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Hebrew is elementary at Youngstown's Akiva Academy
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Lexi Burdman, a sixth-grader at Akiva Academy, shows off Rosetta Stone’s Hebrew language program. The school is using the program to supplement Hebrew instruction.
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
By using the Rosetta Stone program, Akiva Academy sixth- grader Alexander Smith, 12, may work on Hebrew at his own pace.
“It’s supposed to be one of the easiest [languages], but I struggle,” he said.
Using the program, though, lets him focus on areas that give him difficulty.
Sixth- and seventh- graders at the school began using Rosetta online about a month ago with plans for fourth- and fifth-graders to begin using it soon.
Susan Schonberger, Judaic studies and financial coordinator at the school, said Rosetta Stone augments the Hebrew instruction students get in class.
“It doesn’t replace teacher instruction,” she said. “It supplements what the teachers are teaching in class.”
The school brings in native Israeli speakers in the United States for a two- or three-year rotation to teach Hebrew.
Akiva students begin learning Hebrew in kindergarten.
The school’s enrollment nearly doubled this year, and many of those children had no exposure to Hebrew before coming to Akiva. By using Rosetta Stone, teachers may work with smaller groups of students, offering more help to those who need it.
Schonberger said Rosetta Stone provides language immersion for the students. There’s no English language instruction or explanation. Students must figure out for themselves how to answer the questions.
Students may practice pronunciation and match words with corresponding pictures and because it’s Web-based, they can work on it at home.
Lexi Burdman, 11, a sixth-grader, wore her headphones in Akiva’s computer lab, working on her Hebrew. She got all answers correct.
Lexi said she works on the program at home, too.
Sixth-grader Cameron Sperling, 12, likes working with Rosetta Stone.
“It’s more like individual learning,” he said. “We go at our own pace.”