» Hebrew Course Outlines

The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover during the course and include typical themes, vocabulary fields, grammar, cultural content and skills work for the language and the level. The Outlines are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers always plan their lessons with the specific abilities, aims and interests of the students in their classes in mind.

• Hebrew Level 1
• Hebrew Level 2
• Hebrew Level 3
• Hebrew Level 4
• Hebrew Level 5
• Hebrew Level 6
• Hebrew Level 7
• Hebrew Level 8

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Unit 1 – 7, pp.1- 110

Themes

• Greetings and introduction
• Forms of address in the feminine and masculine
• Talking about yourself and your family
• Talk about nationalities
• Question words
• There is, there isn’t
• Numbers
• Alphabet in Print and cursive
• Jobs and occupations
• Making requests and expressing gratitude
• Ordering food and drinks
• Jobs and occupations
• Everyday life. Days of the week, months, time

Grammar

• Personal pronouns
• Feminine and masculine usage
• Possessive pronouns
• Present tense of key verbs To Read – לקרוא , To Eat – לאכול, To Go – ללכת, To Write – לכתוב...
• Word order and sentence structure
• Nouns and adjectives singular, plural
• Question forming
• Prefixes

Cultural content

• Common idiomatic expressions
• Key religious expressions and their usage in every day speech
• Insight into difference between Modern and biblical Hebrew
• Insight into cultural differences between the different ethnic groups living in Israel

Skills Work

• The Hebrew alphabet, reading and writing, with special emphasis on unfamiliar sounds.
• Pronunciation of Guttural letters
• Listening comprehension

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Lessons 1 – 6, pp.111 - 198

Themes

• Revision of some of the vocabulary from Level 1
• Counting and using numbers in Masculine / Feminine form
• Traveling around sites in Israel
• Shopping, getting directions, situations on the bus
• Around the house
• At the hotel
• At the airport
• Days of the week

Grammar

• Review of the Alphabet
• Adjectives in Male / Female, singular / plural
• Word order and sentence structure
• The root of words
• The different types of verb forms in groups (פעל) Paal / (קל) Kal
• Adverbs in Male / female

Cultural content

• More common idiomatic expressions
• The use of Hebrew in the Diaspora
• Everyday life in Israel.

Skills Work

• Practical tools to master reading and writing
• Communicative role plays
• Listening comprehension
• Practical assignments and tasks
• Cursive writing skills

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Lessons 7 – 12, pp.199 - 271

Themes

• Review of simple sentences and basic conversation
• Calendar and schedule
• In the café
• On the bus
• Post office

Grammar

• Review of verbs in (פעל) Paal / (קל) Kal
• Intro to verbs in stem of Hefeel - הפעיל
• Intro to verbs in גזרות ל'פ. ל'י
• Verbs in the stem of Hitpaael – התפעל
• Intro to the verb To Be – להיות
• Forming sentences by combining indefinite nouns and indefinite adjectives
• Construct states

Cultural content

• Classic Israeli films
• Cultural development in Israel since the 50’s
• Different social life in Jerusalem
• Places around the Dead Sea and Judas Desert
• Friday and Shabbat

Skills Work

• Listening comprehension
• Practical assignments and tasks
• Pronunciation
• Improve reading and writing skills

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Lessons 13 – 19, pp.272 - 356

Themes

• Reading the newspaper
• Ordinal numbers
• At a party
• In the bookshop
• Body parts and organs
• Colors
• The diary
• The family
• Around the zoo

Grammar

• Weak verbs (קל – Kal) in past tense
• Definiteness of the construct state
• Conjugations of the preposition ...ל (To)
• Construct states as the objects of the sentence /the second noun is the proper noun
• Possessive sentences( ישYesh / אין Eyin le...)
• Basic stem – Paal conjugation, strong verb type, past tense
• Conjugation of the preposition – Shel של...
• The use of the verb - To need

Cultural content

• Places around the Sea of Galilee
• The Jews of Ethiopia
• The Jewish wedding
• The Dead Sea Scrolls
• Different types of Israeli family lives

