Young Detroiters help teach English to Israeli kids.
I
sraeli schools in Michigan Jewry's part-
ner region in the Central Galilee were
loud and at times unruly when a group
of 59 young adults from North America
arrived to teach English in a summer
school program serving as a pilot for the
Ministry of Education.
Strong English language skills help
young Israelis develop additional skills. The
ability to speak English as well as Hebrew
is a steppingstone to future success.
The influx of young, wide-eyed instruc-
tors — 50 Teach for America alumni
and nine Jewish Detroit young adults,
all ages 20-28 — certainly helped enrich
the learning environment at English
Summer School, dubbed TALMA/The
Israel Language Program for Excellence in
English.
The Ministry of Education chose the
Central Galilee for the pilot because of
Michigan Partnership2Gether's long
involvement in English language education.
Partnership2Gether (P2G) is in its 20th
year nurturing relationships between the
people of the Central Galilee and Michigan
Jewry
"Interestingly, when my co-teachers and
I presented the students with high expec-
tations, introduced a classroom manage-
ment system and absolutely stuck to that
system and held all children accountable,
changes in behavior were observed almost
immediately:' said Noah Zucker, among
the local participants who taught English
to third- through fifth-graders for three
weeks beginning July 1 at English Summer
School.
12
September 18 • 2014
JPI
Local Legacy
The Jewish Federations of Detroit, Ann
Arbor and Grand Rapids help fund English
Summer School, which serves 1,000 kids in
30 classes at 10 schools in Migdal HaEmek
and Nazareth Illit. Enrollment is optional.
The principal of the school where Zucker
taught liked the innovations so much that
she asked him and his teaching
colleagues to help introduce
some of their tactics into the
normal school year — a clear
sign the program mattered.
"I was shocked to see the cul-
tural differences between there
and here Zucker, 22, told the
IN in an interview. "Educators
often admitted there is not
Robert
much that can be done.
Contri
TALMA proved to be a one-of-
Edi
a-kind experience for me:'
Zucker, a Grand Valley State
University-Allendale and West Bloomfield
High School graduate, is newly enrolled in
the University of Michigan Medical School.
He applied for TALMA because he wanted
to travel over the summer, preferably to
Israel, and do something meaningful in the
process. He previously visited Israel with
peers in 2011 as part of Taglit-Birthright
Israel. He's former president of Grand
Valley Hillel.
Summer Rewind
Zucker isn't sure how much English his
young charges learned in July. But he
thinks they're more at ease with the lan-
guage.
Detroiter Noah Zucker and Israeli co-teacher Batsheva Dovry
with fourth-graders at Yigal Alon School in Migdal HaEmek
"Hopefully:' he said, "they'll be more
inclined to continue learning it, which is
more important than saying they learned a
finite number of words or sentence stems:'
Crucial to planning English Summer
School was the participation of native
English speakers.
TALMA is a joint project of the
Schusterman Family
Foundation, the Steinhardt
Foundation for Jewish Life, the
Rashi Foundation, the Ministry
of Education and Michigan
P2G. During orientation,
Schusterman representatives
urged TALMA teachers to find
personal growth in the jitters
associated with this challenging,
new experience. Zucker isn't
going into teaching, but he did
gain a new respect for teachers.
He drew inspiration from the
rest of the TALMA teaching corps.
"Everyone had a life plan and was dedi-
cated to that:' he said. "Working with them
side by side with their teaching and life
experience was extraordinary:'
English Summer School kicked off a
week before Israel launched Operation
Protective Edge on July 8 in response to
continuous Hamas rocket and missile
attacks.
"We had to do a missile attack drill
where we lined our students up and took
them to the underground shelter:' Zucker
said. "While this seemed fairly routine for
students and faculty alike, it was hard to
imagine a situation in which this would
Mlira
I
'
17
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v.
OPEN THE WORLD. READ.
This book given with love by your Michigan family.
:AA nu-
-L
en th
...L
ed T&
.......—
This bookplate goes inside the cover of
each book given by Michigan Jews to
Central Galilee students. It includes the
name of the donor family.
actually have to be implemented:'
All day and every day:' he added, "we
could hear fighter jets flying over our
school. We could only imagine where these
jets were going to or coming back from and
what their missions were:'
Spending so much time in the Central
Galilee, which also includes the Jezreel
Valley, enabled Zucker to regularly interact
with Israelis.
"I hope these relationships deepen my
personal connection to Israel and help
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