The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
Student Conference, the English Department - 2014
Book of Abstracts
PARALLEL WORKSHOPS
A Taste of Debate - Learn How to Argue Like the Boss
Alon Cohen, Bar Ilan University, Netanya Academic College, YCI Center for Debating and Rhetoric
Abstract:
In this workshop we will briefly learn how to construct a convincing claim and then practice it in different
ways.
Alon Cohen is the project director at the YCI center for debating and Rhetoric. He has been coaching and
teaching debate for the last five years and was the chief adjudicator of the first English tournament for
high school students in 2012 conducted by the Ministry of Education. He teaches debating in Bar Ilan
University, Netanya Academic College and coaches the Israeli national high school team.
Debating achievements:
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Winner of the 2012 national championship in Hebrew,
Winner of the 2011 English Open in Israel. (Biggest English tournament held in Israel preparing for the
European Universities debating Championship)
Quarter finalist in 2011 EUDC in Galway.
Semi Finalist in the 2010 Red Sea Open.
Winner of the 2010 Shantou University debating tournament (Held in China as part of the University's
English Festival)
The Assessment Battery of Basic Literacy in English kit (ABLE)
Dr. Susie Russak, Beit Berl Academic College
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
Abstract:
The Assessment Battery of Basic Literacy in English kit (ABLE)
The focus of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction in the early elementary years is on acquiring
basic literacy skills. These skills include awareness of the sounds of language, awareness of print,
knowledge of the relationship between letters and sounds, vocabulary, word decoding, and spelling.
These basic literacy skills constitute a critical foundation for the pupil to be used in developing higher
order literacy skills, such as reading comprehension. Unfortunately, many pupils find it difficult to acquire
such basic literacy skills, and this has far reaching impact on her/his general language and reading
development, a phenomenon known in the literature as Mathew Effect (Stanovich, 1986). A sensitive
teacher is usually aware of struggling pupils. Yet, she or he may not be able to identify the specific areas
of difficulty, the sources of the difficulties or the appropriate tools to help pupils deal with them. In what
follows, we describe the rationale and the development of a testing kit that has been developed with the
aim of helping teachers achieve the above mentioned goals. This kit is called the Assessment of Basic
Literacy in English kit (ABLE). ABLE is made up of two tests: a whole-class administered Screening Test
and an individually administered Diagnostic Test. The aim of the Screening test is to identify the pupils
who may have trouble acquiring literacy in English as a foreign language after the first year of literacy
instruction. The aim of the Diagnostic Test is to identify the specific literacy skills that these students
have difficulty with. The tests have been prepared in two versions: one for Arabic-speaking pupils and
another for Hebrew-speaking pupils. In our talk today we discuss rationale behind the ABLE kit and we
will present its component parts.
Dr. Susie Russak, PhD. was the head writer on the ABLE kit project. She is a lecturer at Beit Berl Academic
College in the English Department and a pedagogical advisor. She is also the coordinator of support
services at the Support Center for Students with Special Needs at the college. She has written several
text books for teaching EFL to struggling pupils and pupils who have learning disabilities. Her areas of
interest include teaching EFL to struggling learners, learning disabilities and the acquisition of additional
languages, and cross-linguistic studies of literacy acquisition.
All you wanted to know about teaching vocabulary, but were afraid to ask
Dr. Tina Waldman, Kibbutzim College
Abstract:
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
This talk presents research based best practices about teaching vocabulary to foreign language learners. I
will discuss how vocabulary is learned, which vocabulary items are important to teach and when to teach
them, how to teach vocabulary and how to test it.
Dr. Tina Waldman teaches applied linguistics and writing in the English Teacher Training department at
Kibbutzim College, where she is also the head of the English for Academic Purposes department. Her
research interests are vocabulary acquisition, applied corpus linguistics and translingualism in the
classroom. Her recent publications include:
.‫ ידע קולוקציות בקרב לומדים ישראלים‬:‫ רכישת אוצר מילים בשפה זרה‬.)4102( .‫ולדמן ט‬
..‫ ע‬,‫לוריא‬-‫ ס וענבר‬,‫שמידט‬-‫בתוך דוניצה‬
.‫ הוצאת מכון מופת‬:‫ תל אביב‬.‫סוגיות בהוראת שפות בישראל‬
Waldman, T. (2013). Collocation use in writing among Israeli learners of English
Humanizing Language Teaching Journal, http://www.hltmag.co.uk/dec13/sart03.htm
Laufer, B. and Waldman T. (2011). Verb-noun collocations in second language writing: a corpus analysis
of learners’ English. Language Learning 61 (3), 647-672.
