Today’s date: 8th of Iyyar, 5772 ח׳ באייר תשע״ב
23rd day of the Omer – כ״ג בעומר
As you can probably tell, I’ll be writing posts for learning Hebrew. And while you’re doing so, it would be very helpful to get a notebook and start writing your own book. No, I don’t mean a classroom ready language course. Just a simple notebook on how you’re going through your lessons, notes on your progress, things you discovered in that “Aha!” moment, or just to practice your writing skills.
It doesn’t matter what type or size of the notebook. Find one you’re comfortable with and always keep it with your language learning materials, or when you’re reading my posts. If you’re going to a class, then by all means take it to class with you. What you’re doing is creating your own personal extension to the course you’re learning from.
Write On A Regular Basis.
You don’t have to write something every day. But make sure your notebook is with you whenever you sit down with your lessons. Use it to record your Hebrew learning experiences and what you are learning from them. There are many things you can write in your notebook, for example:
- Your goals and objectives: Why are you learning Hebrew – for work or for travel? What do you wish to accomplish when you’ve finished your studies?
- New words or expressions you have learned or want to learn.
- Words that require looking up in a dictionary.
- Grammar rules you have learned – if they seem too complicated to understand, see if you can rewrite them in a way that’s more clear and understandable along with any examples to see how that rule is used.
- Any notes about conversations with other students or native speakers you’ve had in Hebrew.
- Summaries of what you read in Hebrew, whether it’s from your lessons or online.
- A record of the errors you want to work on
- Comments on learning strategies you have used successfully, or any strategies that may not work as well.
Like a linguistic map, this notebook keeps track of your learning progress so you can use it as a reference tool anytime in the future. I have about fifteen notebooks in my office filled with notes, scribblings and ideas going back about twenty seven years to the days when I started learning Hebrew (the pic on the left shows a page where I was practicing new vocabulary). I still go through them once in a while when I need to refresh my memory on a certain point, or just to see how I’ve progressed –I’m still adding something I found that I may need.
So don’t think that you’re always stuck with the explanations or charts in the books and courses. Be creative and write your own personal book or course in a way that you will understand. And don’t be afraid to fill up the whole page. It will help you on your linguistic path.
