This month we introduce you to one of our flagship programs, Yihyeh B'seder (it will be alright). This is the name of Givat Haviva's Hebrew Language Enrichment Program for Arab Schools (HLE). The program has been running for four years, with the goal of enhancing the students' abilities to pursue higher education and high-quality careers within Israel. Native Hebrew-speaking Jewish instructors teach weekly classes in spoken Hebrew and Hebrew culture in Arab middle schools.
These teachers do much more than help students improve their Hebrew language skills - they enable them to encounter Jewish society which they are often not exposed to.
These lessons focus on culture, current events and everyday life. Combining classroom teaching and online lessons, HLE strengthens the students' conversational and comprehension skills as well as their familiarity with navigating an online environment. Beyond an enriched curriculum, HLE is starting the process of cultural understanding essential to enabling a shared society.
Over 68% of participants report that their HLE teacher was the first Jew with whom they had a meaningful encounter. And more than 92% indicated that the relationship improved how they view Jews.
HLE began in the 2014-2015 school year in 83 classes in 11 schools.This year, the program will serve 651 classes in 58 schools, with 45 instructors. The Israeli Ministry of Education has begun to work with HLE with the goal of expanding the program to all relevant Arab middle schools throughout Israel - a total of
3,459 classes and 373 schools
.
