How
does the course work?
Once you sign
up for the course, you select
your proctor, order the course materials, and receive
a welcome e-mail from the online instructor. This e-mail contains the URL's
for the course, passwords, and some instructions. The course is self-paced.
You have up to six months to finish, but are strongly encouraged to finish
in 4 months (see more below, under Course
schedule).
There are
weekly or biweekly quizzes, depending on whether you choose the 15
week or 25 week
course schedule. These quizzes
directly reflect the module and chapter objectives, including vocabulary.
All quizzes are online and are taken on the honor system.
There are
5 exams. They too directly reflect the module and chapter objectives,
including vocabulary. Exams also assess your translation and other higher-level
skills. Translation will increasingly become a bigger part of the exams,
until 50% of the points on the final exam come from translation.
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What
are the computer requirements?
In a nutshell, you need a CD ROM capable PC (at least Pentium I or equivalent)
with a sound card, Internet Explorer 5.x, and an Internet connection.
The
course can be done on a Macintosh, but it is not recommended: the
Hebrew Tutor® CD, which is major part of the course,
is PC only.
For more details, see our Computer
Requirements page.
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What
is Hebrew like?
Welcome! We are glad you're considering taking Hebrew online with
RTS Virtual, even if you are a little nervous about it. Unless you have
an extremely unusual background, Hebrew is unlike anything
you've ever studied before. That can be good news, and that can be bad
news. First, the bad news.
The
bad news
The bad news is that —especially initially — there are
some barriers that must be overcome. The alphabet can be pretty intimidating.
And, go figure...... you read it backwards!!! (Though that's what the
people in Israel and the Arabic-speaking world would say about us!!!!)
Also, some of the letters look almost the same. And some letters have
a different form when they occur at the end of the word. Then there's
the vowels.... well, they're mostly just dots and squiggles under or over
the word!
Another
hard part about Hebrew is the vocabulary. Almost 100% of the vocabulary
words you'll learn for Hebrew will have no similarities to English whatsoever.
That means you've got to spend a lot of time just learning
new words.
Finally,
since Hebrew is not in the same language family as English (while Spanish,
French, German, Greek, and even Russian are), sometimes it's really hard
to get the flow of the language. It just does things so differently —
in ways that we would never dream of! There will be times when you know
every word in front of you, but you're not quite sure how they all fit
together.
The
good news
The good news is, well, for one —it's not Greek (or German!)!
There are no case endings for nouns, no real "declensions" to
speak of, there are relatively few prepositions and particles, there are
no "principal parts" (Yea!!!!), the word order is more fixed,
and there are only 2 verb tenses (Yea!!!!!). So, your Greek grade is probably
of little value in predicting how well you'll do in Hebrew. Some people
find Hebrew easier than Greek. It's less complicated and detailed. And,
besides the vocabulary words, there's much less memorization.
Hebrew
is a beautiful language! And it paints pictures. A common way to say that
someone got angry is to say that his face got hot. And in spite
of its being relatively simple in its structure, Hebrew is powerful in
its subtleties of contrast, parallelism, and word play. And Hebrew poetry
may well be unsurpassed in its beauty and subtle power. Reading the Psalms
and other poetry in Hebrew is a wonderful experience!
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Is
it comparable to being on campus?
Yes and no. The syllabus
used in online Hebrew I closely follows the
one used by Dr. Richard Belcher, the Hebrew professor on the Charlotte
campus of RTS. Dr. Belcher has assisted with the content of the course
and given input into the exams and quizzes. We cover the same amount of
material online as he does on campus. But there are differences:
|
Difference
|
Charlotte Campus
|
Virtual Campus
|
Advantage /
Disadvantage of
online Hebrew
|
|
time
limit
|
15 weeks
|
15
weeks (up to 6 mos )
|
work
at your own pace;
less accountability
|
|
class
meeting times
|
once
a week - 3 hrs |
"class"
meets when YOU want |
set
your own schedule; no "drive time";
no regular accountability and personal contact |
|
primary
source of info
|
class
lecture and textbook
|
interactive
CD ROM, textbook, interactive and static web pages
|
course built with learning at home in mind;
no face to face contact with instructor
|
|
learning
environment
|
classroom
with other students |
wherever
you choose |
comfort,
convenience, moves at your pace;
no face to face contact with fellow students |
|
feedback
from instructor
|
once
a week in person; other times when convenient; e-mail |
e-mail;
request a phone call; biweekly calls from instructor |
since
there is no class time, student feedback is RTS's #1 priority;
no face to face contact |
|
quizzes
and tests
|
taken
in class; fixed schedule; usually receive your grade a week later |
taken
at your convenience, YOU and your proctor choose time and location;
online quizzes (honor system) are self-grading; online exams usually
graded within 24 hrs. |
flexibility;
online helps and practice exams; prompt feedback;
professor often present for clarification |
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About
Learning Hebrew
Learning
any new language must be done intentionally, deliberately, and methodically.
This will not be accomplished without a long-term commitment to
regular, concentrated periods with the material. Lengthy periods
are not necessary, but they must be frequent, regular,
and over a prolonged period of time.
It
is very, very easy to miscalculate the time required to learn Hebrew.
The RTS Virtual Campus allows you 6 months to complete Hebrew I.
There are
two areas of language learning that require study time: new material
and review material. There is flexibility in learning new
material. It can be done as often as several times a day to as infrequently
as twice a week. This aspect of language learning is similar to
other kinds of learning.
Reviewing
material, on the other hand, must happen daily, or at the very least,
every other day. Those who cannot spend a minimum of 30 minutes
per day, at least four days a week, reviewing previous material
have next to no chance of being successful learning Hebrew. All
new material soon becomes review material, adding more and more to the
review task.
If you cannot
give your Hebrew studies at least 30 minutes every other day for review,
and 1 hour at least three times a week for new material, keeping this
pace for 4-6 months, your chances of succeeding are not good.
Does
this learning format match your learning style? Are you up for the challenge
of learning to read the Old Testament in its original Hebrew? If so, browse
through the rest of this site and give us a call (1-800-227-2013).
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Course
schedule
Hebrew I is
a 3 credit hour course.
You can take up to 6 months
to finish Hebrew I. To finish on a faster track, follow the 15
Week Schedule. For
those who need more time, there is a 25
week schedule as well.
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How
do I sign up?
To sign up for RTS Virtual Online Hebrew I, call 800-227-2013 today.
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