(VIDEO) "Strangers No More" - Oscar Winning Movie Trailer

Video Below: Winner of 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary

In the heart of Tel Aviv, there is an exceptional school where children from forty-eight different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn.

Many of the students arrive at Bialik-Rogozin School fleeing poverty, political adversity and even genocide. Here, no child is a stranger.

The film follows several students' struggle to acclimate to life in a new land while slowly opening up to share their stories of hardship and tragedy:

- Mohammed, a sixteen-year-old refugee from Darfur, witnessed the killing of his grandmother and father before escaping alone through Egypt to Israel. Having never been in a school before, his sharp mind and tremendous determination enable him to make up the years of study he never had.

- Johannes arrived at Bialik-Rogozin after spending most of his life in refugee camps across the Middle East. His father struggles to obtain a work visa while twelve-year-old Johannes struggles to adjust to attending school for the first time. After a slow start, his teachers realize that he is nearly blind in one eye and take him to an eye clinic. With his new glasses, before long, he is reading and writing -- and helping other newcomers to adjust.

- After the murder of her mother, Esther and her father fled South Africa with nothing, in search of safety and peace of mind. At Bialik-Rogozin, they are welcomed with clothing, food and counsel on beginning a new life. Esther's teachers try to relieve the trauma of a nine-year-old girl who believes her mother will return.

With tremendous effort and dedication, the school provides the support these children need to recover from their past. Together, the bond between teacher and student, and amongst the students themselves, enables them to create new lives in this exceptional community.

Upon graduation, Mohammed provides the finest evidence of the school's ultimate success -- declaring his dream to return to Darfur and build a school for the children of the village he once fled.

(EDU) The World’s First Interactive Online Torah Study Program

"Jews of every color, shape and size unite in cyberspace to study topics ranging from traditional Gemara to Jewish culture, Zionism, and Jewish weddings.

What do an 85-year-old Israeli, a 10-year-old homeschooler, and a 33-year-old Polish Jew have in common? They all study at WebYeshiva.org, the world’s first fully interactive online Torah study program. The site, founded in 2007, brings Jews from across the world together to study Torah in real-time using video-conferencing technology.

Students enrolled at the site can participate in interactive classroom sessions via webcam and direct questions to rabbis in every time zone. The yeshiva/midrasha (women’s seminary) offers courses at various levels, covering topics ranging from traditional Gemara to Jewish culture, Zionism, and Jewish weddings."

(BLOG) Global Day Of Jewish Learning November 7th 2010

Video below: On November 7th, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz will culminate nearly five decades of groundbreaking work translating the Talmud, making it accessible to all Jewish people. The Global Day of Jewish Learning will honor that achievement by bringing together Jewish communities around the world in a historic, unifying celebration.

Each community throughout the world will decide what their Global Day event will look like. The structure of your event will depend on audience, resources and local interest. Some communities in North America are working with their local Jewish book fair to develop a meaning Global Day experience while others might be creating events around PJ Library or other adult learning opportunities in their own communities.



Every community event will be unique -- some might be an all day experience while others only an hour or two. For some, the Global Day will be a first-time learning experience; for others who learn regularly, this may be their first opportunity to learn in a large group setting. For still others, communal learning may be a regular practice and it will be the international achdut, or unifying aspect, that provides meaning. The important of the Global Day is bringing together your Jewish community from all walks of life and providing a Jewish learning experience.

The monumental achievement will be marked with a global simulcast of the event from Jerusalem, spanning 360 communities in 45 different countries.

Visit http://www.theglobalday.com or http://www.1people1day.org to find a Global Day event in your community.

(EDU) The Amazing "Dror Israel" Educational Zionist Movement

The Educators' Kibbutzim of the Dror Israel Movement are part of a multi-generation social movement established by the graduates of the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed Youth Movement. The members of the kibbutzim aspire to realize the values of the youth movement they grew up on throughout their adult life.

The Dror Israel movement is a pioneer Zionist movement of educators that work in all sectors of society to strengthen faith in man and action in society and to actualize the values of equality, social alliance and social responsibility in everyday reality.



The movement members' way of life places the equality of the value of all people and the happiness of all people in the center. The members of the movement live in communal groups that help each individual shape his or her life in an active way.

The movement is composed of alliances of individuals and communal groups aiming to advance Israeli society through general education and friendly interpersonal communication.

The members of the movement act out of a sense of mission to realize the vision of the founders and fathers of the Zionist movement: Theodore Herzl, Berl Katzenelson, the members of the pioneer Zionist movements in the Holocaust and others.



The Lifestyle

The Educators Kibbutz is a new model of kibbutz for the Dror Israel Movement members that allows a communal lifestyle – mostly volunteering and educating. The purpose of these Kibutzim is to enable the contribution to society by means of education of children and youth, through the development of a variety of autonomous communal educational experiences of the members.

