Teaching

In response to the often-asked question, yes--I am still teaching. Two days a week I work as an English teacher in East Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood at the Frankel School, a member of the TALI schools movement. My students are in grades four, five, and six. I do not teach the kids who are native speakers of English but I do not teach the kids who know only Hebrew and no English at all. I teach the kids in the middle.

I myself am only in First Grade Plus when it comes to speaking Hebrew (further explanation forthcoming). So how does it work for me to teach Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade you might ask? Patience, picture-drawing, pantomime, and frequent use of the Hebrew-English dictionary.

My students like me because I let them use art and actions to explain what they mean instead of yelling at them that they should already know these things by now, like some of the other English teachers do. They like me because we play games and read about cool places like London and interesting people like The Simpsons. For the most part, when they are not yelling at each other or at me, I like my students too.

It is not like teaching at Brandeis, that is for sure.