TIYULIM
TEACHER’S GUIDE
Mira Sussman, Jane Golub and Joel Lurie Grishaver
Torah Aura Productions
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 2
Table of Contents
A Note to Teachers........................................................ v
Lesson 10.................................................................101
The Tiyulim Basic Pitch ................................................ vi
Lesson 11................................................................. 111
Tiyulim F.A.Q.’s............................................................viii
Lesson 12.................................................................121
Learning the Pattern......................................................xi
Lesson 13.................................................................131
Sample Letter to Parents...............................................xi
Lesson 14................................................................. 141
Scheding Your Year ................................................... xxiii
Lesson 15.................................................................151
Lesson 1.......................................................................1
Lesson 16.................................................................161
Lesson 2.....................................................................19
Lesson 17 ................................................................. 171
Lesson 3.....................................................................31
Lesson 18.................................................................181
Lesson 4.....................................................................41
Lesson 19.................................................................191
Lesson 5.....................................................................51
Lesson 20.................................................................201
Lesson 6.....................................................................61
Lesson 21.................................................................211
Lesson 7.....................................................................71
Lesson 22.................................................................211
Lesson 8.....................................................................81
Lesson 23.................................................................211
Lesson 9.....................................................................91
Lesson 24.................................................................211
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 3
The Tiyulim Basic Pitch
Once upon a time a primer was a book
that introduced letters and
sounds one at a time and
built competency slowly,
through repetition. Each new
letter was practiced over and over,
often with nonsense syllables. In creating
Tiyulim, we have rethought that process.
• When people learn to read a language that
they can already speak, phonetics is a
process of recreating sound combinations
they already know. Read “Beatles” and
read “Bidulz.” One is easier to read than
the other. In Tiyulim we imitate the
natural language process by teaching
a lot of oral vocabulary and then applying our phonetic skills to
decoding those words. Tiyulim is much more “Beatles” and much less
“Bidulz.”
• The goal of most Hebrew schools in teaching Hebrew is the
mastery of the siddur. Tiyulim starts with the final goal. We begin
by reading siddur words, move to reading siddur phrases, and
end by reading full prayers out of the siddur. This book abandons
nonsense syllables and works with the real thing.
• Most kids love learning the Hebrew alphabet. For many students,
this is the happiest year in Jewish education. The frustration
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 5
comes in the following years. Learning to sound an alphabet is a
discrete task that can be readily mastered. Each week they add
a new piece to their repertoire. Each week they become more
adept. In the following years this process breaks down. Frustration
sets in because much of the work becomes mindless mastery or
mechanical performances. Students’ expectation that they will
learn Hebrew is reduced to the notion that they are only going to
learn how to pronounce Hebrew. Tiyulim makes Hebrew meaningful
by teaching language. It begins a process that can continue to
make Hebrew school meaningful.
• Tiyulim tells the story of the Hebrew language.
• Tiyulim spends a few minutes every other week learning small
bits of conversational Hebrew (and then drills this vocabulary
through reading exercises).
• Tiyulim connects Hebrew directly to the ritual life of the Jewish
people.
• Tiyulim is more fun than any other Hebrew primer available.
Tiyulim will make your Alef Hebrew school year more successful for
a greater percentage of learners because it considers more learning
styles in its process. It will make your Alef year an awful lot of fun.
But, most importantly, using Tiyulim in Alef will lead you towards
much greater success in Bet, Gimmel, Dalet, and Hey because it will
give your students a solid mechanical sounding foundation, it will
give students a sense of Hebrew language, it will build siddur reading
skills, it will connect Hebrew to Israel, and it will make the mastery of
Hebrew valuable in its own right.
It is designed to be a book that does more than any other primer.
Tiyulim F.A.Q.s
Frequently Asked Questions About Tiyulim
1. How long does it take to teach Tiyulim?
Tiyulim is designed for the one day a week school or for two day a
week classes with time contraints. It consists of twenty-four units
designed to be teachable in a forty-five to fifty minute period. Tiyulim
can be easily completed within a 28-session school year (with time
left over to work on other material).