• 30-100 educators live in every Kibutz in accordance to the local needs and the preferences of the groups.
• Every Educators' Kibutz is responsible for the activities of 2000-4000 children and teenagers.
• The Educators Kibutzim are spread all over the state of Israel – in the city and the countryside.

The members of the 'Dror Israel' Movement see the Educators' Kibutzim as a way of life that enables them to combine the choice to create an autonomous communal lifestyle with the commitment to an educational-social mission.

The national distribution of the Educators Kibutzim enables the Dror Movement to maintain common educational processes for the different Kibutzim and their members.

Activities in Israeli Society

The 'Dror Israel' Movement works in all parts and all sectors of Israeli society. Its' members educate around 200,000 children, youth and young people, in different frameworks – schools, youth clubs, activities in the 'HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed' youth movement and more. The educational activity uses a wide variety of ways and methods and both formal and informal pedagogical tools. The educational activity is intended for all the sectors of Israeli society: Jews – those born in Israel and new immigrants, Arabs, Bedouin, Druze, children and youth from different backgrounds in Israeli society. The Dror Movement sees working in all the sectors of Israeli society a top priority.

• The educational activity of the members of the Kibbutzim includes:
• Seminars for schools and educational organizations.
• Activities in educational centers and institutions.
• Running workers' rights centers for working youth.
• Social activity coordinators and counselors in Jewish, Arab and Druze cities, towns and villages.
• Coordinators and counselors in the activities of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed.
• Leading youth delegations to the concentration and death camps in Poland.
• Social guidance in Regional councils and schools.
• Guiding in Museums.
• Activities in schools and educational centers of the 'Dror Batey Chinuch' school network.
• Jewish-Arab Co-existence activities.
• Activities with refugees from the genocide in Darfur and the Sudanese Civil war.

To train its members, the Dror Israel Movement has many learning and discussion meetings. The meetings take place in different forums and give the educators the tools they need for the different educational activities they operate. Part of the training is done in cooperation with other bodies.

The Members

The Educators' Kibbutzim of the 'Dror Israel' Movement include over 1000 young people age 22-45 who are members of 60 groups spread throughout the country. The members work – as individuals and as groups – with a common goal to improve and change Israeli society. Every year, 100 new members that finish their civilian and military service join the Educators' Kibbutzim. The movement members' way of life is shaped and changed according to the decisions of the members of the groups in different areas of life. Membership in the Dror Israel Movement is based on the choice of the members and is renewed from time to time in accordance to the will of each member.

The members of Dror Israel work as educators in Israeli society out of the belief that education is a central component in shaping society. They put an emphasis on value based education, towards the equality of value of all people and to a humanism that calls for a change in society. This education stems from a faith that, in the words of Janusz Korczak, 'To fix the world means to fix education'. Since the field of education in Israel is not a rewarding one (in comparison both to other countries and to other fields in Israeli economy), this choice of the movement members has economical implications including the choice of a modest and mostly voluntary lifestyle.

Future Plans

Every year, 100 new members join the Educators' Kibutzim when they finish their civilian or military service.

This increase in the number of members raises the number of Educators' Kibbutzim and centers of activity and broadens the extent of the educational activities of the Dror Israel Movement.

In order to allow the continuation and expansion of the activities of Dror Israel they must –

• Develop and deepen the educational activities run by movement members, mainly in weakened populations.
• Create an infrastructure for the Educators Kibutzim – accommodation, existence and mobility.
• Enhance the learning and training processes of the movement members.

They call all partners who believe in the power of education, in the power of values and the power of people to change the world and to make it a better place to contact them.

If you wish to visit Dror Israel - Please contact them at – contact@drorisrael.org.il

(EDU) Arabic Comes To Israeli Jewish Schools

"'As a democracy Israel aspires to complete equality of all its citizens,' said Dr. Shlomo Alon, head of the education ministry's Arabic and Islam education division as he launched a programme at the beginning of the new school year to make classes in Arabic compulsory in all Jewish public schools. But just a month later, the commitment to 'complete equality' looks like it's taking a back seat.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present a proposal to his cabinet which will obligate any non-Jew applying for Israeli citizenship to declare loyalty to 'the State of Israel as a Jewish democratic state.'



It will be a sea change. Under Israel's current Citizenship Law any prospective citizen must declare his or her loyalty simply to 'the State of Israel'.

In effect, the requirement applies mostly to Palestinians who marry Arab Israelis. Any Jew from around the world wishing to become Israeli automatically qualifies for citizenship without being required to take any sort of loyalty oath.

Netanyahu stresses that his proposal dovetails into his insistence that the Palestinians, as part of a future peace agreement, accept Israel as a 'Jewish state'.

While he is guaranteed backing from his nationalist-minded coalition, some ministers balk at the new proposed legislation. Says Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor: 'This will only embitter relations between Israel's Arab minority and the state.'