Music, the Body, and the Posthuman
Dr. Keren Omri, University of Haifa
Abstract:
This talk proposes to identify a shift in contemporary popular aesthetics – particularly musical outputs of
the past decade. From the aural matrix of Amon Tobin’s sound (and the skeleton fairies made of bee
wings and electronic music in his collaborations with Tessa Farmer) to the galactic travels of Bjork’s
Moon and her lesbian androids, from Kutiman’s innovative piecemeal YouTube composition to Beck’s
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
non-performed new-album, we can begin to recognize a shift from a holistic or organic view of musical
narratives, inherited from a Classical model of art, to a distinctly SFnal one where a principal aim of the
production is the on-going, ever-shifting, composition of new worlds. All thoroughly enmeshed in the
sci-fi effects and aesthetics that pervade Western popular culture, these musicians – both through their
production techniques and the motifs of their music – acknowledge the inextricable penetration of
technology, even in its most sophisticated forms, into the commonplace.
Dr. Keren Omry, Assistant Professor of American Studies, in the Department of English Language &
Literature at the University of Haifa, specializes in contemporary popular culture, jazz aesthetics,
literature post-9/11, and science fiction. She holds an MA & PhD from the University of London and BA
from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel and until recently also taught in the English dept. in Beit
Berl College and in the English & American Studies dept. at Tel-Aviv University. Keren is the author
of Cross-Rhythms: Jazz Aesthetics in African-American Literature (Continuum, 2008). Areas of interest on
which she has written and published include: 20-21stC American literature & culture; science fiction &
gender; Israeli SF; post-9/11 aesthetics; post humanism; and music in a digital culture.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Session I – Focus on English Literature
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift-A brief overview of the novel, the author and the historical social
context in which it was written
Zev Ordower
Course: Introduction to English Literature
Instructor: Dr. Pamela Peled
Abstract:
I will talk about the author, an Anglo-Irish priest, satirist, and political essayist whose masterpiece
Gulliver’s Travels satirizes the human condition, the political events in England and the socio-economic
events in Ireland during this period of British history. The work is a powerful critique of what Swift
considered the misguided thought of the dawning era of Enlightenment. The presentation will include a
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
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English Department
description of the journeys of Lemuel Gulliver, and the circumstances which led to him being marooned
on four different islands. I will talk about the inhabitants of each island, how they looked, aspects of their
behavior, their particular outlook on social issues and how these characteristics represent Swift's
ridiculing the burgeoning philosophical outlook of the age. Swift believed humankind was mistakenly
being guided by modern science and reason and that progress beyond the established mores was leading
humankind to possess an inflated sense of themselves and creating a morally debased political culture.
Was Shakespeare anti-Semitic? An analysis of The Merchant of Venice
Sheila Glick
Course: Shakespeare
Instructor: Dr. Pamela Peled
Abstract:
In an international climate in which anti-Semitism is significant once again, it is particularly urgent to
examine whether the works of one of the most influential people in cultural history was tainted by antiSemitism.
A superficial reading of The Merchant of Venice seems to the average reader like old fashioned antiSemitism. Jews are depicted as cruel and ruthless. However, there is another interpretation. The Jewish
anti-hero character has, for the first time, a motive for his behavior.
We wish/seek to prove that the play can be interpreted either way, as anti-Semitic or not.
The results are inconclusive, and depend on the audience and the director's agendas. Still, we have to
note that the main speech on which base our claim was omitted when the Nazis produced this play. This
seems to prove that the play is NOT anti-Semitic.
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Introducing Shakespeare, a multisensory and technological unit- “Romeo and Juliet”
Karina Ebrani
Course: Didcactic Seminar - Juniort High
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English Department
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Course: Shakespeare
Instructor: Dr. Pamela Peled
Abstract:
This unit is a basic introduction to Shakespeare and I have chosen “Romeo and Juliet” to accompany it as
it is one of the world's greatest romances. Four hundred years later, and in spite of its "Shakespearean"
language, the play is still relevant to teenagers today.
There is a wealth of resources available on Shakespeare and “Romeo and Juliet”. The main objective in
building this unit was to collect and create materials that would engage students in the Shakespearean
text at all levels, in a variety of ways, and to motivate them to interact with the play using different forms
of media and technology.
Session II - Focus on English Linguistics
Request strategies in English as a second language (L2) by native Speakers of Hebrew and Arabic
Harel Ben-Sheffer, Lisa Mousai, Maram Gharra, Oraib Herzallah
Course: Pragmatics
Instructor: Dr. Ronit Webman Shafran
Abstract:
To use language properly, it is not enough to know its formal phonological, lexical and grammatical
properties. Learners need to acquire the pragmatic rules of speaking, or pragmatic competence.
