By Danelle Rubin
Last week, we had the privilege of welcoming representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Israel at two AMIT schools in Petach Tikvah: Yeshivat AMIT Eliraz High School and AMIT Menorat HaMaor Haredi Track. For the past few years, the embassy has partnered with AMIT to fund an English enrichment program at these schools, which enables the schools to offer extra English teaching hours to its students. (AMIT Kennedy Junior and Senior High School in Acco is also a recipient of this grant.)
Students at each school sat down with U.S. Embassy’s cultural attaché, Jonathan Berger, to discuss the impact the program has had on their education. They expressed their gratitude for the program and acknowledged that a strong English foundation is necessary for having a successful future.
In addition to expressing their appreciation of the program, the Menorat HaMaor students engaged Mr. Berger in a friendly political conversation in English.
At AMIT Eliraz, the school’s English coordinator Jacqui Slasky spoke about how the program has enabled them to reach more children who need mentoring.
“Teaching is far more than meeting the standards and requirements of the curriculum and achieving the bagrut certificate,” Slasky said. “It is investing the time in knowing each student outside of the classroom as well and making time to celebrate his successes and guide him in any way we can. Because of the support of the American Embassy, we had a few more weekly hours in which we could peer teach or provide individual or small group instruction that enabled us to reach more kids. Furthermore, we could provide mentoring for our teachers and allow more time for pedagogical planning and development.”
Slasky went on to say that the school is exposed to the many projects and resources provided by the U.S. Embassy. “We are constantly reminded of the cultural enrichment available, and we strive to expose our students to these opportunities.”
AMIT thanks the U.S. Embassy for its continued support of this program, which allows us to strengthen our English education programming in schools and emphasizes American values through teaching.