At a time of increasing tension between the Jewish majority and the 20 percent Arab minority, the new Arabic proposal for schools is designed to assuage mutual suspicions.

Though compulsory, the scheme at first covers only schools in northern Israel, about a fifth of the public schools in the Jewish sector. Until the new official directive, only from age 12 could Jewish pupils study Arabic, and only after learning English in the early grades. Even then, Arabic wasn't compulsory.

To fulfill the requirement of learning a second language, Jewish pupils have quite a choice -- Arabic or another of the languages widely spoken here such as Russian, Amharic or French. Few teenagers opt for Arabic.

Now in 170 public schools in northern Israel, the new programme of the written and spoken language is taking root. It's called 'Ya Salaam' ('how wonderful' in Arabic).

For the fifth graders in Mahmoud's class, Arabic remains foreign. Slowly, laboriously though, it's becoming more familiar to the ear, and to the hand.

'It's much harder than Hebrew,' says Yossi, 10. 'But I've started to like the way it sounds.'

Miriam, a Jewish teacher at the school, says, 'As kids, when we heard Arabic in the street, we were scared. Instilling the Arabic language at a young age may help overcome those fears.'

Eventually, the aim is to apply the pilot scheme to Jewish schools throughout the country. 'We hope,' says Dr. Alon, 'that this studying of Arabic promotes tolerance among our children, conveys a message of acceptance, and builds cultural bridges between Jews and Arabs.'

But for many Jewish parents and their children, Arabic is not always seen as a means of getting to know their Arab neighbours better, or to understanding them better.



Most Arab Israelis speak fluent Hebrew. Hebrew words are often interlaced in their Arabic. Said one Jewish parent who declined to give his name, 'What's important about knowing Arabic is that our children can understand what the Arabs are saying about us in their own language.'

Up until now, for those Jewish students, generation after generation, who did study Arabic, it was often perceived as 'a national necessity', as 'a security- minded duty', based on the conventional wisdom of 'know thy enemy'.

Many Jewish students who chose to study Arabic right through school go on to do their national military service in intelligence units or in security services.

Most Jewish Israelis feel they share far more values with Europeans or Americans than with their immediate Arab neighbours, albeit many of their families immigrated from Arab countries and Arabic was spoken at home (often as a way for the parents to make sure their children would not understand them).

What drives young Jewish Israelis away from Arabic is their sense of being caught up in a never-ending struggle for Israel's acceptance in the Middle East.

By their own admission, Israel's place in 'a tough neighbourhood' is usually seen only through the narrow prism of the long-drawn-out Israeli-Arab conflict, and their own overwhelming feeling that they belong to 'a tiny Jewish state surrounded by' --not close to -- the neighbouring Arab countries.

So, why this initiative now?

'An increasing demand from students and parents -- as simple as that,' says Alon. 'But our hope is that as the only democracy in the Middle East, making the study of Arabic compulsory will encourage a respect for civil rights and bring about greater acceptance of the Arab minority as full citizens. Besides, we want to provide more work opportunities for Arab teachers.'

Of the thousand or so Arabic teachers in the Jewish public school system, the overwhelming majority are Jewish. Now, 50 additional Arab teachers have begun teaching in Jewish schools.

Even Alon concedes that for all the good intentions, two hours a week of Arabic is just a start, no more than a taste of what's needed to bridge the gap between Jewish and Arab Israelis. Not merely a cultural gap, but deep inequality in terms of the application of civil rights.

Still, in spite of its limited scope, if expanded and implemented properly, the 'Ya Salaam' project might do yet something to eliminate the current hostility towards Arabic as a language, and even perhaps bring Jews and Arabs slightly closer together." (source)

(EDU) Learning To Read Arabic Really Is Harder

"A new study on language and the brain from an Israeli university reveals why it's harder to learn to read in Arabic than in most other languages.

Over the past 10 years, data has indicated that learning to read in Arabic is harder and takes longer than learning to read in other languages. A new study on language and the brain from Israel's University of Haifa reveals why reading acquisition in Arabic is so challenging.



The series of studies show that reading acquisition in Arabic is much harder, in comparison to English. The researchers reveal that because of the visual complexity of Arabic orthography (method of spelling), the brain's right hemisphere is not involved in decoding the text in the first stages of learning to read.

The graphic complexity of Arabic script seems to 'activate' left-brain functions. The left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language, math and logic. The right hemisphere is dominant for spatial abilities, face recognition, visual imagery and music. Of course, in most people the two hemispheres work together.

Visual complexity causes perceptual overload

Prof. Zohar Eviatar and neuropsychologist Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim of Haifa University examined the assumption that the difficulty in learning to read Arabic is due to the visual or graphic complexity of the written Arabic system. They explain that Arabic has a number of very similar graphic symbols representing different letters and sounds, distinguished only by very slight differences such as lines or dots, as well as sounds that are represented by a variety of different symbols.