The need for empirical study of cross-cultural communication has been recognized in the field of second
language acquisition as vital to enhance cross-cultural understanding, and provide information helpful
for language instruction and language acquisition.
We report on a joint study performed in the framework of the course Pragmatics. The purpose of the
study was to investigate how native speakers of Arabic and Hebrew with high level of proficiency in
English make requests in English as a second language (i.e., what patterns of realization of requests they
use), and whether those patterns vary with respect to the relative status of speaker and addressee.
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English Department
Our data gathering was conducted by way of DCT (Discourse Completion Task), a tool developed by
Blum-Kulka (1982) and adapted to our purposes. It consisted of a written questionnaire containing short
descriptions of a particular situation intended to elicit the pattern of a speech act being studied.
The students in the course (of whom 16 were native speakers of Arabic and 13 were native speakers of
Hebrew) completed the questionnaires anonymously, each in their native language, and then examined
the request strategies applied by using a coding system, similar to the one used by Blum-Kulka and
Olshtein, (1984), in three socially differentiated situation.
Results showed that the dominant strategies applied were the same in both languages but the frequency
of their use varied with respect to the three socially differentiated situations across the two languages.
Parental Narrative Input: A developmental perspective
Liraz Maor and Eden Ayash
Course: Special issues in Applied Linguistics
Instructor: Prof. Anat Stavans
Abstract:
As part of our "special Issues in applied Linguistics" course we conducted a study, investigating the following
research question: "how the parental narratives addressed to their children at the ages of 3, 5 , 7?". In this study we
were looking at the functional and social-interactional aspects between Hebrew-speaking parents and their
children by using the Frog, Where Are You book (Mayer, 1969), where the parents were asked to tell the story to
their children. The input was recorded, transcribed and coded. In our study we focused on the difference in the
parental narrative input provided to their children at different ages in terms of: narrative length, narrative
organization, narrative interactional style, and last, narrative intimacy.
Key issues in the translation of intimacy: 'The Catcher in the Rye' as a case in point
Harel Ben-Sheffer
Course: Linguistic and Cultural Aspects of Translation
Instructor: Omri Asscher
Abstract:
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For an adequate translation, it is not enough to know the words and idioms of the source and target
languages, as the translator needs to take into account and consider various other factors. I will
demonstrate this with regard to the translation of Salinger's special, intimate writing style in The Catcher
in the Rye. Salinger's use of colloquial language in this novel was not common in American literature of
the 1950s, and its unique features pose several challenges for translation, such as: the slang, the
generous use of curses, the repetition of discourse markers and the somewhat incoherent sentences at
times.
When translating the novel, the translator has to make several fundamental decisions, like whether to
stay absolutely faithful to the original style, and how that would affect the reading experience of the
translation; whether the target language has the idioms and discourse markers similar to the source
language; whether to attempt to duplicate the register that is employed in the novel’s narration, or
maybe to adjust it to current times; how to deal with curses, which were almost atrocious at the time the
book was published, but today might be rated PG at best. These are important to consider systematically
throughout the translation process, as uniformity is recommended when it exists in the source text.
Well-informed choices made by the translator may help in reproducing Salinger’s writing style’s intimate
effect of teenage subjectivity on the reader.
To be able to reach these choices, the translator has to be familiar with the social and cultural
background of the novel. Deep knowledge of the target language culture is also critical, as well as
mastery of the target language. This paper will thus discuss the challenges involved in transferring The
Catcher in the Rye from mid-1950's American colloquialism to today's Hebrew.
Community Oriented Activities in the English Department - E4U2 project - Ramla
The Ethan H. Freed Learning Center (YRF)
Michal Hasson, Director of the English program at the Freed Learning Center
Sharing personal experiences
Lisa Mousai, Nur Schwartz
Course: Practical Experience – First Year B.Ed.
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The Faculty of Education
English Department
Avril Shribman, Tzippi Katz, Carole Streifler, Janene Reich, SHuly Trabelsi, Lara Illos, Maytal Kurt, Viviana Resnick, Einat
Hazak
Course: Small Group Methodology for EFL- Foundation Level
Instructor: Dvorah Bohak
Abstract:
English for you, too (E4U2) is a community oriented educational project initiated by the joint effort of
the staff of the English Department - Academic College Beit Berl and the staff of the Youth Renewal Fund
(YRF). Michal Hasson will give a short description of the Center's history, goals and current activities. The
students who participated in the project will give an overview of the project and someof their personal
experiences.
