Ehud Har Even

Har Even
Assistant Instructional Professor
Pick Hall 307
MS, Tel Aviv University, 2005

The Hebrew language plays an important role in my life: It is the anchor of my belonging to the Israeli-Jewish society and a critical component of my Jewish-Israeli identity. For me, teaching Hebrew is a means of connecting to culture, history, family, Israel, new friends and new academic fields. Studying and exploring other foreign languages and cultures (English, Arabic, German, some French and a little Persian) is one of my great passions. Nonetheless, my deepest personal commitment and dedication is to teaching Modern Hebrew. 

I have been teaching modern Hebrew in a wide variety of academic settings in the U.S.A (University of Michigan) and Israel (Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University; Overseas Student School at Tel Aviv University; Shenkar College of Engineering and Design and the best Ulpanim (Hebrew schools) in Tel Aviv).

Heavily based on active listening and speaking practice, along with various print, video, and web-based media, my courses introduce not only the Hebrew language, but also many aspects of the diverse Israeli culture. In the classroom, I encourage students to take more risks in using the language and to maximize their opportunity to effectively experience the language. I follow the inverted classroom model as much as possible, whereby students can practice and benefit most from activating Hebrew during classes. 

I have extensive experience in teaching all levels of Hebrew—from beginning to advanced—to students of different ages and diverse backgrounds. I recognize and comply with different students’ needs by developing new materials and lesson plans, thus promoting my students’ learning. Either by traditional or more innovative methods, I make extensive use of active learning methods: portfolio works; creating webinars; multimedia tools and games; actual  materials such as songs, advertisements, videos, and websites. 

Being an avid student myself, I am aware of the need to continually refine my approach as a teacher, while striving to develop an engaging yet challenging collaborative program that encourages students’ abilities and interests. Therefore, students’ feedback is highly encouraged. I do my best not only to rely on the traditional teaching evaluations at the end of any term, but to hold a continuing dialogue during the term to set mutual expectations in the classroom. 

I hope you will join me in the journey of learning the language of the Hebrew wo/man

Subject Area: Modern Hebrew Language Program