THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 24—Friday, January 13, 1967 Joan Gilbert Betrothed to Frederick H. Aaron - - JOAN BARBARA GILBERT Mr. and Mrs. Harold H. Gilbert of Warrington Dr. announce the engagement of their daughter Joan Barbara to Frederick Harold Aaron, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Aaron of Mendota Ave. Miss Gilbert, a senior at the University of Michigan, is affili- ated with Delta Phi Epsilon So- rority. Her fiance is a graduate of the University of Michigan and an alumnus of Zeta Beta Tau Fra- ternity. He is attending the Uni- versity of Detroit's school of den- tistry. A June wedding is planned. Committee to Judge Probus Club Awards A seven-man committee has been named to serve as judges for the fifth annual Probus Club awards for academic achievement at Wayne State University. The committee includes Richard E. Cross, chairman of the execu- tive board of American Motors; Judge George C. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Willis F. Woods, director, Detroit Institute of Arts; Herbert Kaufman, Charles Perlman, Mar- tin K. Stein, and Circuit Judge John M. Wise. Arthur J. Rubiner, is non-voting chairman of the committee. Two awards will be given, each consisting of a $500 grant without restrictions. One will be for a faculty member in the natural sciences and another for repre- sentative of the humanities. Awards will be made at the annual Probus dinner, Feb. 18. Hebrew Gets Fresh Approach in Center Audio-Visual CourseT By CHARLOTTE HYAMS One day, Mrs. Paul Kelman de- cided she was through playing second fiddle to Hebrew. Dad and the kids knew enough of the lan- guage to talk behind her back. Three months later, thanks to a unique new course at the Jewish Center, Mrs. Kelman is speaking the language of Israel. To call it a miracle would be a gross exaggeration. Her Hebrew is not fluent: she cannot read the poetry of Bialik. But in fewer than 14 weeks, at four hours of class time per week, Mrs. Kelman can carry on an elementary Hebrew conversation. Before Oct. 10, she didn't know a word; at the end of a year she will converse fluently, using 1,000 terms spoken daily in Israel. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons at the Center, she sits with 19 fellow novices at small lunch tables. At the head of hers, this time, was the teacher, Shula Fleischer, a vivacious y o u n g matron whose rolled r's betray her Israeli background. "What did you eat today, Mrs. Kelman?" Shula. asks in Hebrew. "Ahalti sandwich im dahg tuna." The ladies giggle. Tuna fish sand- wiches always suffer in translation. Host at another table is the ex- ecutive director of the Jewish Center, Irwin Shaw, who has nurtured the Center's Hebrew pro- gram since its babyhood. The daytime classes consist primarily of housewives, many of whom readily admit they want to catch up with their children in Hebrew school. But one of the pupils is Dr. Morton Plotnick, Center program director, who says he is bound . and determined to learn Hebrew. He is one of nine staff members who have been so taken with the Center's own "product" that they're using it themselves. The product is an entirely new concept of teaching Hebrew by means of audio-visual aids—film- strips and accompanying tapes. Aside from the attractive pack- aging, however—the mechanical means that put a scientific gloss on the program—it is based on a very simple observation: That children learn to converse in their native tongue before they learn to read and write, that they are conditioned to a language by constant oral repetition. Asher Tarmon, in charge of the Center's Hebrew programs, ex- plains: "As children, we connect verbal sounds with certain situa- tions. In the same way, the class is presented with a situation in the film strip. Sounds accompanying the pictures are played on tape, and the students repeat what they hear, the voices of native Israelis." So that the pupil may review the classroom work at home, he has his own book showing the pictures in the filmstrip, as well as a long-playing record with the accompanying voice. Back in class, the well-rehearsed students will "role play" the entire situa- tion. But the cream on the pie, the feature that makes Tarmon, a school principal in his native Israel, visibly proud, is the four new in- struction booths. These small huts are just big enough for a student to be seated before a tape recorder. He picks the desired lesson for study, inserts the taped pictured card in the machine, and it plays the voice he wishes to hear. He may then re- cord his own words and play them back to see if he has the correct pronunciation. The cost of the machinery is admittedly high, but the results are worth it, Tarmon said. Two new sections have been added to the already-existing three —some 20 students in each, meet- ing four hours a week. Attendance in the year-long course has been unbelievingly high, Tarmon said. Hebrew has been taught at the Center for many years; there are some 160 persons enrolled 'in various classes. Several meet in- formally on Saturday afternoons; there is no writing. One is so advanced, its members are read- Udall to Address Bond Conference Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall will be a principal speak- er at the planning conference of the board of governors of the Israel Bond Organization at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel this week- end, it was an- nounced by Louis H. Boyar, chair- man of the board. The conference, which will draw up a program for t h e 1967 Israel Bond campaign, also will hear Fi- nance Ministe r Pinh a s Sapir, who will outline Israel's economic position and its development plans and needs for the coming year. More than 350 Jewish leaders from communities throughout the United States and Canada will take part in the conference, which will open with a luncheon noon today. As