Modern Hebrew for Beginners?which is now revised and updated?and Modern Hebrew for Intermediate
Students are the core of a multimedia program for the college-level Hebrew classroom developed
at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 2000s. Within an intensive framework of
instruction that assumes six weekly hours in the classroom the program provides for two
semesters of instruction at the end of which most successful students will reach the
intermediate-mid or intermediate-high levels of proficiency in speaking and reading and some
will reach advanced-low proficiency as defined by the American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In addition to a variety of written exercises the workbook includes
vocabulary lists reading selections discussions of cultural topics illustrations of grammar
points notes on registers suggestions for class and individual activities and glossaries.
The workbook is complemented by a website (http: www.laits.utexas.edu hebrew) that provides
short video segments originally scripted and filmed in IL and the US vocabulary flashcards
with sound interactive exercises on topics included in the workbook sound files parallel to
the reading selections in the workbook and additional materials that enhance the learning
experience. The stability of the workbook combined with the dynamic nature of the website and
the internet searches the students are directed to conduct allows language instructors to
reshape the curriculum and adapt it to the needs of their students and the goals of their
programs.