2. How does the siddur component work?
Starting with lesson 7, students have acquired enough letters to
begin to do reading exercises that are made up exclusively of siddur
words. Siddur words become part of the regular reading drill rotation.
By lesson 16, students will have enough vocabulary to begin reading
siddur phrases. Exercises with siddur phrases alternate with the
exercises with individual siddur words in the drill rotation. In later
lessons reading of partial or full prayers becomes part of the drill
rotation.
3. How does Ulpan vocabulary fit in?
Whenever the Ulpan logo appears, it is time to
introduce new vocabulary that will become part of
the reading exercises as students move through the
book. There are two types of Ulpan vocabulary—the
letter introduction Ulpan vocabulary and the modern
Hebrew Ulpan
vocabulary. The Ulpan
vocabulary is designed
to be introduced and
drilled, but complete
mastery is not expected. This vocabulary is included to facilitate
reading. The Tiyulim Vocabulary Posters contain all of the Ulpan
vocabulary and can be used to introduce and review the vocabulary.
4. How do the Israel visits fit in?
Tiyulim visits eight cities and regions
in Israel over the course of the book.
These visits serve to connect student to
the State of Israel while they study the
language. Read the text, find the place
on the map, share photographs and talk
about life in Israel.
5. How does Tiyulim connect to other Torah Aura
curricula?
The Alef Curriculum connects the study of holidays, synagogue, and
family to the introduction of Hebrew letters. In Now I Know My AlefBet, we connect each Hebrew letter to two or three words that are
echoed in the celebration material. In Marilyn Price and Friends
Present the Alphabet from Alef to Tav we take the letters and the
vocabulary learned in the Alef Curriculum and expand them. We
frequently add an additional vocabulary word drawn from the values
part of the Bet Curriculum, Jewish Values from Alef to Tav. We also
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 6
introduce vowels and simple sounding. The same vocabulary learned
in Now I Know My Alef-Bet and Marilyn Price and Friends Present the
Alphabet from Alef-Tav is reused in Tiyulim. It is the oral vocabulary
used in many of the reading exercises.
Following Tiyulim, students are ready for our S’fatai Tiftah: Mastery
and Meaning series. This multi-volume series uses many words from
the Ulpan vocabulary to assist students in translation of key phrases.
Students make meaning of the prayers with the help of stories and
commentary.
Upon completion of Tiyulim, students move into S’fatai Tiftah Volume
1. It covers food brakhot, mitzvah brakhot, the Shema morning service
(Barekhu to Mi Khamokha), Kiddush, Mah Tovu and Modeh Ani.
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 2 covers the Amidah and Kabbalat Shabbat;
Volume 3 includes material on the Torah service and Havdalah.
6. How does the Tiyulim Class Workbook work?
The Tiyulim Class Workbook is an additional resource for the
classroom. Available in print or script, the Tiyulim Class Workbook
contains all the writing pages, a reading exercise, and a fun exercise
for each Tiyulim lesson. To make sure that this classroom tool ws not
completely mechanical, we varied the presentation of these pages.
Sometimes the reading is first and sometimes the writing is first.
You should complete the exercises in the order you want to do them.
You might choose first to do the writing exercises and then do the
decoding or even the fun exercises. You are not necessarily expected
to finish all of the work in the Tiyulim Class Workbook. We’ve created
the material. It is up to you to choose how you use it.
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 7
7. How does the Tiyulim Home Workbook work?
The Tiyulim Home Workbook is sent home at the beginning of the year
with an explanation for parents. Each classroom lesson corresponds
to a lesson in the Home Workbook. The book provides structure
to help students share with their parents what they have learned
in class. Then parent and children can complete simple exercises
together. Parents who know Hebrew already are easily able to help
their children. Parents who do not know Hebrew, or who do not recall
their Hebrew, are exposed to the information they need to help. A
web page for each lesson provides parents with the opportunity
to hear each letter and word read by just clicking on the matching
image. Not only are they able to check their child’s progress but
they also become co-learners. The Tiyulim Home Workbook pages
are perforated, and each completed assignment can be pulled out
and brought into class. You can check out a sample of the parent’s
support page at http://www.torahaura.com/tiyulimhome/. For those
families who do not have access to the website, we offer the Tiyulim
Home Workbook website on CD.
