Kochavim kids sing their way to Hebrew fluency

By Jenn Director Knudsen

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While many preschoolers and early grade-school students' favorite word may be "no," Adin Biederman's is "yes." Actually, it's "ken," Hebrew for the affirmative.

He, and his folks, have Kochavim to thank for that.

"It's fun because you color stuff and you learn more and more Hebrew as you go," said Adin, nearly 6, of Kochavim, an after-school Hebrew immersion-style program wrapping up its first year.

Ken indeed is one of the words he likes most, confirms mom, Carol Biederman, 47.

"They started out using single words with the kids," she added, regarding the teachers' work at the beginning of the school year. "They can now read stories in partial Hebrew. He's like a sponge, because he can absorb it and learn it."

With its first academic year under its belt, Kochavim has reached, if not surpassed, its initial goal, say Director Mel Berwin and Amy Katz, one of the program's co-founders.

"We knew people would register; we didn't know how much they'd learn," said Katz, 36, who holds a master's in Jewish education and whose two children, 5 and 3, participate in the program.

Kochavim ("stars" in Hebrew), for pre-kindergarten students to 7-year-olds, and its cohort, Notz'tzim ("sparkles"), for infants through 4-year-olds, meet two afternoons a week and are play-based, modern-Hebrew immersion-style programs. Notz'tzim is a Hebrew-language hybrid between Music Together and Gymboree, which requires parent participation.

Nearly 20 kids got turned on to Hebrew language through Kochavim and about 30 families participate in Notz'tzim.

Two weeks ago, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland awarded Kochavim and Notz'tzim a $7,500 Innovation Grant. Berwin said the money will go toward scholarships and curriculum development.

Begun six years ago as a project out of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, Hebrew immersion programs were brought into preschools and at first met with skeptical parents, according to Rabbi Steven M. Brown, Ed.D., dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTSA in New York.

But quickly it became apparent?through research and simply observing kids' spongelike qualities with a second language?that young children rapidly pick up languages. And, years later, they often have higher IQs than monolingual children, Brown said in a phone interview from JTSA.

Before JTSA's push, very few Hebrew immersion-style programs existed in this country, Brown said. Today there are more than 1,000 children nationwide learning Hebrew in an atmosphere like that in Kochavim and Notz'tzim.

The idea for the programs here in Portland germinated for about a year within the minds of co-founders Berwin, Katz, Levia Friedman and Holly Litwin before it was planted in a few available classrooms at Congregation Neveh Shalom.

Kochavim and Notz'tzim were to run out of Berwin's home, but after Neveh's Executive Director Fred Rothstein caught wind of the programs' idea and business plan, he proposed housing "this fabulous and innovative venture" at the synagogue, Rothstein said.

Despite its location, the course's founders make it very clear in conversation and in curriculum literature that Kochavim and Notz'tzim are open to the entire Jewish community, regardless affiliation.

Berwin said participants come from families Reform through Orthodox. No prior Hebrew-language knowledge is required.

Berwin, a Neveh member and mother of Lev Weingrad, 5, Nava Weingrad, 3, and with a third on the way, said the co-founders all are moms of young children and Jewish educators by academic background and training. Each wanted something more for their children in this city.

Programs like Kochavim and Notz'tzim "were not on the menu here," said Berwin, 35, who holds a master's in lifelong learning and a certificate in Jewish education from the Melton Center in Jerusalem.

"And this was it," she continued in a recent interview, "a fun and creative modern-Hebrew program." Its teachers include native speakers and Jewish educators fluent in Hebrew.

Kids are having such fun and parents are so pleased with the program that Berwin proposed adding a curriculum geared toward students 8 year of age and up.

Katz next fall will teach an intensive Hebrew-language course to third- and fourth-grader Neveh members who qualify for it. The new track within Neveh's Hebrew School will be overseen by Susan Bernstein, director of youth education at Neveh.

Why the emphasis on Hebrew fluency? That's simple, say Berwin and Katz: Language proficiency is the most important building block for any level of Jewish involvement and identification.

Furthermore, Berwin says she's spent enough time as an adult educator to see that difficulty with Hebrew "is by far the biggest obstacle to feeling at home in Judaism."

With a Hebrew foundation that starts in Notz'tzim, Kochavim and beyond, these kids will learn prayers and actually know what they mean and go to Israel and comfortably talk to people, Berwin said.

Adin, the enthusiastic yes-man, finds Kochavim more fun than morning kindergarten, said his mother. He's loved learning his colors in Hebrew via art projects and the Alef-Bet through using his own body to form the letters.

Neveh member Katz said her children, Eli, 3, and Mira, 5, now "switch into Hebrew without even noticing it. My kids will go and speak to other kids on the street in Hebrew and won't get why they're not being understood."

Two of Richard Meyer's three children attend Kochavim and Notz'tzim; he participates with his youngest, Orly, 4, in the latter. "We have a great time singing the songs," Meyer, 41, also a Neveh member, said.

Hopefully he won't tire of them anytime soon.

"The Notz'tzim CD is the most requested music in our car these days," he said.