Symphony in an Ulpan
As a new immigrant, I received five months of free Hebrew classes. The government routinely evaluated the ulpan system by sending a representative to sit in on a class. They wanted to know if they were getting their money’s worth. One sunny morning in late spring, the birds sang so sweetly I was listening to see if they would chirp in Hebrew. The soft spoken teacher rolled into class unusually excited and said,
“In two weeks, an inspector from the Department of Education will visit our class. I am being graded for my performance and your ability to speak. We have a lot of work to do. Here is a story I think we can read.”
During our practices we sounded awful. The day arrived for the inspector. She was middle aged and tall and slender. Wearing a tomato red jacket and chocolate colored slacks, she announced,
“I am here to help you acclimate to Israel.”
The friendly and outgoing inspector took a seat in the back of the class. Then a miracle happened. The confident teacher called on one student at a time to read. Surprisingly, the students sounded pretty good. I was able to see from the expression on the inspector’s face she was pleased. The students’ voices sounded like a symphony.
Each student symbolically played a different musical instrument. A Russian student read. His deep voice sounded like a base. The French student’s light voice reminded me of a flute. Next, a Spanish student read and her voice sounded like a violin. The teacher pointed to me. Her finger turned into a conductor’s baton. Nervously I read. I sounded like a clarinet.
After the inspector left, the teacher was grinning from cheek to cheek.
“The inspector was happy,” she proudly proclaimed.
If you want to read this story in very easy Hebrew, you can find it in To Be Israeli ( Lihyot Israeli.) Don’t worry about the difficulty. I have included lots of English vocabulary at the end of the story.