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118
JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
fe ren t form took hold in Canada where it was applied by H.H.
Stern du ring the years 1968-83.14 In Israel this approach was
adop ted by L. Weinbach and S. Brosh in their textbook for
the in term ediate and advanced levels,
Omanut ha-Siah
(The A rt
o f Conversation, 1986).
A second trend o f the Communicative Approach, which was
developed especially in Canada, was less analytical. It stressed
the providing o f opportun ities for natura l communication in
the language. During the past decade there was developed in
Canada the
Ta l Sela
approach (directed by T. Shimon), in which
each learning unit is based on a chosen literary selection for
which exercises and questions are provided. T h e chief failing
o f the approach has to do with the grad ing o f its materials and
its emphasis on literature at the expense o f systematic language
study and Jewish sources in Hebrew.
CONCLUSION
The special aspects o f Hebrew language instruction in the
Diaspora must lead us to d ifferen tiate between all-day schools
(and intensive adu lt ulpanim) and af ternoon schools. It is clear
that in the afternoon school setup it is unfeasible to make speak
ing the main objective because o f the lack o f time. The a f te r
noon school and short adu lt courses would do be tter to make
reading their main objective, with provision for concentration
on their chief areas o f interest, such as the study o f the S iddur
and Humash, o r modern Hebrew, o r a combination o f both.
In o rd e r to be most effective the language reading materials
should be graded on the basis o f vocabulary frequency studies
and common g ramm ar and syntax usages.
In all-day schools and intensive ulpanim Hebrew speaking
can continue to serve as an objective. But here, too, one cannot
adop t a uniform program for all Diaspora schools bu t must
in each instance choose the learning materials and grade them
on the basis o f a comparative study o f the s tructure o f Hebrew
and the native language o f the pupils. It must also be adap ted
to the various age levels and needs o f d iffe ren t communities.
As for the method o f instruction, one can recommend an ec
14. Stern H.H., “Psycholinguistics and Second Language Teaching,” in
Perspec
tives o f Second Language Teaching
(Toronto, 1970).