Hybrid Hebrew at Briercrest

I am happy to announce two new developments in Briercrest College and Seminary’s “Living Language” Biblical Hebrew program.

(1) Semi-Intensive Format: This year for the first time we are offering our four-course (12 credit hour) Hebrew sequence in one year instead of two. Imagine beginning class in September at “Shalom!” and ending in April with a reading knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.

(2) Hybrid Option: We are opening enrolment to online students who will be able to join on-campus students over Zoom in our state-of-the-art hybrid classroom.

Our courses are ABHE and ATS-accredited, so if you are looking to complete language requirements at Briercrest or another college or seminary, but are not able to relocate to our campus in Saskatchewan, you can take all four courses online from the comfort of your home. (For my part, I can’t imagine why anyone interested in the Bible or considering pastoral ministry wouldn’t jump at the chance!)

A Note on our Communicative Approach: At Briercrest, we teach the biblical languages using a communicative or “living language” approach. Among other things, this means class will be conducted, as far as possible, in Biblical Hebrew. Students will spend most of their time in class listening to Biblical Hebrew, and they will learn to speak Biblical Hebrew as well as to read and write it.

This “living language” approach is different from how Biblical Hebrew has traditionally been taught in North America. In conventional language classes, the majority of class time is spent talking about Hebrew in English; students labour over analysing word forms, memorizing vocabulary by rote, and producing their own English translations. The traditional grammar-translation approach appeals only to a small percentage of analytical learners and even at the best of times tends to result in a superficial understanding about how the language works, not a knowledge of the language itself. (There is a reason why most students who study Hebrew in seminary do not succeed in maintaining a long-term reading knowledge of the language!) Our active communicative approach to learning Hebrew is geared to the way people naturally learn languages and results in much more exposure to the language. As a result, it leads to deeper and longer-lasting learning; it also appeals to a wider range of learning styles—and is more fun! (For more detail on this approach as it relates to Ancient Greek, see this post and follow the links back.)

Course Details and Fine Print:

• During the fall semester, classes will run M/T/W/Th at 10:40-11:55 a.m. and F, 1:00-2:15 p.m. CST.
• Homework expectations: Learning any language requires a significant time commitment. You should expect to invest @ 2 hours of homework / class. Most of the homework will consist of watching or listening to the outstanding resources produced by the Biblical Language Center (now part of Whole Word Institute). I can’t promise you a walk in the park; I can assure you that if you put in the time, you will have fun and you will learn.
• Most of the students in the class will be in-person on-campus. The hybrid model with an online option is a pilot project that will require sufficient online enrolment to proceed.

For more information, contact me.