Introduction to Exhibition of Language Learning Materials
Primary Schools
Learning Center on the British Cultures – Hayovel school, Ra’anana
Avihai Falah, Anat Harush, Orly Harel-Harry
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Dr. Orly Haim
Mentor Teacher: Ms. Vered Sai
Abstract:
Content based instruction (CBI) is a teaching approach that emphasizes learning about the subject matter
or content rather than learning about language. Research suggests that the use of self-access learning
centers enhances students’ self-efficacy and independent learning. Furthermore, in the context of
language teaching, teaching content through the target language results is enhanced cognitive and
academic skills as well as language proficiency.
This year we attended the didactic seminar that gave us the tools for better practicum experience, with
regard to how to approach the pupils of today; so our group developed a CBI learning center based on
five sub-subjects of the British culture; from history to geography, literature and music. Our goal was to
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enable the pupils to approach the learning center independently, choosing their own materials out of a
variety of activities, with us being only the mediators. The worksheets and games involved great deal of
listening, reading and writing and the pupils elicited information from the 5 posters or from the web.
The worksheets were accustomed to 3 different levels of proficiency, so that pupils from the 3rd to the 6th
grade would find the assignments challenging and yet approachable.
Some ‘green issues’ have been taken into consideration as well.
We believe that learners' motivation increases when students are learning about something, rather than
just studying language. Theme based CBI is particularly appealing in this respect because teachers can
use almost any content materials that they feel their students will enjoy.
Yes, learning English can be fun! – Bar Tov School
Judy Auster, Liora Lev-Ram, Gila Perry, Shira Shuraki, Orr Solomon
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Dr. Orly Haim
Abstract:
We are presenting our work from the last year at Bar Tov Elementary School. We decided to incorporate
several teaching approaches we studied in the didactics seminar. In particular, we focused on Task Based
Instruction which refers to the implementation of the curriculum using knowledge, skills and strategies
through the performance of various tasks. Research indicates that completing tasks gives the pupils the
opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in various ways.
One important instructional strategy we discussed in the course is to accommodate learner differences
by using activities at different levels catering to different learning styles and intelligences.
In this presentation we describe: 1) multilevel content-task based units we developed during the practice
week at Bar-Tov primary school, and 2) an active break which includes various content based creative
activities using English as a means to an end.
Task-Based Units
In task-based learning the basic and initial element of organization is the task.
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During the practice week each of us implemented this approach at different grade levels. The two third
grade classes don't yet know how to read and write and were given different tasks. The first task was to
draw an alien according to given instructions. The second class' task was to make a clothing catalogue,
using the receptive vocabulary knowledge. For the 4th grade the final task was to create a menu using
the new vocabulary they learned. With one of the 5th grade classes we focused on weather and the
pupils prepared models of weather forecasts for the following week. In the second fifth grade the
children were introduced to the genre of fairy tales. During the last lesson, the children performed their
own fairy tales with puppets.
The English Day
We decided to end the year with a bang! Our English day was centered around English games. The theme
was 'around the world'. Each child was given a passport that was stamped with stamps from around the
world once they finished the task at each station. With Beatles and Beach Boys' songs in the background
pupils made a trip - around the world in 40 minutes. The countries visited by the pupils included China,
Germany, Italy, USA, Thailand, Australia, Kenya, Brazil, England and France. At the USA station, the
children played Twister. At the German station, pupils answered trivia questions about different
countries. Pupils went on a scavenger hunt at the Thailand station and at Australia's station, the pupils
tasted Vegemite and played a memory matching game of Australian pictures and words. The England
stand was a darts stand where pupils were asked questions and had to aim with a ball on a bottle with
the first letter of the answer. At the China station, pupils played word search puzzle based on Chinese
topics.
The stations were handled both by the student teachers and the older pupils from the 5th grade.
The day was a total success and the pupils really enjoyed playing and learning English!
Task Based Unit for 5th Graders: Children around the World at Ziv school,
Raanana
Revital Borgenicht
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Dr. Orly Haim
Abstract:
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In the didactics seminar we had the opportunity to explore the topic of task based instruction. Task
based instruction refers to acquisition of knowledge, skills and strategies through the performance of
meaningful real world tasks. Research suggests that completing the task gives language learners
opportunities to use various resources and demonstrate their knowledge and skills (Haim, 2014).