8. What kind of teachers’ supports are available?
Tiyulim comes with an extensive teachers guide filled with specific
suggestions for each and every lesson. It comes with vocabulary
posters and flashcards. There are letter charts and letter flashcards
available from Torah Aura. In addition, Torah Aura will provide direct
support for any teacher over the internet (misrad@torahaura.com), on
our toll free phone line (800-BE-TORAH).
9. For what age(s) was Tiyulim intended?
Yosi Gordon, who wrote the original draft, had second graders in
mind. When Jane and Joel rewrote the book, third grade was their
target audience. Tiyulim should be readily usable in second, third,
or fourth grade. As with all texts, teachers will have to do some
adaptation. Our test schools used Tiyulim in both third and fourth
grade with good results.
LEARNING THE PATTERNS
Tiyulim is built on certain patterns. Each chapter is different, they are
all assembled out of the same set pieces. Before we begin to look
at the lessons, we are going to look at these set pieces and both
suggest methods for instruction and explain their pedagogic rationale.
LETTER INTRODUCTION PAGES
These pages have been designed as platforms for a series of
activities. They are designed to help you organize your presentation,
and you may even find it works best to have students close their
books for this part of the lesson.
ULPAN
On the bottom of each of the letter intoduction pages is the Ulpan,
which includes up to four Hebrew vocabulary words that begin with
the letter being taught.
Keep in mind,
• At first students will not be able to read these words so they will
need to be presented purely as oral vocabulary.
• Later, these aurally learned words will form the core of the group of
words students learn to sound. For many students this combining
of aural and visual learning will greatly enhance their success.
• The majority of these words are basic Jewish vocabulary. They are
synagogue and holiday words, or words describing core Jewish
values.
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 8
• Students who have used other Torah Aura curricula will already
have been exposed to these words in our Alef celebrations and Bet
values units and as part of the way we have introduced letters in
our preprimers.
Keep in mind:
• While the Ulpan is available, it is best to introduce the new letter
words using either props or our poster sets. Students should
be drilled in saying these words in response to visual images.
(Teachers may want to make their own posters or hang images
around the room.)
• It is important to have a set of Alef-Bet flash cards available for
both the letter’s introduction and the letter drill.
• It is not our primary purpose to explain these words in great detail.
It is our hope that our students will already know what a “lulav” or
a “bimah” is. But teachers must be ready to give the explanations
as necessary.
• It is a important to review the new words at the end of every letter
introduction lesson.
• It is a good idea to review the vocabulary that have already been
learned at the beginning of each class. While mastery of these
words is not essential, the more words students can recall, the
more easily they will learn to read them.
THE NEW LETTER
The new letter is written four times on the letter introduction page. In
the page title “Meet the  (shin)” it is written in type and in English
transliteration. There is large version of the letter in purple on the first
page of each lesson.
• It is important to have an Alef-Bet chart on the wall of your room.
Torah Aura has two new alphabet wall chart posters in print and
script lettering.
• It is best to use a flashcard to introduce the letter. This will visually
center the entire class. You should emphasize its name and sound.
• More and more students will have been exposed to Hebrew letters
as part of one or two years of work with preprimers. This means
that students will already be somewhat familiar with letter names
and sounds, but they will need work on mechanical reading skills,
and that is your central purpose this year.
THE VOWEL BUTTON BARS
The vowel button bars are designed for previewing the material that
will be learned in this lesson for students to refer to if they forget a
vowel and need to look it up.
Keep in mind,
• You should mention, “In this lesson we will learn one or two
vowels. The vowel’s name is x and it makes the sound of y.”This is
only a preview and we will provide a more thorough presentation of
each vowel later.
THE LETTER/VOWEL BAR
At the bottom of each letter introduction page is the vowel/letter
bar. These contain all the letters in the Hebrew Alef-Bet and all of
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 9
• recall vocabulary that starts with each letter.
