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Hillel sixth-grader Eric Lipsky holds a soccer ball surrounded by Israeli students who are pen pals for his Hillel class.

Power Of Pen Pals

Hillel sixth-graders exchange letters
and friendships with Israeli students.

Vivian Henoch

Special to the Jewish News

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en pals? In the age of email,
text messaging and Facebook
friends, the notion of writing
actual letters on paper seems so last
century.
To the credit of Hillel Hebrew Day
School teacher Rivka Schuchman and
her former student Carly Greenspan,
now teaching English at the Remez
School in Rishon L'Zion near Tel Aviv,
the power of the pen still prevails. Over
the past few months, the letter exchange
between their students has been lively,
instructional and, best of all, memorable.
"Dear Loren," Shahar writes, "I am
11 years old. My hobbies are dancing,
singing, exercise and watching movies.
I do not like cheese ..."
In Schuchman's first-period class,
the students are remarkably fluent in
Hebrew, speaking in animated bursts.
Sitting in on the morning session,
we learn that the class has a surprise
planned for the sixth-graders of the
Remez School: a "Ring of Three Trees"
has been planted in their honor in the
Children's Forest in Israel, a gift from
Hillel. On a visit to Israel during spring
break, Schuchman presented the com-
memorative plaque to the class, accom-
panied by two of her students, Aviva
Lupovitch and Eric Lipsky; each trav-
eled to Israel with their families as well.
To Eden: "Hi my name is Neta. My
hobbies are dodge ball and volley-
ball. During Chanukah I'm going to a
sleepover at my friend's house and watch
movies ... I hope you write to me soon..."
From Israel, Carly Greenspan writes ...

'Organized Chaos'

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24 March 14 • 2013

"I hear this term repeatedly in Israel. The
expression didn't fully make sense to me
until I became an Israel Teaching Fellow
and started my assignment teaching English
in the sixth-grade at the Remez School in
Rishon EZion, an ethnically and socioeco-
nomically diverse area south of Tel Aviv:'

Aviva Lupovitch, right, with some of the Israeli pen pals

The Challenge

"From the start, it was clear that this
school was extremely different from any
school I had attended. Kids were in con-
stant motion, running around the class-
room, referring to my mentor, teacher
Ricki, by her first name.
"What caught my attention as the stu-
dents settled into their lesson was that
they were reading pen-pal letters out of
a workbook. Aha, I thought, here's my
opportunity to add something real to
enhance their dassroom experience.
"As the kids rushed out of the
classroom, I asked Ricki if they had
ever been a part of an actual pen-pal
exchange. She responded that she
thought this was a wonderful idea, a
way to capture their attention while
providing them a platform to improve
their English:'

A Cultural Exchange

"I knew the one person I wanted to con-
tact was Rivka Schuchman, my former
sixth-grade teacher at Hillel Day School
in Farmington Hills. She was glad to help,
knowing that our efforts would result in
new friendships and the possibility that
our students might even meet one day.
"When I introduced the project to
my class, I knew I had their undivided
attention. For the first time, the stu-
dents sat in rapt silence. They were

11

,

Eric Lipsky at Hillel reading a letter
from his Israeli pen pal

enthusiastic to start; many put extra
effort into the assignment, while oth-
ers took their time. Every student was
anxious for a response. Shortly after
we sent our letters, we learned that
Mrs. Schuchman planned to be in
Israel to visit the class. In person!
"The day she arrived, the kids were
mesmerized with everything she had
to say. Suddenly, the letter exchange
was very real for them. In a world in
which we are now geared to communi-
cate in ways that provide an immediate
response, I realized that this special
opportunity reassured my students that
real kids were reading their letters. From
then on, the first question the students
asked the moment I walked into the
dassroom each morning was, "Did the
letters from America come yet?"