Using Spanish to teach English in Haifa, and Tessie's story

Monday 2/16/15

        Last class today at the Chugim school. I was working with an 11th grader whose English was excellent. We were reading a chapter written by Amy Tan.  There was some complicated language. As I was trying to explain a definition, she inquired if I spoke Spanish? I explained my Spanish was limited (high school and college) and asked why. She explained that she was teaching her self Spanish by watching T.V. spanish speaking novellas.  And so we shifted gears and used Spanish to commuicate when we were sorting out defnitions of English words she did not understand.  After we completed the assignment, we enjoyed a "getting to know you conversation". In addition to learning  English,  she is also studying Arabic in school and is self taught in Spanish!  Amazing.
      I did errands in the afternoon. Last minute gift buying before I pack!
     This evening's speaker was Tessie, an Ethiopian Jew who emigrated to Israel when she was 9 years old (1984).  She and her family were observant Jews in Ethiopia (ate Kosher food, observed the Sabbath) and they walked for 3 days with 100 members of their community from Ethiopia to Sudan. They were in the camps in Sudan until they were finally air lifted to Israel. 
     They had never seen electriciy, running water, a bathroom or an airplane.  When they tried to board them onto the plane the Ethiopians were terrified and ran into the woods. They had to send the police to gather them up and get them on the plane.  As a child, she had never seen herself in a mirror. Had never seen a white person (was fascinated by the stewardess and her uniform) and did not know how to use the bathroom.  Once they taught her to sit on the toilet, she saw the reflection in the mirror and could not understand why another little girl was in the room with her. She experimented, lifted her skirt, touched her hair etc. and finally realized she was looking at her reflection, and said "I discovered my self".  It is too long to report on all the details of her journey,  but you can imagine that it was a powerful and moving story.  She described difficult adjustment to school, learning Hebrew, making friends etc. Eventually she finished school, joined the army and went on to officer training. When she was sworn in as an officer she explained it was the first time she felt that " Israel was my country".  After the military she went to college, was the first Ethiopian woman at her college. Now married with 4 children and works as the director of a community service agency in the Ethiopian community. 
    Tessie shared laughter and tears as she told her story. We were all moved by her openess and willingness to share feelings, fears and achievements.