‫פורום מרכזי לימודי אנגלית למתמחים‬
‫מרכזי הפורום‪ :‬ד''ר אמי זיטר )מכללה ירושלים(‪ ,‬ד"ר דורון נרקיס )המכללה האקדמית לחינוך ע"ש קיי(‬
‫נציגי המכללות בפורום‬
‫‪Number of meetings: 9, including one study day‬‬
‫‪e Year’s Accomplishments‬‬
‫‪If we had briefly to describe the accomplishments of the Forum for English Department Heads this past year, two‬‬
‫‪words would suffice: Dovrat and research. Many of our discussions focused on the changes recommended by the‬‬
‫מרכזי לימודי אנגלית למתמחים‬
‫ד"ר אבו‪-‬ראס רוידא )המכללה האקדמית בית ברל(‪ ,‬ד"ר באום מירי )חמדת הדרום‪ ,‬מכללה אקדמית לחינוך‪ ,‬יהדות והוראת‬
‫המדעים(‪ ,‬ד"ר בוכבינדר אניטה )מכללה לחינוך ע"ש דוד ילין(‪ ,‬בר‪-‬חמא רבקה )גורדון‪ ,‬המכללה האקדמית לחינוך(‪ ,‬ג'בארין עלי‬
‫)אלקאסמי‪ ,‬מכללה אקדמית לחינוך(‪ ,‬ד"ר דוניצה‪-‬שמידט סמדר )מכללת סמינר הקיבוצים(‪ ,‬הורוביץ נאוה )תלפיות‪ ,‬המכללה‬
‫האקדמית לחינוך(‪ ,‬ונדריגר ברברה )מכללת לוינסקי לחינוך(‪ ,‬חיים אורלי )המכללה האקדמית בית ברל(‪ ,‬ד"ר ליפשיץ דבי )מכללה‬
‫ירושלים ע"ש וולפסון(‪ ,‬ד"ר מחאמיד‪-‬גזייל חסן )אורנים‪ ,‬המכללה האקדמית לחינוך‪ ,‬התנועה הקיבוצית(‪ ,‬ד"ר סטבנס ענת )המכללה‬
‫האקדמית בית ברל(‪ ,‬פלבין שושנה )תלפיות‪ ,‬המכללה האקדמית לחינוך(‪ ,‬ד"ר פרארה יהונתן )המכללה האקדמית לחינוך גבעת‬
‫ושינגטון(‪ ,‬ד"ר צוקרמן טרודי )המכללה לחינוך ע"ש דוד ילין(‪ ,‬ד"ר קלוסקה מרים )אחוה‪ ,‬המכללה האקדמית לחינוך(‪ ,‬שושני‬
‫גבריאלה )שאנן‪ ,‬המכללה האקדמית הדתית לחינוך(‬
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Dovrat Commission. We discussed the immediate implications for the College system and the larger implications
for change in the school system and how the Colleges might respond.
We put together both these ideas—the Dovrat Commission and the need for quality research—in compiling our
position paper mapping out a framework for teacher training under the Dovrat Commission’s suggested guidelines
for a B.A./teaching certificate program at the colleges. e paper was researched and compiled by Dr. Debbie
Lifschitz of Michlalah-Jerusalem College and Dr. Anita Buchbinder of David Yellin College, and the Forum as a
whole worked out its final form.
Despite its importance, the Dovrat Commission did not take up the entire Forum agenda. Other topics included
theoretical and practical approaches to the problem of plagiarism, use of new technologies in teaching, including
on-line courses, research and practice in L2 reading, and a multi-cultural approach to defining L2 proficiency.
Our final meeting was a trip to the new Yad V’Shem Holocaust Memorial. Our English language tour emphasized
pedagogical aspects of the museum, and our discussion aerwards stressed the need to include the Holocaust as a
topic in English classes.
Details of the year’s accomplishments are important, but perhaps the most important accomplishment of the year is
something larger and harder to describe. Coming together regularly and corresponding between meetings through
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‫מרכזי לימודי אנגלית למתמחים‬
We also placed great emphasis on the subject of research. We introduced a “research corner” in which a Forum
member shared a research-based article on an issue of interest, and discussed possibilities for our own research
directions. Issues that we touched on from this perspective included the question of native and non-native English
speaking teachers and quantitative versus qualitative research. At our final formal meeting, we decided to explore
the possibility of creating a forum for our students’ research, perhaps an e-journal that would showcase the best
work of students at all the Colleges.
email, Forum members exchanged ideas and information, creating a warm and helping academic community that
benefits all the colleges and the larger cause of English teaching in Israel.
Special Tour: Yad V’Shem Holocaust Memorial
‫מרכזי לימודי אנגלית למתמחים‬
When I began writing the minutes of our final meeting, I found myself facing a problem. e very word “minutes,”
the commonly used English word for protocols of meetings, suggests something quick, condensed, almost fleeting;
this “genre,” if you will, is wholly inadequate to the task of describing a museum that attempts to eternalize the lives
and deaths of six million people. All of us who went through the long corridor of the museum and the adjoining
rooms containing information, testimonies, and artifacts from the world that was lost, reacted strongly and
personally to different aspects of the terrible story that was told.
While there was too much information for any of us to absorb in a tour of just a few hours, we all found something
that will remain strongly imprinted on our minds and hearts. For myself, the most memorable exhibit was the actual
file footage of the world of European Jewry before the war. e first thing I saw when I entered the museum was
a film of children from Munkacs, the city in Czechoslovakia (or Hungary or Ukraine, depending on the year) where
my mother was born. e children were singing “Hatikvah.” e sight of children who might have been my mother’s
neighbors, friends, perhaps even relatives, singing of hope, and the knowledge that within a few years that hope
would perish for most of them, made walking through the rest of the exhibit especially painful and meaningful.
I solved my immediate problem by writing a short paragraph about the pedagogical aspects of the tour, but I was
very well aware of the inadequacy of my written response. e members of our Forum are all teachers of English,
lovers of language, who understand the power and potential of words, but perhaps the only words that can begin
to describe the emotional response to our tour of Yad V’Shem are those I saw repeatedly written in the Guest Book
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at the conclusion of the tour, when one emerges from the corridor of life and death to the magnificent view of the
Jerusalem hills: there are no words.
e Dovrat Commission recommendations will no doubt continue to be central to next year’s agenda. We will
have to respond to immediate changes to the College and school system and also look towards the long-range
challenges that those changes will create.
As always, we will continue our commitment to studying the questions that arise from our position as trainers
of teachers of English as a foreign language. We will raise questions about the role of non-native teachers, what
defines language proficiency for them, and how to test for it. In addition to defining the “what” of our teaching, we
will continue to delve into the question of “how,” using current research and exchanging our own experiences to
improve our training programs.
We plan to continue our emphasis on research, asking members to share interesting or provocative articles,
searching for effective ways to guide our students in their research, and trying to make our own research engaging
and relevant. We also hope to explore the role of the Colleges in the teaching community, perhaps inviting guests
from the Ministry, school principals, concerned parents, and students to share their perspectives on English teaching
in the schools, widening our understanding of the English language classrooms to which our students are bound.
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‫מרכזי לימודי אנגלית למתמחים‬
Future Plans