Adam Carpenter | Head of Jewish Studies Primary

Jewish Educators Conference, Melbourne

Last Sunday and Monday, Jewish Educators from across Australia gathered together at Mount Scopus Memorial College in Melbourne for the biennial ZFA Jewish Educators Conference. This conference brought together principals, youth movement madrichim, informal educators, Hebrew and Jewish teachers from across the spectrum of Jewish educational organisations to engage in professional learning and networking.

A number of Emanuel teachers presented at the conference;

Mrs Daphna Levin-Kahn ran a workshop focused on sharing innovations in Emanuel School that have been designed to strengthen connections between our students, Judaism and Israel. The Year 8 Israel Expo, Year 9 Jewish Studies Electives and Year 11 Speaker Series were explained as examples of creating connections with our students to the Jewish world outside Emanuel School.

Mrs Hagit Bar-On presented two workshops at the conference. The first focused on the new iTalAM digital, online Hebrew and Jewish heritage learning environment. Hagit shared how it is being implemented at Emanuel School to provide enriching, interactive and personalised Hebrew teaching and learning experiences for both our students and teachers. The second focused on the challenges, methods and materials experienced in teaching Hebrew as a heritage language and in the teaching Jewish festivals or chaggim to students. 

The conference provided valuable opportunities for our teachers to engage in professional learning and development, hearing from International experts and local presenters sharing their own expertise and experiences of what is happening and working in their schools.

Kobi Bloom in dramatic action with actor Amichai Pardo from the Orna Porat Theater during the Janusz Korczak performance ‘Ten Matchboxes’.