During practice week at Ziv Elementary School in Ra'anana I presented a task-based unit focusing on the
theme of "children around the world." My main goal was to give the pupils the opportunity to learn
about themselves as well as to get to know different kids at their age from various places around the
world. From the perspective of language learning, the unit enhanced writing skills, eventually introducing
them to the genre of writing letters. The unit included four lessons. The first lesson focused on the
pupils. Their task was to fill out a personalized activity page titled “About Me”, which focused on their
favorite activities and routine. They used the content of the task for the final writing task at the end of
the unit. In the second lesson I introduced them to children from Holland, Japan, Alaska, Iran and Brazil.
They learned about different children, their routines and culture by conducting a research based
collaborative task. In the third lesson I taught them how to write a letter to a pen-pal. They learned how
to start a letter and how to end it. In the final lesson, they wrote their own letters.
I have learned that the students expand their English knowledge by diversity of tasks which helped them
develop and show their writing skills.
Acknowledgment: I would like to give special credit to my mentor teacher, Ms. Cochi Cohen, who helped
me adjust the studying material to her class before and on site. I would also like to thank Dr. Orly Haim
whose knowledge and tips helped me develop and enrich the unit for further use.
Task-based units as a creative and a refreshing tool for teaching English at Ushisskin school,
Kfar Saba and Yahdav school, Raanana
Hagit Feldman, Liora Zirkelevich, Yehuda van der Velden, Morag Fridman, Lily Gurevych
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Dvorah Bohak
Abstract:
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English Department
The practice week provided us students with a great opportunity to explore teaching English through
task-based units. Task-based units are an exciting and effective way to teach English while using topics
that are authentic and meaningful to the pupils.
The teachers can easily and creatively involve all 4 domains and reach the benchmarks required by the
Ministry of Education and create meaningful tasks which address all language learning skills: grammar,
spelling, reading, writing, and speaking.
Task-based units on extra-curricular topics give the pupils an opportunity to gain some “extra” general
and world knowledge, vocabulary and communication skills. Learners are motivated when they engage in
activities that are relevant and offer language useful in the world in which they live. When tasks make
sense to and interest learners on a personal level, they are able to relate to them in depth, both
cognitively and affectively. Such meaningful learning of English will enable them to advance faster in the
acquisition process of English.
English Day at Gordon School, Kfar Saba
Natasha Koshkar, Dana Kuris, Naomi Grossman, Roy Kfir, Dafna Alon and Adi Lewin
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Karen Abel
Abstract:
The project we did was an English day at Gordon school, Kfar Saba. The pupils had recently learned the
topic “Animals.” Therefore, during the English Day the Beit Berl students gave the pupils a chance to use
their knowledge on this topic in a fun and relaxed situation. The participants were all the pupils from the
2nd to the 6th grade. There were two stations with different levels of complexity.
The English day was great fun not only for the pupils but for us as well. The informal activities created
non-stressful and authentic environment for the pupils. Even those of them who had usually been
passive in the classroom turned into active English users.
English Day Activities, Hamagen School, Hod Hasharon
Nir Rotenberg, Tami Noach, Jenny Markel, Michal Maman and Avital Lifshitz
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Karen Abel
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Abstract:
English Day at Hamagen School allows the students an opportunity to experiment in a variety of activities
involving the English language but in unconventional ways. It is also a special day where the students get
to interact more with their peers and learn the value of respect and fair competition.
English Day was conducted for three grade levels: 4th, 5th and 6th grade by the college student teachers.
The activities were impressively diverse and were designed to stimulate the pupils and develop their
cognitive skills.
English Day turned out to be fun and enjoyable with a variety of activities for all the selected grades. We
as a group have come to realize that if we take the English language and create a whole day to engage in
it, the students will appreciate its importance and perhaps be stimulated to perform even better in their
regular classes.
English Games, Mamlachti Aleph School ,Hod Hasharon
Eyal Arad and Gal Elkana
Course: Practical Experience – Elementary School level
Instructor: Karen Abel
Abstract:
Instead of the traditional English Day, our mentor teacher at Mamlachti Aleph Elementary School in Hod
Hasharon decided to focus on making games this year. The main purpose of the games was to enhance
and improve the pupils' memory, phonemic awareness and vocabulary skills.
Games in the classroom have been found to be useful and are one of the most important ways to teach
efficiently in a language class. Moreover, children feel happy and free while playing and develop social
skills and good relationships as they interact with each other.
