And what if someone wanted to study on his or her own? And what if my prices were too high for someone? These thoughts haunted me… and I've decided to share. After all, I am a teacher. And it is a little bit like being a doctor - if someone is seeking help, advice, or good learning materials - it is my duty to help!
What is this course?
This course is a shortcut. After teaching many students a certain pattern began to emerge, the basics that everyone needs to know in order to speak. And I do not mean words like "tuberculosis"! (honestly, a student reported that he has seen this word in some flashcard collection…) No, I mean, words like "question" and "can" and "to be"; connectors such as "that", plus the grammatical apparatus that will help you to tie the words together and start speaking - not with sentences that you have to memorize and cannot break apart, but with full awareness of what you say and how you say it.
Main principles of this course
There are TWO CRUCIAL PRINCIPLES to my course:
1) No grammatical concept appears unless properly introduced and explained.
2) No new word is introduced without being on the list and without being supported by spaced repetition learning system (I mean - all the vocab is uploaded as flashcard decks to a site, called Memrise).
This way, the student is never left to guess or to wonder, the student's progress is guided and 100 % meaningful. So - welcome to this powerful lego-like building site of your Hebrew knowledge!
1) No grammatical concept appears unless properly introduced and explained.
2) No new word is introduced without being on the list and without being supported by spaced repetition learning system (I mean - all the vocab is uploaded as flashcard decks to a site, called Memrise).
This way, the student is never left to guess or to wonder, the student's progress is guided and 100 % meaningful. So - welcome to this powerful lego-like building site of your Hebrew knowledge!
What will you find in the course?
GRAMMAR…
… That you can't forget.
You get all the materials consolidated and organized for
a) better understanding through visual support,
b) reviewing right after the lesson
c) reviewing in any time of your life when you need it
.... That is sufficient for coping with pretty much every content on an intermediate level
.... That frees you from the necessity of taking any additional guided tutoring (independent exploring, natural speaking practice, expanding your vocabulary are, of course, advisory, but not compulsory.)
VOCABULARY
that was meticulously selected according to the following criteria:
- it helps you practice the grammatical concepts that you've learnt
- it is "survival vocabulary" - a collection of handpicked high-frequency words, that you'd likely need in order to be able to speak at the very initial stages
ASSIGNMENTS
that are aimed to train the three areas
- listening,
- reading
- speaking (to the extent that it is possible for a self-study course – it includes writing assignments). Of course, it is highly recommended to look for a tutor\conversational partner at websites such as italki, and practice speaking/attending Hebrew online events (see the calendar here).
… That you can't forget.
You get all the materials consolidated and organized for
a) better understanding through visual support,
b) reviewing right after the lesson
c) reviewing in any time of your life when you need it
.... That is sufficient for coping with pretty much every content on an intermediate level
.... That frees you from the necessity of taking any additional guided tutoring (independent exploring, natural speaking practice, expanding your vocabulary are, of course, advisory, but not compulsory.)
VOCABULARY
that was meticulously selected according to the following criteria:
- it helps you practice the grammatical concepts that you've learnt
- it is "survival vocabulary" - a collection of handpicked high-frequency words, that you'd likely need in order to be able to speak at the very initial stages
ASSIGNMENTS
that are aimed to train the three areas
- listening,
- reading
- speaking (to the extent that it is possible for a self-study course – it includes writing assignments). Of course, it is highly recommended to look for a tutor\conversational partner at websites such as italki, and practice speaking/attending Hebrew online events (see the calendar here).
What will you NOT find in this course?
thematic lists of objects (clothes, colours, food) boring topics such as "at the airport" or "at a doctor" or, worse "at the post office"! All these topics are a) out of context b) soo predictable! And life –life is NOT predictable!
If you want to learn a phrasebook –this course is not for you! My opinion about learning set phrases is that it is same as learning words as hieroglyphs when we have an alphabet.
This course is not about toying with the language and being able to say a phrase or two – this is a powerful introduction that will help you cope with pretty much any topic on your own afterwards.
If you want to see a map of the language at the palm of your hand, if you want to break into the intermediate stage in the fastest and most effective way – then this course is for you!
If you want to learn a phrasebook –this course is not for you! My opinion about learning set phrases is that it is same as learning words as hieroglyphs when we have an alphabet.
This course is not about toying with the language and being able to say a phrase or two – this is a powerful introduction that will help you cope with pretty much any topic on your own afterwards.
If you want to see a map of the language at the palm of your hand, if you want to break into the intermediate stage in the fastest and most effective way – then this course is for you!
Thanks
To all the testers who helped me make this site better: Katya, Britta, Anastasia, Karter, Alyona.
And to all my devoted students:
The little Yana - the first one to "graduate" this course back then, when it didn't have all the cool stuff like Memrise or audio – thank you! I think I learnt more from you than you from me )) I hope you are happy in Israel; soon you'll be able to teach Hebrew yourself )))
Stephan – your genuine appreciation, interest and advice gave me the power to make this site real. And I know that such attitude is not something to be taken for granted, each time I am grateful anew!
Aryeh – I've learnt (and continue learning!) so much from your questions! Your process of learning the language is exemplary! Keep on going, you progress is so motivating (other learners as well as.. me!) J
Ben – for all your "bug reports" and for the excellent homework – thank you!
Daniel – one of my first italki students! Thank you for your cheerfulness and loyalty, my friend!