head of the Department. of Interior, Secretary Udall has won recognition as a leading authority on problems of conservation and the utilization of water resources. He is an expert on the conversion of saline water, an area in which President Johnson has initiated a cooperative effort between the United States and Israel, provid- ing for the use of atomic energy in removing salt from sea water. Both Secretary Udall and Fi- nance Minister Sapir will speak at the dinner session of the Israel Bond conference Saturday eve- ning. Other speakers will be Abraham Feinberg, president of the Israel During her current visit in Israel, Emma Schaver laid the Bond Organization; Samuel Roth- cornerstone for the third Beis Lazaroff — Lazaroff House — at Kfar berg, national campaign chairman; Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, vice presi- Chabad. Mrs. Schaver is sponsoring the construction of this new dent, who has just returned from village as part of the Schaver-Lazaroff family's interest in the conferences in Israel with prime Chabad movement and in Kfar Chabad, which is located several Minister Levi Eshkol and other miles from Tel Aviv and has a vocational training school, and con- government officials; Mrs. Jan ducts classes in agriculture, printing, locksmithery and carpentry. The third Beis Lazaroff will be erected at a cost of $250,000. It will Peerce, chairman of the national serve as a dormitory for new arrived children from Morocco who women's division; and D. Lou are presently studying in the Kfar Chabad vocational school. In the Harris, national chairman for Canada. photo, at the ground-breaking, were, (from left) Mrs. Schaver, Mrs. R. Leneker of Israel, Sidney Fields and William Schumer of De- The Tora says: "If thou for- troit and Rabbi Mon Kazarnovsky of New York, who represented sakest me for a single day I shall the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson, at the ceremony. Schumer also visited the Harry Schumer Carpentry School which foresake thee for two days." — T. J. Berakot, end was established at Kfar Chabad by his parents. ing "Peter and the Wolf" in He- brew. Eventually, students of the audio- visual program will be reading and writing, too. But, following the method's guidelines, it won't be before the point at which a child would learn to read and write his own native language. The method, although new with Hebrew (Philadelphia was the first community to use it), has been used successfully with other lan- guages. It is based upon the Saint-Cloud Method, which originated in France as the result of a project suggested to the French government by the United Nations in 1951. Today, it is used in the teaching of French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, English and "American," the latter being of particular value in the poverty program. Courses are being taught in more than 1,800 U.S. and Canadi- an school systems and in 83 other countries. - The Technion Research and De- velopment Foundation of Haifa de- veloped the Hebrew audio-visual program, and the first ones in this country are conducted in coopera- tion with Chilton Books' Center for Curriculum Development, Phila- delphia. The Philadelphia center, which is in charge of teacher-training in the Saint-Cloud Method, will co- operate in a special one-week audio- visual language teaching workshop for Hebrew teachers from three states and Ontario, meeting in De- troit's center March 27-31. (See story below) At the same time, there will be a seminar for admin- istrators considering the program. A number of local Hebrew in- structors are already using the method—not as teachers, but as students—at the Center, learning fluency in speech and understand- ing. Tarmon stressed that knowl- edge of a language does not al- ways include self-confidence in speaking that language. The Saint-Cloud Method strives to overcome that hesitancy. What results can be expected? Will there be any great rush to Hebrew study? Tarmon is under- standably cautious, but he is hope- ful. "There is a tremendous poten- tial in this country since Israel's establishment," he said. "People want this affinity—Hebrew—with the homeland. "Hebrew education until now has been a childish occupation. Now, a youngster can come to the Center any day and see his parents study- ing. If he has this example, he too will think it is worthwhile." * * * Workshop to Introduce New Language Program The Jewish Center is inviting teachers from Detroit and sur- rounding areas to study a revolu- tionary audio-visual method teach- ing Hebrew. A seminar on March '27 and a workshop March 27-31 will intro- duce "Habet Ushma (Look and Listen)." The course was develop- ed under the auspices of the Tech- nion Research and Development Foundation, Ltd. of Haifa and de- signed to produce native-like flu- ency in speaking, reading, and writing. With the unique use of film- strips and accompanying tapes, meaning is always taught and ac- quired within the true-to-life cul- tural context of modern-day Israel. The voices recorded on the tapes provide a master, constant model, with the rhythm, intonation and pronunciation of native Israeli speakers. Through this experience, students can appreciate and feel a deeper means of self-expression and understanding. The introductory programs will be conducted in cooperation with the Chilton Center for Curriculum Development, which is responsible for teacher-training in the Saint- Cloud Method in the United States. Hebrew educators interested in learning more about the programs may write to the Jewish Center. ( tarry Freedman Orchestra and Entertainment 647-2367 ZAN GILBERT From LONDON, ENGLAND and His ORCHESTRA "Distinctive Styling in Music to your Individual Taste" Call UN. 1-3065 Ground Broken in Israel for Third Schaver Building at Kfar Chabad Flavor Favorite MAR•PARV OSHER a KOSHER & PAREVE'. Certified © KOSHER and PAREVE