[etni] immigrant teacher courses--opportunity for change??

From: Cecile Hadassah Nadav <hadassahn@xxxxxxxxx>
To: etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:32:12 +0200
While the recent elimination of the department for morim olim has
certainly made many English teachers (and other immigrant teachers)
feel undervalued, perhaps this cloud has a silver lining. One of the
roles of this department was administering licensing courses for new
immigrant teachers. I'm sure that many of you who received your
teacher's training abroad took these courses post-aliyah. I have yet
to meet any English teacher who thought that these courses, apart from
being mildly interesting, helped them become a better teacher. I think
that the licensing procedure needs to be reformed, and that the window
of opportunity is NOW.

As a certified teacher with an M.Ed, when I made aliyah from the U.S.
5 years ago and was told by the MOE that in order to teach I had to
take a year's worth of courses in Hebrew that had NOTHING to do with
teaching English, I balked. Having spent 7 years getting my B.A.,
teaching certification, and M.Ed, I felt that another year of studying
Hebrew subjects in order to be able to teach English was a bit much. A
year is a long time to spend studying something that you don't need.
Discouraged, I soon learned that I could in fact get a job teaching
English, but I would simply be paid substantially less and have less
job security without an Israeli license. Does my story sound familiar?

If I had wanted to be a history, literature, or civics teacher, I
could see the need to take courses in Israeli history, Tanach,
literature, civics, etc. The idea is for the immigrant teacher to have
the same educational background as their Israeli students and
colleagues. But the fact is that I, like the vast majority of
English-speaking immigrant teachers, am teaching English, which means
not only the language but also Anglo-culture, not Israeli culture. I
don't need to know what is taught in these courses to do my job (okay,
I did have to learn who the Israeli pop stars are who appear in the
ECB books). Please understand, I'm not against learning about the
country I call home. To be honest, I think that the study of Israeli
history and civics should be part of the absorption process for all
new immigrants, not just teachers (perhaps it should be part of the
ulpan curriculum). But I don't think my salary and tenure as an
English teacher should depend on it.

If I were required instead to take courses in EFL methodology, I would
have no quarrel, because they would help me adapt my teaching skills
to teaching English and, unlike the licensing courses, actually make
me a better English teacher! As things stand now (as far as I know)
immigrant English teachers who want to gain these skills can't even
get gmulim for the hishtalmiot that they take without an Israeli
license.

I've spent the past 4 years successfully teaching English here without
an Israeli license, learning as I go, and debating every year whether
it's worth the time and effort to go against my principles and take
these courses (especially since I live in the Golan, and would most
likely have to travel back and forth to Jerusalem for a year to take
them). In the meantime, I could have been making about a thousand
shekels more per month if I had the license. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Now that the department for immigrant teachers has been eliminated,
and the courses have been, for the meantime, put on hold, perhaps this
is a golden opportunity to rethink the licensing process, at least for
English-speaking immigrant teachers.

I propose that all immigrant teachers be required to take an education
ulpan (doctors have medical ulpan, right?) and a course on the culture
of Israeli schools. The rest of the courses should be determined by
the Inspectorates for the subject they wish to teach. Those teachers
who want to teach English should be required to take courses that
would be developed by the English Inspectorate, such as EFL
methodology courses, a course about the English curriculum, a course
on teaching literature, etc. I know that these are all things that
would have made my transition to teaching in Israel much easier. If
the MOE adopted this licensing policy, I'm sure it would attract and
retain a much larger number of qualified native-speaking English
teachers.

Maybe the licensing process for immigrant teachers will die at the
hand of budget cuts, the same way as the department of morim olim. But
if not, I think we should fight for a licensing process which will
produce teachers who will be better prepared to deal with the reality
of teaching English in Israel (how many teachers do you know who tried
teaching English here and dropped out??)

I want to approach the English Inspectorate and Nefesh B'Nefesh (the
aliyah organization which currently has the most influence on
government policy regarding immigrant absorption) to get their support
in this matter (Nefesh B'Nefesh recently succeeded in organizing
re-training courses through the MOE for English-speaking olim who want
to be English teachers. I don't see any reason why certified teachers
shouldn't be offered similar specialized courses in order to be
licensed here). But first I wanted to get feedback from my fellow
immigrant teachers. Please let me know what you think!

Sincerely,

Hadassah Nadav


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[etni] immigrant teacher courses--opportunity for change??

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