Letters such as the equivalents of B, N, TH and T, for instance, all have the same basic shape, but with a different amount of dots under or over them. F and Q are also similar, as are R and Z, and J, H, and KH.

To establish whether this complexity causes perceptual overload, the researchers carried out a series of studies comparing children's and adults' reading speed and accuracy for those with mother tongue Arabic, Hebrew (a language similar to Arabic) and English (a very dissimilar language to Arabic). They also examined the speed and accuracy of processing Arabic, Hebrew and English words in readers whose mother tongue is Arabic only.

Their results reveal that the right brain is involved in the reading process for English and Hebrew, but not for Arabic. The authors explain that in Arabic, identifying the number and location of dots that is critical in order to differentiate between letters, is a hard task for the right brain since that hemisphere primarily utilizes global information to identify letters.



This means that children acquiring languages other than Arabic draw on the use of both hemispheres in the first stages of learning to read, while children learning to read Arabic lack the participation of the right brain. This may mean that reading processes take longer to be 'automatized' in Arabic, the professors suggest.

The overall findings support the hypothesis that the complexity results in a heavy perceptual load, contributing to the difficulty and slow processing in learning to read Arabic.

More help for pupils recommended

Eviatar told reporters that when Arabic and Hebrew reading are tested in children who speak and read both, they do better in Hebrew reading than in Arabic reading, whether their mother tongue is Hebrew or Arabic.

She explains that this is because Hebrew doesn't have the same difficulties. 'It's true that many Hebrew letters are built around similar square shapes. However, only five Hebrew letters change their shape depending on whether they end a word or not, while many Arabic letters do so, and even take on different shapes in other parts of the word.' Hebrew is a phonic language, as opposed to English. In Hebrew, letters and combinations of letters have the same sound in all word constructs.

The researchers sum up that 'children who learn languages other than Arabic rely on the capabilities of both sides of their brain at the early stages of learning to read, whereas the child learning Arabic has a stronger challenge.'

Therefore, they conclude that the native Arabic-speaking child requires more practice and particular pedagogic effort. In their opinion, this demonstrates the need for systematic professional involvement in the teaching of Arabic reading, especially for those who have learning difficulties.

The studies were carried out at the Department of Psychology and the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities at the University of Haifa and published in the prestigious journal Neuropsychology." (source)

(EDU) Israel 3D Experience Offered To Ohio High School Students

"Jewish high school students are invited to participate in the 'Israel 3D Experience.' The course will explore critical questions and ideas such as: Why does Judaism need a homeland? What right do Jews have to the land of Israel? How can teens identify and combat media bias? Will there ever be peace in the Middle East?

Israel 3D will be taking place at the Chabad Jewish Center, 3977 Hunt Road in Blue Ash, Ohio, every Thursday, 7:30-9 p.m. beginning with a pre-party on Oct. 14. The meetings will include pizza dinner.



Jewish teens will have the opportunity to exercise their minds as they debate with peers about relevant issues. Israel 3D will be facilitated by instructor Rabbi Yisroel Mangel.

'The experience will deepen high school students’ appreciation for their national history, Jewish identity and empower them to speak confidently about Israel. Everyone has something to gain from attending, since the course was designed to speak to the minds and hearts of high school students from all backgrounds,' explains Rabbi Berel Cohen, youth director for the Chabad Jewish Center.

The Israel 3D was a produced by JLI Teens, an international organization that aims to create a global network of informed students connected by bonds of shared Jewish experience. JLI Teens is a division of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, which has been creating learning curriculum for over 11 years and continues to set new standards in the field. Drawing on research-based instructional design and cutting-edge approaches to learning, JLI’s innovative presentation of Jewish wisdom is designed to be both intellectually rigorous and highly accessible.

To register for the course, visit ChabadBA.com or contact Rabbi Cohen directly at 513-793-5200 ext. 3.

For more information visit: facebook group www.facebook.com/jliteens; website: www.jliteens.com" (source)

(EDU) Fixing Our Broken Classrooms With Technology

"With a computer on every desk and a holistic approach to learning, performance and motivation are soaring in 'Time to Know' classrooms in both Israel and the US.

Moshe of Tel Aviv's underprivileged Hatikva Quarter used to dread returning to school in the fall. He anticipated another year of dull instruction, lugging boring textbooks and feeling alienated from his classmates and his teacher. Indeed, school was a turn-off he often skipped altogether - but that was before the revolution. That was before classroom hardware from Israeli start-up Time to Know reached his school.



The Time to Know revolution began three years ago, in grades four to six, in two Israeli schools. This year, there are 20 schools in the country benefiting from its Recommended Core Curriculum and Digital Teaching Platform -innovations in classroom hardware that transform kids like Moshe from school losers into winners. Also this year, Time to Know is being launched in 26 schools in New York.

