introduction
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:03 am
Hello. I was once upon a time active on the email forum and have finally found my way here. I am a new faculty member at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, teaching Hebrew online. Our hope is to create an environment suitable for learners with and without disabilities to learn together, as Hebrew is often a difficult language for some students with disabilities to learn alongside their peers. I am blind, and I learned Hebrew via one-on-one instruction and Greek in class with sighted peers. My formal coursework has been limited by a lack of access to textbooks; and this is a problem that faces all scholars who are blind. It is also a problem that I hope to find ways to remedy in the future. Logos software has been a great benefit to me as I have advanced my Hebrew study informally.
I was a TA in a Greek course that included students with various kinds of special needs. My role included helping them to develop strategies for learning and retaining their language skills. Most of them went on to take at least another year of Greek, and some of them went on to also take Hebrew. I realized then that I wanted to do for Hebrew students what I had done in the Greek course--and they needed it more. My email files are full of correspondence from people who are blind who have dropped out of Hebrew--or who could not find a way to begin in the first place.
Teaching Hebrew will be a new adventure--there are things I can use from my Greek experience but also things I cannot anticipate. I expect I will primarily be a reader here; but I will certainly speak up when I have something to say.
I was a TA in a Greek course that included students with various kinds of special needs. My role included helping them to develop strategies for learning and retaining their language skills. Most of them went on to take at least another year of Greek, and some of them went on to also take Hebrew. I realized then that I wanted to do for Hebrew students what I had done in the Greek course--and they needed it more. My email files are full of correspondence from people who are blind who have dropped out of Hebrew--or who could not find a way to begin in the first place.
Teaching Hebrew will be a new adventure--there are things I can use from my Greek experience but also things I cannot anticipate. I expect I will primarily be a reader here; but I will certainly speak up when I have something to say.