The Ulpan: Rigorous Foreign Language Training

For those of you who did not know, this is my basic timeline for my time in Israel:

1. From when I arrived, and for another week onward, I have been participating in the University of Haifa's "Ulpan" program, which is an intensive foreign language course. The International School has also planned trips once or twice a week for the Ulpan participants.
2. Then, I have a break between the Ulpan and the semester. The intention is to use this break to travel. I have tentative plans to go to Greece for a few days, Turkey for about a week, and some parts of Europe for longer.
3. Finally, after the high holidays and Sukkot have passed, the semester will start. This will be a normal semester.

As mentioned, I am currently in stage 1: The Ulpan. My scarce amount of updates to this blog have been due to the whirlwind of activity given to me by the Ulpan. I will, however, work hard in an effort to get you all the important stories and details of this first month in Israel.

I am busy primarily for academic reasons. The Ulpan attempts to fit an entire semester of Hebrew into 4 weeks, which is a very ambitious idea. Four days a week, I am at class from 8:30 AM to 1 PM. I have a 30 minute break at 10 and a 10 minute break at 11:50. This is Monday through Thursday. Sunday, I am at school for the same amount of time -- just an hour later: 9:30 to 2.

The Ulpan programs in Israel have received much acclaim, and they are almost definitely some of the most effective fast methods to learn a foreign language that are offered. That isn't to say it is perfect, though. Four weeks of super intense learning is clearly no substitute of a full semester combined with practice. The largest academic downside I have encountered has been the time I have to practice. Normally, I would study much more per hour of class than I have been doing during the Ulpan. I simply do not have much time here. Unless I want to render myself without a social life to learn Hebrew, it is hard to keep up like I should.

That has helped me with some other things, though. My study habits are improving some, I think. At least, when I do homework I try to learn the entire homework beyond how it encompasses the lesson of the day -- it is a time saver, and I think I will be glad of this when I return to normal-semester speed.

I have kept up with the grammer pretty well; that has always been an odd strongsuit of mine (although on the last test I made some stupid grammar mistakes). The vocabulary has been much harder to keep up. Always more of a memory game, vocabulary is something that will only come to me with more practice - something that is much easier for me to do during a regular semester.

I have been asked if I am conversant in Hebrew yet, and the answer is a definite "no." I think that will only come with more time and practice, something of which the the Ulpan can only offer so much, especially because all the Israeli students I hope to interact with later this year are still on summer break. That said, though; I now have a firm grasp of active and reflexive verbs in all three basic tenses; past, present, and future. My knowledge of the future tense was limited when I came here, and I feel one must have confidence in all three basic tenses before conversation can thrive. I now have achieved that basic requirement.

Despite its downsides, the Ulpan is definitely worth the time and money. I'll be a strong step ahead by the end of it, and it is a good setup for the real Hebrew practice that I will more often encounter when I immerse myself more with Israelis during a normal school term.