Skills Work

• Writing a short story
• Dialogue forming
• Describing - Oral and in writing
• Role play

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Lessons 20 – 28, pp.357- End

Themes

• Advertising in Hebrew
• Directions around town – Maps and routes
• Clothing
• Masculine and feminine numbers100 – 1000
• At the police station
• Can / Can’t

Grammar

• The conjugation of the preposition Et – את
• Object clauses – indirect speech
• Can –infinitive verb +יכול
• Past tense nominal sentences
• Consequence sentences
• Conjugation of Paal ל'ה– verb type – past tense
• Have / had / was / were- היה in the past
• Conjugation of פיעל and התפעל strong verb – past tense
• Impersonal phrases with infinitive verbs
• Conjugation of the preposition With – עם

Cultural content

• Nature in Israel and its relation to biblical mentioning
• Clothes in Israel of the 20’s and 30’s
• The history of the Jewish community in Spain
• Celebrating Hanukah
• Religion and tradition in Israeli society
• The revive of the Hebrew language - Eliyezer Ben Yehuda

Skills Work

• Giving and understanding directions
• Writing a descriptive letter
• Pronunciation practice
• Role play of consequence question / answers
• Writing riddles

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part B.
Lessons 1 – 4, pp.1 - 108

Themes

• Poets and poetry
• Seasons and weather
• The horoscope
• On the phone

Grammar

• Habitual action הייתי, היינו וכיוב...
• Impersonal sentences היה/יהיה כדאי
• Nominal sentences in the future
• Dual form
• Possessive (‘have’) sentences – Future
• Foreign words in Hebrew
• Relative clause
• Imperative and Negative Imperative
• Conjugation of the prepositions: because –/בגלל / from –...מן מ...

Cultural content

• The Jewish calendar
• The kibbutz
• The Israeli flag
• Jewish art in Jerusalem and Tzfat
• The after life and messiah concept in Judaism

Skills Work

• Writing an ad
• Role play – wishes for the future
• Writing signs
• Using a Hebrew dictionary

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Lessons 5 – 10, pp.109 - 242

Themes

• University study options
• Traveling around the world
• The encyclopaedia and similar sources
• Culture, beliefs and values
• Feelings and emotions
• The family
• The Modern Hebrew song

Grammar

• Suffixes of a noun in feminine form
• Future conjugation of Strong verb – Paal – / יפעול/ Guttural פ’הפ/ פ’הע
• Conjugation of the preposition ‘For’ – בשביל ‘Like’ – כמו
• The conditional (Real condition)
• Temporal time clause
• Verbs in Piel פיעל in future form
• The verb To Be להיות in future tense
• Verbs in Paal, future time גזרת לה’/ ל'י
• Verbs in the Subjunctive
• Final Adverbs and Clauses
• Passive Participle

Cultural content

• The history of the Hebrew Alphabet
• Yad Vashem – The research and museum for holocaust studies
• The life of Janus Korchack
• Stories from The book of Genesis

Skills Work

• Oral and written landscape description
• Writing commercial ads
• Expressing feelings

Course Book – Hebrew From The Beginning, Part A.
Lessons 11 – 16, pp.244 - End

Themes

• Humans and animals
• Morals and physiology
• War and peace
• Waiting in a queue
• On the news

Grammar

• Strong verbs in Nifal – in נפעל infinitive, past, present and future
• Conjugation of the preposition El – ,אל
• Noun declension
• Nouns + possessive suffixes
• Summary of prepositions conjugation
• Concessive conjugation and concessive clause
• Verbs in Piel גזרת י'ל past, present and future
• The conditional (unreal condition)
• Gerund in construct state and plural

Cultural content

• Masada and the Romans
• Manners and behaviors in Israeli society
• Celebrating Hanukah
• The origins of Hebrew words in the bible

Skills Work

• Writing a news piece
• Writing a film script
• Greetings and congratulations