Lesson 1
 The Hebrew Alphabet
Overview | Syllabus | Suggested Study Plan |  Language Lab 


Be sure to read About Learning Hebrew before beginning the lessons!

Resources used in this lesson:
HT: chapter 1
Optional reading: WG: A-B, pp. 1-4.

Lesson Objectives:
  1. To recognize and name all letters of the Hebrew alphabet in the correct order and direction.
  2. To recognize, name, and explain the significance of the BeGaDKePHaT letters.
  3. To recognize and name the guttural letters.

What to do
1) Do the Learn menu in HT. You may exclude the optional sections mentioned in the step-by-step Study Plan.

You will be tested solely on the objectives above under Lesson Objectives, which correspond to Chapter Objectives 5 and 6 in Hebrew Tutor.

NOTE: HT and WG spell the names of the Hebrew letters a little differently, though they would pronounce them the same. Go to §A of WG. Under the column labeled transliteration, notice the letters in parentheses. These are alternative forms of transliterating the spirant letters b (), g (), etc. (see footnote a in WG). HT uses th where WG uses t and ph where WG uses p. Otherwise, they use the same symbols for the Hebrew letters.

2) Go over the Webnotes, lesson 1

3)Do all drills and exercises in chap. 1 of Hebrew Tutor (skip the Reading exercises if you wish).

4) Move on to the Quiz 1 Prep sheet. Prepare for and take Quiz 1.


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Overview | Syllabus | Suggested Study Plan |  Language Lab 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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, but your are strongly encouraged to finsih it in 4 months.

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 will not be 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 8-12 months, your chances of succeeding are not good.

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Spirant letters (from the Latin spiro, to breathe or blow) are those where we keep breathing while we pronounce them, like the English "f" or "v.". In Hebrew, the soft version of the BeGaDKePHaT letters are pronounced with breath escaping the mouth for the duration of the letter (e.g., bet [hard] vs. vet [soft] ).

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