David - for testing potential programmers and for supporting the idea.
And infinite thanks to my mom – to whom I owe all my teaching inspiration…
And to all my devoted students:
The little Yana - the first one to "graduate" this course back then, when it didn't have all the cool stuff like Memrise or audio – thank you! I think I learnt more from you than you from me )) I hope you are happy in Israel; soon you'll be able to teach Hebrew yourself )))
Stephan – your genuine appreciation, interest and advice gave me the power to make this site real. And I know that such attitude is not something to be taken for granted, each time I am grateful anew!
Aryeh – I've learnt (and continue learning!) so much from your questions! Your process of learning the language is exemplary! Keep on going, you progress is so motivating (other learners as well as.. me!) J
Ben – for all your "bug reports" and for the excellent homework – thank you!
Daniel – one of my first italki students! Thank you for your cheerfulness and loyalty, my friend!
David - for testing potential programmers and for supporting the idea.
And infinite thanks to my mom – to whom I owe all my teaching inspiration…
What people say about this course?
Video review in English
Video review in Spanish
(with English subtitles)
Written review in Polish ...
"Gorąco polecam kurs hebrajskiego Hebrew Crash Course oferowany przez Alisę. Kurs rozwija wszystkie cztery umiejętności: pisanie, czytanie, słuchanie i mówienie dając solidną bazę do dalszej nauki.
Słownictwo poznane na zajęciach można utrwalać na stronie Memrise, gdzie nagrana jest również wymowa (nie muszę chyba mówić, jak jest to ważne w nauce języka, który ma inny alfabet).
Po każdych zajęciach zadawana jest praca domowa. Alisa zaznacza błędy, ale chce, aby uczeń sam doszedł do tego, jak jest prawidłowa odpowiedź, naprowadzając go i dając podpowiedzi. Dzięki wyzwaniom pracy domowej moje pierwsze słowa alfabetem hebrajskim pisałam już po drugiej lekcji.
Alisa nigdy nie pozostawia ucznia samego, na wszystkie pytania i wątpliwości, które miałam pomiędzy zajęciami, bardzo szybko uzyskiwałam odpowiedź. Moim słabym punktem jest rozumienie ze słuchu. Gdy tylko o tym wspomniałam, Alisa przygotowała nagrania, dostosowane do mojego poziomu, dzięki którym mam szansę sama pracować nad tą sprawnością.
Alisa podsyła również linki do piosenek, ciekawych stron, gier utrwalających materiał poznany na zajęciach, dzięki czemu nigdy nie zapominam, że język to nie tylko gramatyka i nowe słówka, lecz przede wszystkim sposób do komunikowania się i poznawania nowej kultury."
Słownictwo poznane na zajęciach można utrwalać na stronie Memrise, gdzie nagrana jest również wymowa (nie muszę chyba mówić, jak jest to ważne w nauce języka, który ma inny alfabet).
Po każdych zajęciach zadawana jest praca domowa. Alisa zaznacza błędy, ale chce, aby uczeń sam doszedł do tego, jak jest prawidłowa odpowiedź, naprowadzając go i dając podpowiedzi. Dzięki wyzwaniom pracy domowej moje pierwsze słowa alfabetem hebrajskim pisałam już po drugiej lekcji.
Alisa nigdy nie pozostawia ucznia samego, na wszystkie pytania i wątpliwości, które miałam pomiędzy zajęciami, bardzo szybko uzyskiwałam odpowiedź. Moim słabym punktem jest rozumienie ze słuchu. Gdy tylko o tym wspomniałam, Alisa przygotowała nagrania, dostosowane do mojego poziomu, dzięki którym mam szansę sama pracować nad tą sprawnością.
Alisa podsyła również linki do piosenek, ciekawych stron, gier utrwalających materiał poznany na zajęciach, dzięki czemu nigdy nie zapominam, że język to nie tylko gramatyka i nowe słówka, lecz przede wszystkim sposób do komunikowania się i poznawania nowej kultury."
... and in German
"Dank Alisa und ihres ausgesprochen gut durchdachten und strukturierten Hebräischkurses habe ich überraschend schnell den Zugang zu dieser wunderbaren Sprache gefunden.
Ihre Fokussierung auf die Logik des Hebräischen und das professionelle, umfangreiche und vielfältige Material sowie die weitreichende Unterstützung machen es tatsächlich möglich, in 20 Unterrichtsstunden die Grundlagen ausreichend gut zu beherrschen, um sich mit jemandem zu unterhalten und darauf aufbauend im Selbststudium weiterzumachen.
Alisas immer freundliche und motivierende Art hilft dabei, trotz des beim Lernens einer neuen Sprache irgendwann unvermeidlichen Durchhängers nicht aufzugeben.
Uneingeschränkt zu empfehlen! "
Ihre Fokussierung auf die Logik des Hebräischen und das professionelle, umfangreiche und vielfältige Material sowie die weitreichende Unterstützung machen es tatsächlich möglich, in 20 Unterrichtsstunden die Grundlagen ausreichend gut zu beherrschen, um sich mit jemandem zu unterhalten und darauf aufbauend im Selbststudium weiterzumachen.
Alisas immer freundliche und motivierende Art hilft dabei, trotz des beim Lernens einer neuen Sprache irgendwann unvermeidlichen Durchhängers nicht aufzugeben.
Uneingeschränkt zu empfehlen! "