Pupil and class performance and motivation soared in the US pilot of the program in Dallas last year, making a believer of New York City Chancellor of Education Joel I. Klein. South Korea and other countries have also expressed interest in the learning system company that the company's chief pedagogical officer Dovi Weiss believes can fix 'the classroom machine that's broken.'

Current users are hoping for Dallas-like results: Dramatic improvement in writing, reading and math scores. A control group not using the system had 73 percent of the pupils in the class below, or at standard writing skills level, while the Time to Know group had 98% at standard or recommended levels.

No more 'chalk and talk'

According to Weiss, teachers haven't been fully exploiting the computers' technology and scope in the classroom. But all that changed when Time to Know was launched six years ago by Amdocs billing giant founder Shmuel Meitar, Weiss, Molly Globus and others. They applied a similar 'holistic approach' to recreating the classroom learning process as they had used to put Amdocs atop the billing industry.

Four 'bugs' were identified in typical classrooms. Most pupils received what Weiss describes as 'only chalk and talk' frontal education. 'But using only this one way of teaching fits nobody. That's a bug,' he tells ISRAEL21c. Moreover, one set of teaching materials and standardized tests weren't sufficient for the 35-plus pupils with varying needs in the typical, overcrowded Israeli classroom.

The next bug, 'drill and kill' exercises, managed to kill off any desire for engagement in lessons for kids. Teachers also received little feedback about their pupils beyond a quiz or test score, which was usually too little and too late. And extra help wasn't easy to come by.

Meitar - credited with the original vision for this classroom revolution - and his team also found that schools failed to provide kids with vital computer skills needed to succeed, another serious problem. 'It's not the teachers but the classrooms that aren't working,' Weiss says. It was time for a classroom makeover.

Step one was 'really integrating technology into the classroom' with a laptop per pupil, a projector, and a special 'dashboard style' laptop for the teacher.

The hardware - supplied by municipalities, school districts or other providers - is the first of three pillars that support the program. Once that's in place, the cost of software is $200 per pupil. 'But then we came up with two innovative pillars that actually did not exist in the world,' Weiss continues. First, the 'Interactive Core Curriculum' provides entertaining and interactive digital learning activities in all core subjects. Then a Digital Teaching Platform, which Weiss laughingly calls 'Windows for teachers,' allows them to plan and conduct a lesson while viewing pupil feedback in real classroom time.



Cool school

On the first day of school this September, some lucky fourth to sixth graders in Israel and New York arrived at school to find laptops on their desks. The teachers clicked 'play' and a clever cartoon featuring youngsters racing around a track in a 'fraction race' was displayed via the new classroom projector.

The cartoon 'hypnotizes' the young audience so there are fewer discipline issues, Weiss explains. 'They sit quietly and are very enthusiastic. When the animation stops, the teacher asks a question: Danny is in the lead, but who is number two, number three, etc.? Then the stimulated students submit potential answers to a 'gallery' of classroom replies.'

As each pupil works on a laptop, it supplies immediate feedback to the teacher. A wrong answer earns a child a hint toward the right one, an educational process called scaffolding. Alerted by her computer that someone needs help, the teacher can quickly provide assistance.

Meanwhile, more advanced students are prompted to explore a section on Egyptian fractions; while those lagging play 'Fraction Wars' to practice. An 'Eyes on the Teacher' computer alert signals the pupils that the teacher is launching a classroom discussion.

'Very quickly the four bugs are beginning to be solved,' Weiss declares, 'The classroom variance is addressed, the pupils are engaged, active, and the teacher is receiving a lot of feedback... the computers are part of the classroom, used in a natural and holistic way.'

Teacher Philia Stewart of the Lancaster Elementary School said of the program: 'You can teach a child anything once they're engaged, because they're ready to learn, and that's the difference between a Time to Know classroom and a regular classroom. [The pupils] hate books they have to read. So when you give them a book, they're already shut off. But when you put technology in front of them they say: 'Okay, cool, I can do this.' You can teach them almost anything. I don't lose any kids when I do Time to Know.'

As Dallas pupil Xavier Seigh puts it: 'It's a cool way of going to school.'

Repair education, repair the world

The Time to Know revolution seems to be working. Indeed, the President's Conference in Israel chose the company as one of six Israeli firms that can 'create a better tomorrow' - the only one in the field of education - and there are plans to expand it to grades six to eight.

Weiss, a graduate of the Mandel Leadership Institute, cites the words of the great educator Janusz Korczak (who chose to die in the Treblinka extermination camp with his pupils) who said: 'Repairing the world is repairing education.'

Weiss says: 'For me personally, that's a vision and my mission. I'm proud to be an Israeli who will be able to do something... If we can create a better world, [and] it's coming from Israel, I think it's very good for our country.'" (source)

(EDU) Israel Offers Scholarships For South Korean Students

"The Israeli government is accepting applications for their scholarship programs.

