When Esther* entered 6th grade in the Yeshurun School in Rishon LeZion, she had only been in Israel a few months. She could hardly speak, read or write Hebrew; she could not follow anything that happened in the classroom. It was very hard for her to enter the school system at such a high grade.

Through the Limudiot, Esther began acquiring basic Hebrew. Her classmates translated everything for her, and the Limudiot staff provided intensive assistance. Thanks to their concerted efforts, by the end of the year, Esther was able to speak Hebrew, communicate with her homeroom teachers and Israeli peers, and had acquired basic reading and writing skills. Her progress was watched with pride by her friends, who benefited from taking on the role of helpers, and who gained confidence in their own Hebrew skills. Esther, in fact, has proven to be an exceptional pupil, and, having closed an immense gap, is now performing well at class level.

Thanks to the Limudiot in Rishon LeZion, Esther now has the educational basis to take advantage of her schooling in Israel and successfully integrate into Israeli society.

Transforming in the Classroom
When David* arrived in the third grade class at the Rashbi School in Be’er Ya`aqov, he had been in Israel less than two years. David would absent himself from class, wander around the school and play alone on the rooftops. His homeroom teacher was unable to connect to him, and advised the Limudiot coordinator to just give him lunch and send him home; She even suggested that he had a mental problem. In the Limudiot, he was placed in a small group, with only six pupils, and continued to display the same alienated behavior.

All this changed when the Limudiot teacher began a creative writing project. Suddenly David blossomed. He started writing stories about his life and family in Ethiopia, including a story about an encounter with a tiger. Finally David found a means of expressing himself. Since his handwriting was hardly legible, he would read his stories out loud. Soon after, David began to attend and participate in his classes. By the end of the year he seemed like a different child, and was attentive in all his Limudiah and homeroom classes.

*names have been changed to protect anonymity.