Tiyulim different is that it combines mechanical sounding with actual
reading. Tiyulim gives students a lot of opportunities to use phonetic
rules on the pronunciation of words they do not recognize and
Tiyulim balances that with frequent opportunities to sound out words
they already know. In addition, while the core of the book uses the
phonetic (letter sounding) system, there are elements of “whole word”
recognition for students who have an easier time with that modality. In
that sense, the book is more even-handed than most previous Hebrew
primers, which insist that all learners have the same strengths.
• practice saying the vowels with new and old letter sounds.
Keep the following in mind about our reading exercises
the vowel sounds. Untaught letters and vowels are in light blue. The
new letters are in red. Letters already learned are in black. This bar
is valuable for putting letter mastery in context and for serving as a
platform for review.
Keep in mind that you can use the letter/vowel bar to
• review the new letter and vowels.
• say the name and sound of all the letters already learned.
NEW LESSON RITUAL
All teachers should develop their own teaching style and their own
teaching rhythm. No two teachers should teach in exactly the same
way. Likewise, lessons should never become mechanical. Teachers
should always remain playful. Teaching is very much like jazz,
improvising on well-established patterns, simultaneously creating
something new and something familiar.
The lesson introduction is designed to have a series of ritual elements:
the introduction of new vocabulary, the learning of a new letter’s
name and sound, the reading of the origin story, the anticipation
of vowel sounds, and the use of the vowel/letter bar as a platform
for review. You should try to hit these elements in your regular
presentation, but you should also try to keep them fresh.
READING EXERCISES
Reading exercises are the heart of any primer. Our goal is to have
students practice sounding the letters over and over. What makes
• They all begin with an arrow pointing the right way to help you
emphasize direction. You should begin for a while by having your
students put their finger on the arrow and trace the direction in
which they should read.
• Each reading line has a colored line printed between it and the
next to help direct the reader’s eye. Some students may benefit
from reading with a card that can be moved down line by line, or
a card with a circle cut out of the center so that they can view one
word at a time.
• Our exercises are all made up of real words (as soon as students
have learned enough letters to read words.) As often as possible,
you should point out words that are familiar and encourage
students to do the same.
• Reading exercises can be dangerous. They encourage boredom
and allow students to drift when they are not the one reading.
Therefore, it is necessary for every teacher to develop his or her
own repertoire of clever, fun ways of doing this. Here are eight
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 10
suggestions. One rule—never read backwards or up and down.
Keep direction fixed.
SIDDUR WORDS
1. Compete in teams. Make competitions of boys vs. girls, or
tables vs. other tables. Have each team read together looking
for least mistakes, or quickest time.
Siddur words are a specialized set of reading exercises. The book
begins by introducing individual words from well-known prayers,
moves to phrases. By the end of the book students are are able to
simple prayers andpieces (like Hatikvah).
2. Call on readers in the middle of lines. Never let students know
where they will begin or end.
Keep in mind,
3. Have students respond physically to certain letters. You might
ask them to stand up every time there is a Vav in a word, or
make a circle with their hand every time there is a Holom, etc.
4. Chain-Reaction. Have each student read three words and then
call on the next reader.
5. Read in zugot (pairs) for practice. Student may read together or
alternate reading words.
6. Arrange chairs in rows several rows. If students are sitting in the
first seat of each row, they read the first line together. Second
seat students read line two. After reading each student moves
one seat to the right or left rotating students through all of the
chairs and all of the reading exercise.
7. Play Popcorn. One student reads a word and then must call on
another student by name to read the next word. Everyone has to
pay attention, read their word and call on someone else quickly,
so that the game moves around the room quickly, like popcorn
popping.
8. Let each student read for as long as they can without making a
mistake.
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 11
• Siddur words can just be read as drill exercises.
• Whenever possible, words and phrases should be identified.
Depending on the level of observance in the community, this will
be an easy or difficult task. Sing all the liturgy your kids know, and
teach a few pieces that you suspect they will soon encounter.
• We sporadically teach root recognition. This will enable students
to decode the meaning of the prayers later on. The more of this
you can do on your own, the more you can enable students’ future
success.