The scheme provides funding for foreign students who want to study in Israel during the academic year 2011-2012.



The different types of scholarships offered include summer language courses known as 'ulpan,' funding for one academic year or research scholarships.

The applicant must hold at least a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of sciences, have a good record of academic achievement, must be a South Korea citizen and under the age of 35.

Applicants must also prove their knowledge of the English or Hebrew languages.

Also, the applicant should meet the academic requirements of the Israeli University that they apply to.

Scholarships will be approved only after the required institute approves the acceptance of the candidate and will be granted only for university or 'ulpan' programs approved by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

All relevant information needs to be printed in English and submitted to the Israeli Embassy.

Date for the submission of application forms is no later than Nov. 30.

For more information, including links to downloading all applicable forms, visit the Israeli Embassy’s website at http://seoul.mfa.gov.il" (source)

(EDU) Olin Business School Wins Grant For Program In Israel

"Thanks to a grant sponsored by the Israeli government, students in the Olin Business School can now learn about research and development on Israeli soil.

With the creation of a new study abroad program, the business school will send students to attend classes at the Interdisciplinary Center, which is a private university in Israel, and intern at Israeli companies. It will culminate in each student writing an applied research paper with an Olin faculty member.



Masa, a group within the government-sponsored Jewish Agency of Israel, gave the grant to eight schools across the United States. This reflects a national trend of increasing Israeli-American exchange programs, with many being sponsored by Israel’s leaders.

The program is only slated to run once, but there may be more opportunities in the future.

The University itself has increased its presence in Israel over the past several years, including several cultural study-abroad programs, a trip for engineering students and a trip for business school students.

Steve Malter, assistant dean for student development and strategic initiatives, teaches Business in Israel, a course open to all students that was created last year in response to a large level of student interest. Over spring break, students traveled to Israel, where they met with many high-level personnel in the Israeli business and finance world, including the CEO of the Israeli stock exchange and a member of the Israeli prime minister’s National Economic Council.

'Everyone here in St. Louis kept opening doors for connections, since this community is so tied with Israel,' Malter said.

While there are many other opportunities for students in the business school to study abroad, Malter feels that Israel will be an important addition to the list.

'Israel is at the forefront of new research and technology,' Malter said. 'To give you an idea, behind the U.S. it has the most listings in NASDAQ.'



Malter also believes that spending a semester in Israel will provide students with exposure to a valuable culture.

'I think the semester abroad will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about Israel in a different light,' Malter said. 'The usual programs are cultural or religious, but the spring break trip was secular, though we did visit important sites to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. It was a different way of looking at the country.'

Junior Jake Lewis, a student who not only participated in Malter’s class but also went back over the summer to intern at a small investment firm, agrees.

'Malter did a great job of getting together speakers,' Lewis said. 'It showed us a side of Israel we wouldn’t have gotten to see otherwise.'

Arye Nehorai, Electrical & Systems Engineering Department chair and professor, also organized a secular trip to Israel for several undergraduate students in the engineering school. Over spring break, the students went to the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, where they participated in studies and saw cutting edge technologies being developed.

'I wanted to inspire students to take what they saw from one of the top technological institutes in the world and bring it back here,' Nehorai said. 'But I also wanted to share the culture with them, and show them how different universities function.'

The Israeli government did not sponsor the Technion program, as Nehorai and several colleagues set it up in a single week.

'Once they heard what I was trying to do, the people there were incredibly helpful. They were excited to have us visit,' he said. 'And the feeling was mutual.'" (source)

(NEWS) 8 US Universities Launch Study Programs In Israel

"Top American universities to offer students one semester study-abroad programs. Project conceived by MASA in an effort to draw more foreign students to Israeli academic institutions.

Israel is trying to draw more American students: eight leading universities in the United States will launch study-abroad programs in Israel this year.

The programs will send American students from participating universities to one- semester in the Jewish state, and grant them credit points that will be recognized by American universities."

(NEWS) Free Tuition To IDF Soldiers

"On Sunday, the Israeli government approved the areas in which a plan will be applied that grants one tuition-free year of studies to soldiers who have completed their required duty in the IDF or have done national service.

The free tuition plan will be offered in institutions of higher learning in most areas of the Negev, the Galilee, Judea, Samaria, and Ashkelon.

The plan was first approved by the government in September of 2009. Under it, a free first year will be provided to individuals who have completed their army service or national service and are studying in academic institutions in the periphery, the name used for areas that need development and are relatively far from population centers."

(EDU) Delivering An Educational Miracle

"With hard work and passion, Karen Tal went from winning over neighborhood bullies to transforming a sub-standard school into an 'educational miracle'.

Once in danger of closing, Karen Tal has transformed Bialik-Rogozin into a model school with a matriculation rate of 70 percent – higher than the national average.