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Secondary Schools
Content Based Learning centers at Dror school
Kristina Rosenblatt, Gali Bayer, Natasha Koshkar, Naomi Grossman, Amy Shmulevich, Ofra Alfei Ilovoci, Yael Magner, Esty
Moshe, Yehuda van der Velden
Course: Practical Experience – Junior High level
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Abstract:
Learning centers create an environment which encourages small group activities as well as learner
autonomy. All pupils can be actively involved in the learning process through multi-modality, multi-level
language tasks. The centers have been designed with the goal of encouraging language learning
experiences in a more flexible and less formal setting.
Teaching Poetry in Junior High school - Ami Asaf, Yarkon and Shazar
Shirit Yosfan, Inbar Peretz, Liraz Maor, Leelach Inbar, Aya Yakobovich, Sa'ar Anat, Anat Abramovitch, Roni Raskin, Joelle
Brenner, Ortal Broner
Course: Language Teaching Methodology – Secondary School
Instructor: Dalia Stein
Abstract:
Teaching literature in general and poetry in particular, has become a major component for all grades in
the new English curriculum and in the English Matriculation exam, as well. As part of our practicum at
Ami Asaf and Yarkon Junior High School and High School, as well as in Shazar Junior High School, we
taught a unit about a poem of our choice. Our poster will present:
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The top 10 reasons for teaching poetry;
The unit planner that includes the 7 major components for meaningful learning.
We are also presenting some of the unit planners and poems that were developed by the studentteachers.
Mrs. Dalloway
Nir Rotenberg, Eden Ayash and Julie Finberg Mizrahi
Course: Novels through Movies
Instructor: Dr. Pamela Peled
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English Department
Abstract:
The novel ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ is about a day in the life of Clarrisa Dalloway.
The scene you are about to watch was our final presentation in the ‘Novels through Movies’ course. In
order to properly understand the novel/movie we shot a scene ourselves.
More than thirty years after it occurred, Clarissa Dalloway still remembers the kiss between herself and
Sally Seton as the most exquisite moment of her whole life.
The scene was shot in black and white with no words, to symbolize the stream of consciousness, where
ideas and thoughts go back and forth, and to emphasize that this moment is a highly erotic.
Session III - Focus on Language Learning, Teaching, and Classroom Research
Social Interaction and our original kit of mini chit-chats at El Slalaam, Qalanswa
1styear students represented by Omar Sharkiya, Ameen Harden, Ahlam Samara, Saja Ankar Massarweh, Duaa Abu Fol
Course: Didactic Workshop – elementary school level
Instructor: Marlene Erez
Abstract:
The kit of mini chit-chats was designed by the first year students in the framework of their practical
experience at El Salaam school, Qalanswa. The creation and production of the kit came out of the need
to implement more effective social interaction in the classroom. The entire class worked and completed
the task in a relatively short period of time so as to be able to use the kits with the chit-chats in the
school throughout the second semester.
Struggling learners in the heterogeneous class - my approach
Esty Amitay Moshe
Course: Didactic Seminar – Junior High
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The Faculty of Education
English Department
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Abstract:
Teaching English as a foreign language in heterogeneous classes is not an easy task, especially because
on many occasions there are struggling learners who are part of these classes.
My approach helps me to adapt a certain routine which is very useful both for my students' learning and
for my teaching process. The most difficult question I ask myself is: Is it really possible to teach when you
know that a struggling learner will not always be able to pay attention to your teaching? Such a question
makes you wonder if you can really implement methods in your teaching that will help the struggling
learners. According to research done by Margolis and McCabe (2006), there is a method to encourage
struggling learners with low self-efficacy to invest sufficient effort in completing tasks, overcoming
difficulties, taking on increasingly challenging tasks, and developing interest in their studies.
As teachers we need to recognize struggling learners’ strengths. Despite their low self-efficacy, it is
possible to motivate these students by matching task difficulty, and implementing strategies that
produce success and persistence. Also, the teacher can use peer models, and explain to the struggling
students how school work can help them achieve personal goals. As a result, the teachers increase the
possibility that struggling learners will become more motivated and more involved in the learning
process.
To sum up, the goal of this presentation is to raise the awareness of the difficulties of struggling learners
in our classes and also to share important suggestions that, if implemented, will create a productive
learning process for all of our students. I find myself using these tools in my classes; I believe that with
hard work and persistence you can improve the learning process for struggling learners. These students
sit in your class, waiting for you to teach, but they are also waiting for you to approach them, guide
them, and let them know that in many ways they can learn and take interest in their studies.
Teaching the Holocaust to young EFL learners
Lorelle Shub
Course: Practical Teaching Experience – Primary School
Instructor: Dr. Orly Haim
Abstract:
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The Holocaust, is a topic that is extremely sensitive to address. How do we as teachers teach our
students of this tragic event in history? I remember when I was first introduced to the topic, in the
3rd grade, via a children’s version of the story of Anne Frank. It left a lasting impression on me.
