There is an effort to include the language of the Israelite community in LAUSD schools; many Latino students have shown great interest.
Shortly after permanently moving to Los Angeles in 2019, Eden Shechter and her husband, both of Israeli origin, visited a Hebrew school in Van Nuys and were shocked.
“I was very excited because we entered the classroom and there were children learning Hebrew. Many of those children were Latino, ”said Shechter. “It was so impressive to me that they were speaking Hebrew to the teacher and she was correcting them.”
This was one of the main reasons that motivated the couple to enroll their two children in Lashon Academy charter school in first and fifth grade.
Shechter said that seeing this unity among Latinos, Americans, Israelis and others made them feel welcome. He added that he is pleased to see that the children are interested in another language and especially if it is Hebrew.
“Some say they have found much value in the language they are now learning; what’s more, they have already shown interest in wanting to save money and take a trip to Israel, ”said Shechter, fascinated.
The Lashon Academy public charter school, located in Van Nuys, is the only public charter school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) that offers the Hebrew language as a second language, said Dillon L. Hosier, chief advocacy with the Israeli-American Civic organization. Action Network (ICAN).
The Lashon Academy campus has nearly 350 students in grades kindergarten through six and approximately 40% of them are of Latino origin.
Hosier said that in the 1970s and 1980s the Hebrew language was taught primarily at Fairfax High School, but over time the community was changing and with it the demographics causing demand to decrease until it disappeared.
“Schools have a list of languages depending on community demand,” said Hosier. “But one of the languages that is not most widely included is Hebrew.”
However, he added that the Israeli migrant community in Los Angeles is again increasing and therefore the interest in expanding the teaching of this language. ICAN estimates that there are around 200,000 first and second generation Israelites and around 100,000 live in the Los Angeles area.
“Many immigrants who come from Israel are enrolling their children in public schools because they do not have the economic capacity to send them to private schools,” said Hosier. “And there is a great concern that I really see shared between Israeli immigrants and the Latino community; that their children may lose their mother tongue ”.
Hosier said that Israelites, like Latinos, tend to speak their native language at home and children learn English at school. But it happens that over time the more English they speak the less they practice their native languages.
With the commitment to include the Hebrew language, Lashon Academy is ensuring that children of Israelite origin do not lose their mother tongue and that others, such as Latinos and Americans, learn more languages than English.
Latinos are interested in Hebrew
What impresses many is that Latinos also find a particular interest in the Hebrew language.
Among them is Lili Samulde. She remembers that when she was little she attended West Valley and Woodland Hills schools where the children who went to Hebrew schools spoke the language. She wanted to learn it, but her school did not offer it.
“And I always thought it would be nice if they offered it apart from Spanish and French,” said Samulde, of Mexican roots.
Samulde has been in favor that speaking different languages is beneficial and although Hebrew is not easy, she thinks that it is a language that everyone should learn, especially people of faith.
“For us it is as if it were our mother tongue, so to speak. It is where all our roots are born, ”said the Palmdale resident.
For this reason, she supports the consideration of including the Hebrew language as a second language in more schools. If she did, she would not hesitate to enroll her two children, ages 9 and 15.
This plan is already in process, Hosier said. Before the coronavirus pandemic began, LAUSD asked a group of organizations to conduct a survey to see in which areas there is interest in learning Hebrew.
“We know that Hebrew is important in technology and religion,” said Hosier.
In technology, Israel has the third largest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange, and is recognized worldwide at the forefront of the industry that develops the technology of the future. Additionally, it is the world leader in investment spending on Research and Development (R&D) and headquarters of global R&D centers for companies such as Google, IBM and Apple.
“In Los Angeles, not all LAUSD schools are teaching the same language, so we are trying to add Hebrew to more schools,” Hosier said.
If you want to fill out the survey to add Hebrew as a second language in LAUSD schools visit:
Institute.israelusa.org/el-hebreo-moderno