The future looked bleak when Karen Tal took over as principal of two schools housed in one decaying building in South Tel Aviv. The hodge-podge student body of Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis, refugees, and immigrants from 40 countries was known for dismal matriculation rates and widespread violence. City Hall was threatening to shut them down.



Tal wasn't fazed by these odds. Growing up in a hard-working immigrant family from Morocco, she learned early-on how to conquer challenges. Even visiting her grandmother in a tough Jerusalem neighborhood required a strategy for getting past loitering teenagers.

'I learned that I could talk to them confidently if I defined my goals and took action,' she recalls.

Working with your brains and heart

Bringing the same can-do attitude to work, Tal merged the two schools and transformed Bialik-Rogozin into a model educational institution where 800 multicultural students from kindergarten to 12th grade learn successfully and harmoniously. She promised the teachers there 'an educational miracle', and she has delivered.

Now at the start of her sixth year at Bialik-Rogozin, Tal and her staff and volunteers have raised the matriculation rate from 28 percent to 70 percent, which is higher than the national average. And the percentage of graduates going on to serve in the military or national service has increased from 48 to 68.

The first glimmer of change appeared in her second year, when - for the first time - none of the teachers requested sabbaticals or transfers. Then the municipality built a new cafeteria for the school, signaling its optimism. When President Shimon Peres came to visit last year, Tal saw it as the fulfillment of her prediction that 'one day everybody will come to see us not because we are bad, but to recognize what we are doing right,' she tells ISRAEL21c.

She approached her task by formulating a detailed vision and describing it clearly to the people who would help her to achieve it, 'even though they were very skeptical because it was so far from the present reality.' She drew up a comprehensive plan of action, incorporating a results-oriented 'action committee' of area high-tech and academic professionals in addition to parents and teachers.

'This way, you get other points of view' she explains, 'If you are professional and work with your brains and heart together and work very hard consistently, you can succeed.'

A recipe for success

Tal's emphasis on hard work and education comes from parents who labored to make sure she and her four siblings received a quality education. Arriving in Jerusalem in 1968, her father, a former jeweler, found employment as a postman and as a waiter in the Knesset. Her mother, formerly in haute couture, worked with children.

When she was nine, Karen started tutoring neighborhood kids. During her military service she won a spot in a new project to provide high school dropouts with enough reading, math and self-sufficiency skills to join the army. She went on to serve as an education officer in the Israel Air Force.



After earning her master's degree in education at the Hebrew University, Tal became a teacher and then vice principal at the Tel Aviv high school that had seven of its students murdered in the Dolphinarium discothèque terrorist attack in June 2001. This school, once plagued by a poor image, is now one of the most exclusive in Israel.

Achieving such a dramatic turnaround at Bialik-Rogozin took determination and motivation. 'If I have sugar, flour, and eggs, I can make a cake. But what kind will it be? You can put the ingredients together but if your heart is not in it, it will not be tasty.'

Influencing the future

Not that Tal has much time to bake cakes at home in the Jerusalem suburb of Modi'in. Married to the principal of a Tel Aviv technical high school, she has one daughter in the air force and another starting 11th grade. 'It's a complicated dance' to balance work and family, she says.

'I have 48 emails to answer after this interview,' she relates at 8:30 p.m. 'I come in at seven every morning. I don't like to admit it, but I take my work home with me, into the weekend, into the night. All day I see the eyes of my students in front of me.'

Those eyes belong to youngsters like 'Yana,' a recent Russian immigrant and orphan living in a group home; 'Saib,' an Israeli-Arab struggling to learn Hebrew and find his identity; 'Jan,' the son of a Polish foreign worker; 'Muhammad,' an orphaned refugee from Darfur; and 'Maria,' who faces deportation along with her illegal-alien mother.

The school doubles as a refuge and community center, supported by a crew of more than 100 volunteers aged 18 to 82. Children receive two meals a day, afternoon activities, and homework help. They abide by a strict code of behavior. Parents, more than half of whom are raising their kids alone, are more involved than ever. Tal has even opened an evening class for 135 parents who want to learn Hebrew.

'Our students are Muslim, Jewish and Christian, but they all speak Hebrew and wear the same uniform,' says Tal. 'We cannot change the starting points of their lives, but with a lot of help and courage and professional tools we can influence their present and future and give them a real chance for success.'" (source)

(NEWS) Training Israel's Ethiopians For A Hi-Tech Future

"Asher Elias believes the key to integrating Ethiopians into Israeli society lies in good jobs.

In 2003 Israel's high-tech industry had only four workers of Ethiopian origin. Even now, it has no more than 200. Asher Elias is determined to change that.

How? The Tech-Career College he established at Kibbutz Nachshon is training young Ethiopian Israelis for a future in high tech. Many of its graduates are already working."

(NEWS) Arabic Studies To Become Compulsory In Israeli Schools

"Beginning this year as pilot initiative in 170 public and religious-public schools in northern Israel, the scheme will eventually be adopted extend across the country.