Why have I chosen to write a book about the Holocaust? I did not lose any family members nor was I
“personally” affected by it. I traveled to Poland on an educational trip in university and was impacted in a
way that I cannot explain. Furthermore, I made Aliyah from South Africa at the tender age of 19 and I
believe it is my duty to continue to tell the story of the Holocaust, so that we may maintain a
remembrance of all those who perished.
The story is of a fictional woman (who in my mind, symbolizes many Jewish people who were not able
to tell their story) who lets us into her world by telling her story through a poem that chronicles the
events of the Holocaust in a very easy way for young learners to grasp. The most important element to
keep in mind when teaching about the Holocaust is to stress the idea of making the content meaningfulto emphasize that these people were just like us before their lives were changed.
As an English teacher I have the privilege of really using any topic in which I can use the English language.
In Israel, students are exposed to the Holocaust from as young as 3 years old and often times, teachers
are perplexed with what materials to use to teach their students. I decided to write a book to teach
young learners, that is not only authentic but also age appropriate and had the honour of working with a
very talented illustrator Batya Bloch.
This story can be used a springboard for discussion in many ways and addresses both Higher Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS) and Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS). The story can be interpreted in whichever
way you deem fit, and the lesson plans are simply guides that you can use to enhance your lessons.
I wish you a successful teaching experience and may this book shed a small glimmer of hope in your
hearts.
Collaboration using digital tools for teaching in today's classrooms
Itay Freedman and Harel Ben-Sheffer
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
Course: Pedagogical Grammar – Distance Learning Using 21st Century Skills
Instructor: Ora Baumgarten
Abstract:
As technology is being used more and more in almost every aspect of our lives in general and in our
classrooms in particular, it is crucial to fully understand its various usages and diverse characteristics, and
instructional and educational value of teaching via digital tools.
For the younger audience, the digital "residents", technology is a way of life, whereas for adults, the
"visitors1", technology is somewhat of a mystery. Familiarizing themselves with different digital tools,
especially for teaching purposes, allows both the students and the teachers to have a significant,
meaningful, and rich learning experience.
Digital tools for teaching and learning are numerous; in this presentation we will focus mainly on two
familiar tools for most students and teachers – Google Docs and Google Sites. The presentation will show
how Google Docs and Google Sites can be integrated into our classrooms for enhancing collaborative
learning, the benefits of which are numerous: students learn to work with all types of views, so that
diversity is enabled; students learn to relate to their classmates as they work in groups in a structured
interaction; meaningful learning occurs when each student contributes his or her part to the discussion;
peer feedback is facilitated in a controlled environment.
For over 6 months, students from the 6th grade in elementary school in Hod-Hasharon have used a
Google Site, where they've shared work, videos, pictures and discussions, as well as asked and answered
each other's questions, all in a controlled, supervised environment via specific topic Padlets and
comment boxes.
Having an accessible place where students access all the help, material and different ideas they need,
helped students on all levels, from foundation to proficient, to enrich their learning experience. Having a
well based structure - one shared site - with different categories in which the students could put their
innovating and creative ideas, enabled the broadening of their horizons and opened a door to vast and
endless information through texts, pictures, audio and video, forums and blogs.
1
Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement (D. S. White and A. L. Cornu 2011).
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English Department
Students became more willing to share their products with each other. They've shared a collaborative
online working space - either by Google Docs or Padlet, where they had endless possibilities to express
themselves and show their work.
Unlocking the great spelling mystery
Rosalynn W. Cohen
Course: Language Acquisition (EFL) for Special Needs Populations
Instructor: Dvorah Bohak
Course: Reading in English as a Foreign Language: From Theory to Practice
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Abstract:
English spelling has been called confusing, mysterious, and even crazy. Why is it so unpredictable? Is it
someone's idea of a joke? Thanks to the strategies acquired in two classes specialized in reading
acquisition I attended, spelling is a little bit less mysterious.
I would like to share with you, how I took these pearls of wisdom and shared them with my 4th, 5th, and
6th grade students. While English spelling will never be perfectly straightforward, with the right tools and
historical perspective, they can be made a lot more user-friendly.
Informal case study: identification and remediation of an EFL reader’s decoding difficulties
Cheryl Shaanan
Course: Identification and Remediation of Learning Difficulties in EFL
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Abstract:
The purpose of this informal reading inventory was to identify and remediate decoding difficulties and
problems in a struggling EFL reader. The subject of this case study was a young adult woman who
experiences difficulty when reading English.
