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TEAM
"I am passionate about sharing my experiences and knowledge in teaching Hebrew. I enrolled in the Middlebury College Master’s program to achieve greater professionalism in my own work as a Hebrew teacher, and to disseminate these educational insights among the various Torah-based educational institutions."
Dvora Kaplan, M.A., Founding Director
Special Interests: Training and Mentoring
An acclaimed international expert in teaching Hebrew and Limudei Kodesh, Dvora has been involved in teaching and administration for more than 25 years; in addition to her leadership at Hebrew Our Way she serves as a consultant for curriculum development for several affiliated institutions. Together with her husband and children, she also runs a successful Chabad outreach program serving the Israeli community in Michigan. Dvora holds a M.A in Teaching Hebrew as a Second Language from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Avigail Bakaleynik
Special Interests: Research, Curriculum & Materials Development, Mentoring
Avigail has 30 years of experience as a teacher, tutor, and curriculum designer for multiple subjects and age levels. She guides the preparation of HOW’s training and teaching curricula. Proficient in English, Russian, and Hebrew, and literate in French, Spanish, and Yiddish, Avigail is passionate about making language instruction accessible and satisfying. Avigail studied at Rika Breuer Teacher Seminary and holds a B.A (Magna Cum Laude) in (Russian) Language with a specialization in Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
Advisory Board
"Dvora Kaplan has tremendously strong intellectual and interpersonal skills which make her a pleasure to work with and to learn from. She is driven by the mission and dream of seeing graduates of Torah based institutions able to fully communicate in modern Hebrew and to transition between their use of the Hebrew language for Limudei Kodesh and communicative purposes."
Naama Torem, Advisory Board
Trainer and Supervisor for Tanach in Machoz Yerushalayim
Mrs. Naama Torem is a Regional Counselor for Tanach and Experiential Learning for Machoz HaIr Yerushalayim and a member of the National Mentoring Team for Tanach, providing assistance to hundreds of teachers on a daily basis. She also provides professional development regarding lesson planning, topics in Tanach, pedagogy, in person, remotely, and via pre-recorded classes and digital lesson plans, through the Education Ministry, Professional Council of the Education Ministry for Tanach (Chem"ed). Naama's love of teaching and developing new instructional concepts combines with her enjoyment of working in the field with teachers, school teams, and students themselves. Naama Torem received her Bachelor's in Education, Educational Technology & Communications, Jewish Studies and Literature with Honors, and her MA (with Honors) in Education, Jewish History & Torah SheBa'al Peh.
Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Levitz, Advisory Board
Head of Teacher Training, Men's Program at Michlala Yerushalayim
Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Levitz is an innovative veteran educator with 38 years of experience. A school rebbe for all limudei kodesh subjects, Rabbi Levitz brings a fresh, dynamic approach to the day school classroom. For many years, he served as head of department for Teacher Training in the Jerusalem College for Women. Currently, he serves as a School Rabbi and supervisor for Toshba studies in the Jerusalem areas. Rabbi Levitz, with his high energy, incorporates music, story telling, creative activities, games, and progressive thinking strategies in his lessons. He has presented to a wide range of communities in Israel and abroad.
Dafna Saslavsky, M.A., Advisory Board
Dept. Jewish Ed. & Hebrew, Universidad Hebraica Mexico
Professor Saslavsky has a Masters in Teaching Hebrew from Middlebury College & a Masters in Education (with a specialization in Human Resources) from the Universidad Anáhuac. She has also completed postgraduate studies in Jewish Education at the Melton Center of Jewish Education of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has significant educational experience as Director of Early Childhood, Elementary School Director, and a General Coordinator of Jewish Studies in the Mexican Jewish day school system.
Vardit Ringvald, Ph.D., Advisory Board
The School of Hebrew at Middlebury College
Professor Ringvald's numerous accomplishments in the field of Hebrew language pedagogy include (to name only a few) founding the Hebrew Language Summer Institute at Brandeis University (1996), creating the Master of Arts in Teaching Hebrew (1998), working on the team to develop Hebrew Proficiency guidelines and curriculum frameworks for ACTFL and the U.S. Dept of Education, supervising development of materials for reading and listening strategies, founding the School for Hebrew at Middlebury (2008), serving as the chair of the SAT II for Hebrew, and more. She is one of the developers of the Oral Proficiency Interview for Hebrew and an OPI trainer. Professor Ringvald is also the primary author of Brandeis Modern Hebrew, the first to be based on the proficiency method.
Tamar Matza
Hebrew Department Chair at Hannah Senesh Day School in Brooklyn
Tamar Matza has been teaching Hebrew for 15 years, in the US and Europe, and is currently the Hebrew Department Chair at Hannah Senesh Day School in Brooklyn. Previously, Tamar taught at Luria Academy of Brooklyn and at the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School in Brooklyn. She is the Director of Hebrew Language at Young Judaea’s Sprout Brooklyn Day Camp, responsible for training staff and developing the Hebrew curriculum for their Kayitz Kef program. Tamar has a Master’s degree in Childhood Special Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Art History, both from Hunter College. She also studied philosophy at Florence State University in Italy and received a Master of Arts in Photography at the Performing Arts, Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Italy. Tamar is a native Hebrew speaker and is fluent in Italian, Polish, and English, languages she acquired through the immersion method.