A new government program will see Arabic language classes made compulsory in Israel's schools, starting from the fifth grade.

Beginning this year as pilot initiative in 170 public and religious-public schools in northern Israel, the scheme will eventually be adopted extend across the country."

(TECH) Technion 38th Among World's Top Technology Universities

"Israel Institute of Technology moves up two slots from last year, is ahead of most European universities. President: We achieved this respectable position despite government's sharp budget cuts.

The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, was ranked 38th among the world's top universities in technology, according to Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China, advancing two spots since the 2009 rankings. The Technion leads almost all European engineering-technology universities in the rankings.

The top 15 positions in the general ranking (which includes all academic fields) are held by American universities. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is in the top spot, followed by Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley."

(EDU) Teaching English In Israel Can Be Immensely Rewarding

"In Israel, the necessity for English-speaking citizens has recently risen to epic proportions. With this increase in demand, discovering a job teaching English in Israel is less complicated than ever for foreigners who wish to head abroad.

Are you contemplating teaching English in Israel? If so, there are a few key things you should know before you start your job hunt. The data below is designed to make the method easier and ensure that you’re getting the best possible situation. Teaching English in Israel is an adventure… ensure that it’s not a irritating one by following these easy tips.

Getting Certified

Many countries desire their native-speaking English teachers to get certified in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) while still in their home countries. While this is not a requirement in Israel, it can certainly aid you when it comes time to discovering a job.

Another requirement for educating English in Israel is to have a four-year school degree. The subject is actually unimportant; what issues is the truth that you have graduated from a college.

You should also take into account becoming teacher certified in Israel. The TESOL group in Tel Aviv is one of the most extremely regarded English-teaching organizations within the country, and provides coaching for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Approach the English Teacher Network in Israel for more useful information. Once the Israeli instructing program is completed, you might be almost guaranteed a teaching position.

Finding A Position

The need for English speakers in Israel has grown so much in recent times that the language has become probably the most popular subjects taught in classrooms, from elementary stage on up. You will find, however, that jobs are extra prevalent in middle and higher class areas, where the extent of schooling is increased and more students are anticipated to enter the business world.

In the identical middle to upper-class areas, you will also discover that a big percentage of children are tutored privately within the art of speaking English. You may wish to consider becoming a private tutor if working in the school system does not suit you. While pay may be lower and you will not have the benefits provided by a school or college job, it is possible for you to to work more versatile hours, and a few people a lot prefer the liberty of such a position over working for a school board.

If neither of those opportunities appeals to you, you may need to consider teaching English in Israel to adults. Many businesses and companies in Israel take care of the Western world on a frequent basis, and employees who communicate English is an absolute necessity. A corporation could hire you on a job-by-job basis, or even as a employees consultant, where you’ll be expected to teach English to workers one-on-one or in a gaggle setting.

What To Expect

The pay you’ll receive for educating English in Israel is considered reasonably low in comparison with many different countries with opportunities for such positions. You will have the option, as a teacher, to attend numerous teaching conferences and workshops, and doing so can greatly improve your value as a teacher and lead to pay raises down the road. A resourceful trainer will take any such alternatives that come along and will learn quickly find out how to increase his or her price on the job.

Most faculties that rent you as an English teacher will supply teacher’s housing, and you should make the most of this scenario particularly if you are located in a big city, the place housing may be expensive and difficult to find.

Of course, you’ll even be given vacation time and paid holidays whereas teaching English in Israel, and you must use your time without work exploring the country and learning more about your adopted culture. Israel is a good looking place steeped in history, and instructing English to Israeli natives is a unique experience that shouldn’t be passed by." (source)

(NEWS) Middle East Internet Users Highly Educated

"Most Middle Eastern web users are graduates.

The vast majority of Middle Eastern Internet users are highly educated, with 69 percent having either graduate or post-graduate degrees, a new survey has found.

The study, 'Media Consumption and Habits of Middle East and North Africa Internet Users', found that 57 percent of Internet users in the region have a graduate degree, and another 12 percent have a post graduate degree."

(EDU) Brazilian Jewish Schools Receive High Marks

"Two Jewish schools were ranked among the best high schools in Brazil.

The Brazilian Israelite School received the highest average grade among all high schools in Porto Alegre, according to the newly released 2009 results of the High School National Exam, known by the acronym ENEM. Porto Alegre is the capital of Brazil's southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, which is home to Brazil's third largest Jewish community with some 12,000 Jews."

(NEWS) Israeli Students In High Demand For US MBA Programs

"Recent political events and the economic crisis have not lessened the demand for Israeli students in business administration programs in the United States, according to the United States-Israel Educational Foundation, which will soon hold its sixth annual MBA conference in Tel Aviv.

The United States-Israel Educational Foundation was established in 1956 by mutual agreement between Israel and the United States. The Foundation directs the Fulbright scholarship program in Israel."