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
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English Department
The qualitative part of this study included two elements. First, before evaluating reading, we attempted
to get a sense of who this young woman is by finding out about her family and social background, her
past experiences in school, her strengths and weaknesses, general interests, and her feelings about her
proficiency in English. Second, the subject was asked to make two drawings: one of what goes on in her
brain while reading her first language, Hebrew, and one of what goes on in her brain while reading
English. These drawings, together with the personal information collected, gave us a more
comprehensive and well-rounded picture of our subject as a whole person and inspired an empathetic
approach when remediating.
The qualitative element of the study included having the subject read a text and a thorough analysis of
the subject’s errors. The text was chosen carefully, after much consideration. It had to be difficult
enough to elicit errors that would later be remediated but accessible enough to the reader that it would
not be overly frustrating. The study includes a transcript of the errors made by the subject and an
analysis of the type of errors, whether they were phonological, orthographic, morphological or other.
The subject’s error patterns were then summarized, and short-term intervention activities, based very
directly on the error analysis and designed to address the reader’s EFL needs, were proposed.
The diphthong 'ou'
Galit Tencer
Course: Identification and Remediation of Learning Difficulties in EFL
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Abstract:
Reading isn’t an innate skill.
I teach English in a high-school for teenagers at risk in Or-Yehuda.
The students who are in my class have emotional problems and learning difficulties. They were the worst
students in class, and they have very low-self esteem. Learning English or any subject has always been a
dream for them. I noticed that my students understood a little English, for example: some of them were
able to talk about themselves in English. However, when I asked them to read, they couldn’t.
Automatically, I assumed that all the students have learning disabilities.
Now, I know that they couldn’t decode because no one has ever taught them how to read English
before!!!
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
Although I have been teaching English for the last 5 years, I have never taught reading. To be honest, I
never learned how to read. After learning about reading, I have discovered that there are diagraphs,
diphthongs, sight words, orthographic patterns and that “ou” is a diphthong that makes the sound /au/. I
never knew that “ou” makes the sound /au/.
After these discoveries, I came to class and asked if someone knew how to say “Bayit” in English. They all
knew how to say it. However, in a reading exercise, they couldn’t read the word “house”. They didn’t
know that when you say “H” you open your mouth and breathe out and they didn’t know how to read
the diphthong “ou”.
In my English classes I started:



to teach sound letter correspondences in a systematic sequential manner based on lacking information
to teach orthographic patterns (light, sight, might)
to build sight-word vocabulary based on frequent words and content words
Finally, my students may not be the best readers now but they have improved their reading and they feel
much better about their English.
The use of iPads for students with special needs
Ortal Broner and Udi Rabinerzon
Course: Didactic Seminar – Junior High
Instructor: Dr. Susie Russak
Abstract:
The fast growing technological developments of the recent years have changed various life domains
significantly; and among many others, the education field. The traditional classroom setup using chalk
and board, has changed to a touched screen smart-board. In addition, the teaching methods using the
internet are nothing like they used to be in the past.
Beit Eckstein, Kfar Malal, is a junior high school and a high school for students with various types of
special needs. This year the school has participated in a pilot where every child receives a tablet for
learning purposes. For our catered population, using tablets in class has many advantages as well as
disadvantages. In our presentation, we will share our personal experience teaching using tables as we
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
and the students see it. We will introduce the great potential which is hidden in this tool and how it can
promote meaningful learning, not only as a group in a homogeneous class set up, but also in a
heterogeneous class set up.
Interlude
Shakespeare, "the Merchant of Venice" scene 3, act 2
Ortal Broner, Esty Moshe, Karina Ebrani, Leon Franck, Tzvia Zidler
Course: Shakespeare
Instructor: Dr. Pamela Peled
Abstract:
"To be or not to be that is the question" and the Shakespeare course is definitely the place to be.
Everybody has heard about William Shakespeare who touches upon so many areas in our lives. Even
centuries after his death, his ideas, plays and sonnets are everywhere, all the time.
As part of our Shakespeare course, we learned in depth, from a Shakespearean expert- Dr Pamela Peled,
a few of his famous plays and sonnets. One of the course requirements was to act a scene from one of
his plays. This was definitely the best assignment that we could ever get! As Pamela always says "you
can't learn Shakespeare and not act it".
In our presentation we will perform a short scene from the " Merchant of Venice ". We chose this play
because it covers so many topics such as relationships between Christians and Jews, money lending,
relations between men and women, morals, values, prejudice and equality.
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department