Mitkadem: Our Hebrew Curriculum
What is Mitkadem?
Mitkadem offers a new approach to teaching and learning Hebrew and prayer by building on the positive commitment parents have made by enrolling their children in our school. Mitkadem’s self-paced and child-centered approach allows each student to achieve according to his/her own ability, so learning challenged students and frequent absentees feel successful as well as those students who are very motivated and catch on quickly. (From http://www.urj.org/learning/teacheducate/hebrew/mitkadem/)
Mitkadem at Temple Isaiah
The Mitkadem program consists of twenty-three Ramot (levels) that introduce letters and vowels, prayers from the worship service, Jewish concepts, basic grammar, and vocabulary. The first two ramot develop reading skills and ritual vocabulary. Ramah 1 is a pre-primer, focusing on Hebrew reading readiness through letter recognition. Ramah 2 is a primer, teaching Hebrew letters, vowels, and the blending of letters and vowels to form syllables and words. At Temple Isaiah our students will not do Ramot 1 & 2. Rather, they will learn Hebrew letters & vowels using a program called Aleph Bet Quest (published by Behrman House).
At Temple Isaiah, Mitkadem begins with Ramah 3. In Ramah 3, Mitkadem becomes a self-paced, self-directed Hebrew learning program. Ramah 3 is the m’chinah or preparatory ramah that introduces students to the Mitkadem system. Each subsequent ramah covers a particular prayer or family of prayers that share a theme. As students successfully complete a ramah (and pass both an oral and written test), they advance to the next. Rather than traditional textbooks, every ramah includes a number of pamphlets with activities divided into five sections.
What is the Content in Each Ramah (Level)?
Ramah 3 is an introduction to the ramah format. It teaches the students how to navigate the next 20 ramot and introduces the essential grammatical structures of roots, prefixes and suffixes.
Ramot 4 through 23: Each ramah presents a single prayer or group of prayers and continues to develop the students’ abilities to read and understand the Hebrew language of prayer. Each ramah is structured in the same way so that students will become familiar with the system very quickly. Before beginning the work of the ramah, the student receives a brit/contract outlining the requirements to pass the ramah. The brit explains to the student what activities are required and which activities they have the options to choose (it says “review”). As the student completes each of the five components of the ramah, a teacher, tutor, or aide signs the contract, showing that the student successfully completed the work. After completing the required work for the ramah, the student completes a written assessment and a reading assessment before advancing to the next ramah.
There are five sections to each ramah:
Hakdamah – Introduction
Kri’ah – Reading
Otzar Milim—Vocabulary
Dikduk – Grammar
Divrei T’filah – Words about Prayer
Each section is a different color to assist the students in determining which section the activity is from.
Hakdamah/Introduction (blue)
Students always begin with this component that introduces the prayer or group of prayers. After completing this introductory section, the student works on the next four components in any order he or she chooses.
Kri’ah/Reading (orange/red)
In the reading component, students are guided to read alone or to read to a partner. There are accompanying CDs that help the student/s practice reading and chanting the prayer correctly.
Otzar Milim/Vocabulary (purple)
The vocabulary component teaches essential vocabulary and phrases associated with the prayer or group of prayers. It includes written and creative activities to reinforce the meaning and definitions.
Dikduk/Grammar (green)
The grammar component teaches roots, prefixes and suffixes that can be taught through the prayer. It includes written activities to reinforce the concepts.
Divrei T’filah/Words about Prayer (gold/olive green)
This component helps to make prayer relevant and meaningful to our children. It includes interesting questions and activities that encourage our students to participate in the prayers of Jewish holidays, ritual, life cycles, and traditions. In this section, students have a chance to investigate central themes of the prayer book and Jewish thought.