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eTeacherBiblical


JPark

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I just saw the link today in the Accordance Bible newsletter and I was curious if anyone had experience with eTeachBiblical to learn/refresh their biblical language skills?

 

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I was wondering the same thing. And I could not find any pricing info. It looks like they prefer to make direct sales pitch over the phone.

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I talked to them over the phone. A class (not for credit) of 2 hours weekly for 9 months costs 899 euros.

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I spoke with one of their teachers at SBL/ETS and was pretty impressed. I am also pleased to see Accordance assisting those of our users who want to really learn Hebrew. I don't have any personal experience with this program, though.

 

Anyone here know any more?

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Thanks for the info. A little pricy for me.

 

Too pricey for me, too. I can audit at a local seminary for the same price and would have the advantage of a classroom and an instructor. I think I'm going to rely on books and iTunes U. There is a prof at the college where I took Greek who said he would help me. I hope that will be enough. I am so buried with stuff right now that my studies have been much delayed.

 

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If it's Hebrew your after. Basics of Biblical Hebrew, Accordance markets this. Plus there are videos of the whole course plus an intermed. course (on Reading through Ruth)up on i tunes university. I will post a link up when I get home this afternoon (am in Sydney) For those who use Ross's book,there is an answer key on the net (google it), plus there is the animated Hebrew videos on u tube. I have started with Ross, and gone to BBH, as there seems more help with this in terms of study aids.

 

Only did a year of Hebrew at Moore College many moons ago. So want to get back into it.

 

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Ive taken course A and B of eteacher biblical hebrew, It isnt cheap ( cost me a little over $900 for 30 lessons) but it is perfect for someone with no background in the language. You meet once per week online, and the entire class is totally interactive, not a lecture with Q&A but the teacher walks you through each part of the lesson during class. I recommend it very highly if you are serious about learning, I was instructed by Jewish teachers who teach you to read in modern Hebrew, as opposed to the type of Hebrew that is used in most text books. The difference being that at the end of the course you can actually have a conversation with a native Israeli, where if you use the audio files or videos for most American Hebrew grammars, it is a form that isnt used by modern Hebrew. For the opportunity to be trained by Jewish professors,(one of mine lived in Israel) and the experience of their deep reverence and love for the scripture was well worth the cost. It is the reason that I came to Accordance, with the BHS and the DSS modules, plus my training with eteacher, I have found that the combination is much like treasure hid in a field that our Lord spoke of.

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For those after the video lectures of Basics of Biblical Hebrew, they are free @ itunes University. Open up itunes U and look up colleges and universities. Go to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. You will find videos of the Hebrew class, with question time. There is also a set of videos on a class reading through Ruth.

 

Although, I must admitt having a go at eteach would be great, as it would be good to have your own personal tutor

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I have taken eTeacher courses but contrary to cmcintos I've taken levels C, D and currently E - their final year course. I had learnt beginner's levels elsewhere.

 

I think it is pricey, but they do give a discount on 2nd and subsequent years. They also give a further discount if you take a second course concurrently (I'm taking biblical Aramaic). Also they take payment in installments without charging for the facility.

 

For the price you do get a deal of individual attention in the weekly lessons. You have access to a weekly "after school hour" in which you can ask questions about the lesson you're learning, the homework questions you have to do and, indeed, any matter of biblical Hebrew.

 

I found the personnel who deal with selling the courses and getting you to sign up are rather pushy, so you need to be prepared to stick your ground and say "no" to things you don't want. However, the teachers themselves all seem very competent and appropriate; many have PhDs or are working towards them in biblical studies and/or biblical languages. They do care that their students make progress.

 

At higher levels class size can be quite small (level C I had about 5 or 6 fellow students, level D I had just one peer, level E there might be 2 alongside me, but normally there is just one), so a good level of attention to the student. At lower levels I suspect that the classes are a little larger, but I don't have experience of those levels so I can't confirm.

 

The pace is not very fast, probably because the students come from a wide range of backgrounds; many have no experience of languages other than their mother tongue, and for many formal education was a long time ago (a number of decades in some cases). Thus in levels A-C (30 weeks each, i.e. 90 in total) you cover the basic grammar needed to read prose texts. Most of level C is given to studying weak verbs, without which knowledge you could not make sense of any significant length of biblical text.

 

On the other hand they are thorough in their approach - where other grammars/courses leave things out, eTeacher will almost undoubtedly cover it.

 

One advantage of eTeacher is they do take things to an advance level in biblical Hebrew (but not to such heights in Aramaic nor Greek), so in my current course (the final year) we are studying diachronic features including inscriptions and Qumranic Hebrew. It is difficult to find this level of education in biblical Hebrew "beamed" directly into one's home.

 

So there are positives and negatives. I hope the above gives a good overall description. If you'd like to know more, let me know, but be aware that I'm on holiday from tomorrow for a few days so may not be able to reply quickly.

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I can just add to nicklaurence's review, the A and B classes both started out with about 6-8 students in the class but in both classes the last few lessons were private tutoring lessons due to the fact that the other students dropped out. I think most people thought they could learn a language just by attending class, that is definitely not the case.

In case you are considering taking this on it is not something that you can work through in class and not look at until the next class. It is much like learning to play an instrument, you will have to dedicate a number of hours to practice before you can be proficient.

I got a wonderful start with eteacher, but instead of continuing I actually found and hired a private tutor for my advanced studies, due to the fact that the pace is a little slow to accommodate those who for whatever reason don't study. But as he said I had a Jewish teacher who was sitting in Tel Aviv teaching me while I sat in my study at home... how cool is that!

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Well, I signed up for Biblical Hebrew, and because there was a 50% discount for a 2nd class, Aramaic as well. Thanks for all your input and advice!

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