TEACHING THE ISRAEL SEGMENTS
Tiyulim is not an Israel curriculum—though it could be easily paired
with an Israel curriculum. That means you have two choices. (a) Pair
Tiyulim with additional curricular resources and create a full blown
study of Israel to accompany it—or—(b) know that the Israel elements
of tiyulim are a gloss, a quick enrichment resource designed to
connect Hebrew to Israel.
The Israel elements of Tiyulim revolve around a few big ideas:
* Jews need to feel a connection Israel.
* Israel needs to be both a present tense reality and a future tense
ideal.
* Every Jew should plan to visit Israel.
As you use the Israel resources in Tiyulim, these "big ideas" should
be the focus of your teaching. Our ultimate concern is building our
students relationship with Israel.
* Look at Israeli things written in Hebrew every week. Look for the
Hebrew letter of the week at the text of each object. Some things
you might consider are: A newspaper article, a Hebrew label, a
Hebrew map, a Hebrew T-shirt. Etc.
* Use your bulletin board and hang posters, pictures, and postcards
of each location—to the best of your abilities.
Here are some of the things you should do to use the Israel pieces as
enrichment.
* Plan things you do anyway around the Israel elements. For
instance, serve snacks that echo the Israel theme.
* Plan on limiting each Israel segment to five to ten minutes. If you
are using Tiyulim because time is limited, do not plan a lot of
Israel projects or major events.
* Make one of your big elements the chance to plan a trip to Israel.
Invite a travel agent into your class and work with him/her to work
out the details of a class trip to Israel (even if it doesn’t happen).
* Read and discuss each of the passages. Go over the key details of
each passage. Your core question should always be, "What is most
special about this location."
ULPAN
* Consider assigning groups of students to report on each of the
locations. Remember to limit the presentations to five minutes.
* Keep a map in the room and locate each of the Tiyulim (on the
map).
* Collect Israeli things in your room. Build a collection of Israeli
products. Invite students to add to the collection. Turn your room
into an exhibit of Hebrew things. You may want to use these
objects as a chance to teach occasional Hebrew words.
* Make "googling" the location of the week a big event. Invite
students to bring in both good websites and great factoids about
the location.
The Ulpan units in Tiyulim serve two functions: They make a profound
connection between Hebrew and the modern State of Israel and
they provide a second collection of oral Hebrew words that will then
become part of the reading words.
• Use the Vocabulary Posters and or your props to introduce the
vocabulary words. You should teach and play with these new words
until most students are familiar with most of them.
• Review Ulpan vocabulary as often as possible. It is good to begin
new lessons by reviewing old vocabulary.
WRITING EXERCISES
In the Class Workbook and especially in the Home Workbook, Tiyulim
provides significant writing opportunities. We do so because writing
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 12
reinforces letter shape and leads to mastery. Writing creates a
psychomotor connection and supports learners who learn better with
their hand. While printing helps generalize the shape of each letter,
making it easier for students to move between typefaces and printing
styles, script writing is offered as well.
HOME WORKBOOK
The Home Workbook is designed to be taken home and left at home.
At the end of every lesson there will be some work that should be
done at home before the next lesson. We have designed the Home
Workbook to be a parent-child activity, allowing children to teach
their parents what they have learned in class and allowing parents to
verify this learning by using an interactive web page. Even if parents
know no Hebrew, the book and the web page will allow them to learn
enough to do the exercises with their children. The pages of the Home
Workbook are perforated so that each night’s assignment can be
easily torn out and brought to class.
Keep in mind,
• The success of the Home Workbook depends on your
communication with parents. You will need to invite parents to
participate either by sending a letter or holding a meeting. You will
need to make sure that parents understand the process, and that
they feel they have a source for help.
• Once the process is in place, you will need to be consistent in your
use of the material. You will need to assign the Home Workbook
pages to be done regularly. You may want to send assignments
home with children daily, weekly, or even a month at a time on
a calendar. The homework assignments can be sent via e-mail,
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 13
posted on a voice-mail system or webpage. It is your job to make
sure that parents know what work is expected of them and have a
way of finding the assignment when their children lose or forget it.
• You will need to be consistent about collecting, marking, and
noting the homework. You need not go over it in class—though you
can. You need not carefully grade it—though you can. What is most
important is that each night’s effort is acknowledged and that the
expectation for the next night’s assignment is reinforced.
