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People of the Book learn ESL at Geula home-learning store

Posted on September 17, 2007 • By Gil Zohar
Category: Art and Culture, Featured |

In a sure sign of Jerusalem’s changing economic and demographic reality, a new self-learning center for English as a Second Language opened recently in Geula – the first such business in the country catering to haredim (ultra Orthodox) seeking to master the lingua franca of the modern world, and thus increase their employment and earning potential.

The curriculum at Self Access English Learning Center, located at 16 Malchei Israel Street in the heart of Geula, has been designed to meet the cultural sensitivities of the Ultra-Orthodox, says the business’s founder Laurin Lewis. Lewis is a veteran ESL educator at the Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev) originally from Los Angeles who immigrated to Israel in 1984.

“I discovered there were special needs for haredi clients,” he begins. “No women dressed immodestly, and no mixed beach scenes.”

And no dinosaurs – which allude to evolution, he adds.

“Members of Israel’s haredi community are beginning to recognize the importance of English as the language of commerce, computing and even marriage,” he continues. “If they were not taught in school, they are looking for ways to catch up at home, to teach their children without fear of introducing inappropriate content.”

The 118-lesson English 4 Students software that Lewis created is suitable for beginners and caters to those seeking an English language exemption at the post-secondary level. Based on materials originally developed in the 1970s by Leslie A. Hill, an internationally known English Language Teaching expert from Britain, Lewis modified the texts and illustrations to ensure there was no taboo material.

The result is a 4,000-word kosher curriculum taught on CD-ROMs, or CDs for those who don’t have a home computer. There is no need for an Internet hookup – something many haredi homes eschew. As well, Lewis sells a textbook by Menachem Moshkovitz-Mashak that teaches Hebrew readers the Roman alphabet.

Lewis’ software utilizes visual mnemonics to emphasize new vocabulary. Thus an illustration shows a bear falling into a well, which in Hebrew is be’er.

“It changes lives,” he says of his home-learning products.

Why don’t haredim learn English or other modern languages?

Lewis explains that during the British Mandate, Rabbi Yeshua Leib Diskin imposed a herem (halachic prohibition) on learning foreign languages apart from Hebrew and Aramaic – the languages of the Bible and Talmud. The various yeshivot at which male haredi youth study emphasize traditional Torah studies to the neglect of modern curriculum including English and mathematics.

When students graduate ill-equipped for the work force, even if they don’t observe Rabbi Diskin’s edict, they may feel uncomfortable studying English in places where men and women sit together, or the curriculum is considered too risqué.

Another factor is that students at the girls-only Bais Ya’acov school system do study English, placing their potential mates at a linguistic loss.

Over the last two years Lewis has sold more than 10,000 copies of his ESL software. Apart from his new store in Geula, he sells the CD-ROMs at booths in shopping malls. It is also available at Office Depot where it retails for NIS 119.

“There’s practically no profession that you can learn that doesn’t require some English,” Lewis notes. “Without knowing English in the business or technical world, a person is very limited.”

It’s a dawning realization for a growing number of Jerusalem’s haredim.

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