[RBS] bridge the generation gap, stop fearing Hebrew

[Phil'n'Chanie Rosenfelder]

A lot of parents i know are not as in touch with their kids, or as "on
top" of their kids' lives as they "would be in the Old Country"
because they "cannot follow the Hebrew"

"Not following the Hebrew" can mean
not understanding the Daf Kesher that a child brings home from school.
 same for notes sent home
not understanding the teacher at Parent-teacher meetings
not feeling comfortable  to express yourself in order to be  call the
teacher, whether to talk about a specific issue or just to introduce
yourself and call one a month to keep up
not being able to volunteer at school events
not being able to call another parent to help your child make friends,
or to ask about anything that concerns you
not being able to help with their homework
not being able to find the right tutor
not offering to accompany a school trip

I want to recommend a comprehensive plan to learn Hebrew, that costs
no money and can help bridge the generation gap - in language and
content.  Choose one item to add to yrou life every week ro two.
Guaranteed to work over the course of this school year

1.   turn on your radio.   just keep it playing in the background,
like you would if it were in English, when you are in the kitchen or
sending emails (on the computer, you can put on Arutz Sheva).   this
trains your ear to make out words in spoken hebrew, and even if you
don't know where one word ends and the next one starts, I can promise
you that within two months, you will be catching phrases here and
there, and by a year from now, you will be up on Israeli current
events so that you will also have subjects to discuss with your
children.
2.  Read a newspaper article every shabbat.  if your kids are older,
ask them to help you find something of interest.
3.  Read a parsha sheet article every shabbat
4.  read gan / school dapei  kesher with a neighbour who can help.
don't  just ask them to translate
5.  Read kids' books - with or without yoru kids.  For preschoolers
and early-elementary, they will be happy to have you read to them
sometimes.  With older kids, take a peek a twhat they are reading (or
ask their friends' mums or their teachers) , and enter their world.
6.  Talk hebrew.  Think about immigrants in the Old Country - did you
laugh at their mistakes, or did you help them?   As we keep telling
our kids, the only way to learn something new is to try it and
practice.  Personally, when I first came to Israel, I spoke Hebrew
only in front of people who knew no english.  The friend i made then,
for that purpose,  is still now, after 25 years, one of my closest
friends.  This doesn't mean you have to go to a non-anglo doctor, but
try to book your appointment in hebrew.   Same for the cashier at the
store, etc.
 Ask a non-anglo neighbour to be your walking partner.
Call each child's  teacher to say hello
7.  Play Israeli music in your car.  You can buy Meah Shirim Rishonim
witheh book with the  words.  Same for Naomi Shemer songs, Haim Hefer,
Yoram Tahar-Lev, etc.  Also, any song you like, you can look up the
rest of the words, even by just a few of the words in the song , on
shironet.co.il
8.  Ditto for Israeli videos.  Dudu Fisher and other videos have all
the words on the bottom of the screen.  Latma and other sites have
english subtitles that you can read while listening to the Hebrew
words
9.  Once a month, go to a Hebrew shiur or lecture

In an ideal world, these are things to do before  making aliya.  But
it is never too late.
And, if it helps motivate you,
the talmud Yerushalmi says that anyone who speaks hebrew is guaranteed
a portion in the World to come

b'hatzlaha
chana
rbs resident