• It might be a good idea for the congregation to offer a course on
how to read Hebrew for parents of your students. It can even meet
as little as once a month—just enough to familiarize parents with
the work that will be coming home. The Home Workbook and the
website should be a great incentive to join such a program.
• You can assign a “lifeline” to groups of five to ten families in your
Alef class. These are people that parents can call when they have
a question about the homework. These might be other parents in
the your class, or they might be other members of the congregation
who know how to read Hebrew and would love to be useful. Ask
your principal to help you find people who might be interested.
WORKING WITH PARENTS
Tiyulim is designed to involve parents directly in their children’s
mastery of Hebrew. One or both parents in a family may already know
Hebrew. By and large, these parents will be happy to spend ten to
fifteen minutes a night to help their child(ren) progress. For them, the
homework book will be a lot of fun.
If neither parent knows Hebrew, the idea of being asked to work with
their children on the Hebrew homework will probably conjure a lot of
panic and some anger. Parents don’t like to be made to feel foolish.
Hebrew. Try to pronounce “b’ha’alotekha.” Transliteration only works
once you already know the sounds.
Parents need to know that,
a. The level of Hebrew we are asking them to supervise can be
mastered from the materials that are being sent home. They need
to (a) let their child(ren) teach what has been taught in class, (b)
read through the “Today I learned” prompts (because everything
needed is reviewed there), or (c) dial up the website, where all the
words are read and all the answers are given.
b. This can be an opportunity for parents to begin to learn Hebrew.
They will not become proficient by helping with homework, but a
lot will become familiar. Or, they can simply be good helpers and
companions, to their child by helping to reinforce classroom learing
with the homework materials.
Teachers and principals need to know that,
a. This text offers you the perfect chance to hold a Hebrew reading
class for parents. Even if they meet once a month, just enough to
stay ahead of their kids, it will be a fabulous experience.
b. This process must be introduced to parents. While the introduction
can be made in a letter you send home, it is best done in a
meeting on or before the first day of school. A sample letter is
included in this teacher’s guide.
NOTE: We have avoided a reliance on transliteration for two reasons.
For one thing, we don’t want to teach students that Hebrew is for
children and that when they grow up they will be able to revert to
transliteration. Additionally, transliteration is not an easier way to read
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 14
SAMPLE PARENTS LETER
Dear Parents,
Your child is about to have an amazing year in Hebrew school. This is
the year that she or he will learn to read Hebrew, and that is always
an exciting task.
www.torahaura.com and click on the Tiyulim Home Workbook and
Family Website.
d. If you have any remaining questions, we at the school would love
to help. Your homework lifeline is ______________________
who can be called between the hours of __________________
at _______________________.
This year your will learn all the letters and vowels of the Hebrew
alphabet. The class will learn how to put them together phonetically
and will begin the process of mechanically sounding out Hebrew
words and Hebrew phrases. In addition, they will learn the meaning
of some Hebrew words, they will learn the story of how Hebrew again
became a spoken language, and they will become comfortable at
performing some basic prayers. We want you to become partners in
this process.
Your attention and involvement will ensure that your child gets the
practice necessary to succeed easily at reading Hebrew and it will
motivate him or her to continue to work hard. As a side benefit, you
will have the opportunity to learn and review Hebrew.
If you know how to read Hebrew, this will be really easy. If you don’t
know how to read Hebrew, it is still going to be pretty easy and you
will have a lot of fun.
Your child’s teacher
a. After every class session your child will come home and teach you
what his or her class has learned. English notes at the top of every
page in the Home Workbook will provide a framework to make this
easy for you to understand.
b. Your job will be to listen to your child apply this new learning to
an exercise. You do not have to take the lead. You do not have to
know everything. You just have to be a partner.
c. There is a really easy way to check answers you are unsure of,
and answer any questions that confuse you. A web page will
read every Hebrew word and every letter to you. It will show you
the right answers to every exercise. All you have to do is click on
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 15
Thanks for becoming my partner.
_________________________
Tiyulim Teachers’ Guide Introduction, page 16