|
|
March 11, 2005/Adar I 30 5765, Volume 57, No. 28
Israel schools teach Arabic; students receptive
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
"Suppose we meet an Arab and he wants to kill us. We can say that we, too, are Arabs," said 11-year-old Shakked Petter, explaining why she wanted to learn Arabic.
Well, "wanted" may not be exactly the right word.
The study of Arabic actually was imposed on Shakked and her fifth-grade classmates at the Herzl elementary school in Haifa.
Against all odds, some grown-ups decided to launch an experimental project that eventually could create a cultural revolution. They want to expose the next generation of Israelis to the language of their next-door neighbors.
Sixteen schools in Haifa and Carmiel adopted the project about a month ago. It marks the first time in the State of Israel's educational history that the study of Arabic will be compulsory for fifth- and sixth-graders.
Now only seventh- through ninth-graders are required to study Arabic, though that requirement is not widely enforced.
At first students at the Herzl school were suspicious, but now many seem to like their new class.
"It is important that we can talk to Arab children in their own language," said student Daniel Sharmet. "We need to be able to communicate to each other. They know Hebrew better than we know Arabic."
His friend Nir Adi agreed. "We live together and we share the same country."
Haifa was chosen for the experiment because of its relatively high Arab population - 22,000 of its 272,000 residents are Arab. Carmiel was chosen because it is close to many Arab villages in the Galilee.
"I believe it is highly important to study Arabic and I have put it high on the priority list," said Herzl's principal, Nava Landman. "There is no doubt in my mind the study of Arabic is a precondition for peace."
The project is a joint venture of the Ministry of Education, the municipalities of Haifa and Carmiel, and the Abraham Fund Initiatives, an organization that promotes coexistence programs and chipped in a third of the cost, with an additional investment of some $100,000.
Although Arabic is Israel's second official language, the mother tongue of Israel's one million Arab citizens and millions of its neighbors, very few young Israeli Jews actually learn the language.
Until 1967, when overnight Israel controlled vast Arab territories, only a small number of Israelis studied Arabic and the history of the Middle East.
Interest grew stronger after the 1967 Six-Day War, but the study of Arabic is still sporadic.
In her class at the Herzl school, teacher Miri Ohaion was energetic and forceful, prodding the fifth-graders into speaking a language that could have been Sanskrit to them only two weeks earlier.
"Marhaba," Ohaion greeted her students, using the traditional Arabic greeting. She made them memorize "my name is" and "your name is" in both feminine and masculine forms, and then distributed labels with words in Hebrew and Arabic. The students were surprised to realize how similar the two languages are.
"It is easy to learn the language," said student Barak Solomon. "So many words in Hebrew and Arabic sound alike."
|
|
