Looking for Suggestions

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Jason Hare
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Looking for Suggestions

Post by Jason Hare »

I'm interested in putting together a short course on readings in the Hebrew Bible to be given online over Zoom.

I'm looking for suggestions and recommendations on which text(s) to use.

This is for people who have finished the first year of biblical Hebrew grammar at university level. The group has already worked through Jonah and Ruth.

I've been looking at using John Cook and Robert Holmstedt's Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (Amazon link), which uses comics to roughly illustrate the contents of 1 Kings 17–19, 21–22, and 2 Kings 2 with unadapted Hebrew and a noticed emphasis on analysis of word order and verbal aspect. I really enjoy Cook's views on these issues, and the text is beautifully presented. Have you had a look at it?

Is there anything that you might recommend beyond this or in its stead for a good introduction to reading?

Thanks!
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by talmid56 »

I haven't used them, but GlossaHouse has several illustrated readers in comic book style for the Hebrew texts of Joshua, Genesis, Exodus, and Ruth, Esther, Jonah (the latter 3 books combined in one volume). The sample page you can see on the website looks promising. Here's a link to their page: https://www.glossahouse.com/illustrated-biblical-texts. The Ruth one also has audio avaiable. There is also a comic style version of Jonah with the Hebrew at http://www.animatedhebrew.com/jonah/jonah_01.html that has audio. For vocabulary and grammar helps, Charles L. Echols has produced Reading Guides to Jonah and Ruth that are excellent. I have used the Jonah one and found it helpful. Both are free downloads (pdfs) from his page at Academia.edu, https://portergaud.academia.edu/CharlesLEchols.
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
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Jason Hare
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Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by Jason Hare »

Dewayne,

I decided that I'm going to go ahead with their textbook in a course that I'm calling "Readings in the Hebrew Bible" and describing as "an advanced course in intermediate biblical Hebrew."

Essentially, it's a more advanced course because it incorporates speaking. I'll encourage students to use vav-consecutive forms to tell stories about the portions that we're reading from the Elijah story. It should be nice, but it's forming up to be quite different from what I was originally intending. :)
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by talmid56 »

I haven't seen Cook and Holmstedt's intermediate Hebrew volume. I have a pre-pub pdf of their primer, which does use some images to help teach vocab and looks very good. From time to time I've read their blog posts at Ancient Hebrew Grammar and have always benefited. Their work contributing to discussions on Hebrew word order is worth considering.

It's good that you're incorporating speaking. I really wish that I'd had that kind of beginning or intermediate Hebrew experience.
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
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Jason Hare
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Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by Jason Hare »

Yeah, the speaking aspect is what's going to make this new and challenging. :)
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by talmid56 »

True, but worth the effort. Just don't listen to the nay-sayers who say it can't be done. Remember there are many conversations recorded in Tanakh, as well as conversational-style language in many of the Psalms. While these don't necessarily contain everything we might want for the purpose, they at least can get us started in that direction. Besides, why should the neo-Latinists have all the fun? 8-)
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by talmid56 »

Here are couple of other possible resources to help get them started speaking BH:

Millim: Words for Conversation in the Biblical Hebrew Classroom, Paul Overland, GlossaHouse, https://www.glossahouse.com/product-pag ... -classroom

Learning Biblical Hebrew Interactively, I and II, Paul Overland, on Amazon, https://tinyurl.com/y3a2n9c9

I have used the second book (vol. I) some in a pre-pub edition (pdf) that the author was kind enough to share with me. He incorporates TPR, games, and role play as well as drama to use the language interactively as well as working with texts. He draws from Jonah in the edition I have. Overland was raised as a English/Japanese bilingual. So, when he became a Hebrew teacher he felt something better than grammar-translation was needed for his students. He and another Hebrew teacher got a grant and developed a beginning BH textbook using SLA (Second Language Acquisition) methods. Great stuff!
Last edited by talmid56 on Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by talmid56 »

And here's another interactive textbook from GlossaHouse, which has available audio and video resources for each chapter:

https://www.glossahouse.com/product-pag ... e-approach
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
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Jason Hare
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:07 am
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by Jason Hare »

TPR is hard to do in a virtual classroom, in which it is difficult enough to get one student to ask another a question. I mean, how can you do "the person to your right" when there is no right, left, up, or down? ;)
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
talmid56
Posts: 295
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:02 am
Location: Carlisle, Arkansas, USA

Re: Looking for Suggestions

Post by talmid56 »

True enough. I forgot you were going to do it virtually. But, if you get to do in-person classes sometime, TPR is a great tool. Especially for beginners. When I got to teach Latin (for two years) I used it some. I taught body parts and some basic commands such as "Look!", "Stand up", "Sit down", "Touch", "Point to", etc. Then I played "Simon Says" with the class in Latin. It was fun and they remembered the vocabulary more easily. You could use props or puppets/action figures/dolls to teach some vocab virtually, though, if you wanted to.
Dewayne Dulaney
דואיין דוליני

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ׀ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהוָ֪ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃
--(E 84:11) 84:12 תהלים
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