The history of our ulpan

The history of our ulpan

The Beginning

История нашего ульпана – Я приветствую вас в нашем ульпане Ulpan4U, and I want to tell you a little about the history of our ulpan. Which will show you why we opened our ulpan and why we began teaching modern Hebrew.

My name is Rozanov Danny, I was born in St. Petersburg and have been in Israel since I was 10, since 1990. I speak Hebrew as a native language, and even better than Russian or English. For the last 20 years, I have held high positions in various companies related to business development, marketing, management, etc. I had a unique opportunity to move to St. Petersburg for a couple of years in order to develop several companies in the local market. And from 2015 to 2017, I lived in St. Petersburg.

The beginning of teaching

In 2015, in addition to developing various companies in the business sphere, I began teaching Hebrew to students at the Israeli Consulate in St. Petersburg. At first, it was like a hobby, but over time it grew into something much more interesting. I am very grateful to those people thanks to whom I plunged into the field of teaching Hebrew. I have always conducted and continue to conduct training with a positive attitude, improvisation (I change the course/lesson depending on the level of the student and/or class) and using modern technologies, such as various modern games, WhatsApp, etc. for quick language acquisition among students.

The problem I saw

Среди всех учителей при Израильском Консульстве в Санкт-Петербурге, я по сути был единственным учителем, который жил так же и в Израиле. И не смотря на то что все учителя были великолепными, мало кто из них жил в Израиле и тем более даже пару лет. И тут я наткнулся на первую проблему. Я в первые увидел, что учеников обучают не тому ивриту который Израильтяне используют ежедневно, а чисто грамматическому ивриту, который не знают даже большинство Израильтян. А грамматический иврит значительно отличается от обычного современного иврита. И в то время как мои ученики уже писали на иврите письменным шрифтом, печатным в Ватсаппе, и говорили со мной на иврите. Ученики “грамматических” учителей, учили еще только огласовки (которые никто в Израиле не применяет). Те из вас, которые знакомы немного с этой темой, наверное сейчас спросят: “А как же учить иврит без огласовок”?…

My dears, believe me, you don't need vowels in Hebrew to read. And if I have the opportunity to teach you, I will teach you how to do it.

Free Ulpan Result - worst than can imagine

When I returned Israel, I realized that the problem was actually even worse than I thought. More and more students who had graduated with honors from free state ulpans began to contact me. And almost all of them had the same situation. They did not speak Hebrew, did not understand what was being said to them, and did not understand why everyone was writing without vowels, and essentially could not read even simple words. And this is taking into account the fact that they spent about 6 months of their time studying Hebrew (Having spent money, we can earn new money, having spent time, we can no longer get it back!).

And I began to see this picture more and more often. When repatriates work in very difficult jobs. The kind that ordinary Israelis simply wouldn't do. Jobs like constantly lifting concrete slabs, cleaning or replacing chemicals, cleaning factories, etc. Because they simply don't know Hebrew, and at the same time have a nice diploma from a state ulpan.

Ulpan4U – начало!

После того как мне “наболело” продолжать смотреть на это, я решил создать Ulpan4U - Spoken Hebrew School.

The main goal of our Ulpan is a fast learning of modern Hebrew, English and Russian speaking students. The secondary goal is to remove the students' accent, which in fact will always slow them down on the career ladder. In our ulpan, we begin to speak Hebrew already in the first lessons, write words (without vowels), write messages to each other on WhatsApp or other platforms. We listen to modern Israeli music. We play interactive games in Hebrew and much more. The entire learning process takes place in a positive, relaxed ease. And you will be surprised that you will be able to write a short essay after just 2 months. Without spending more than 4 hours a week.

We have already trained a couple of hundred people. And we are happy to welcome new students who want to quickly master Hebrew.

The advantage of our ulpan:

• Маленькие классы – до 8 человек.
• Обучение Онлайн, или в наших заведениях в различных городах Израиля – Бат-Ям, Нетания, Ришон Ле-Цион.
• Focused courses based on the student's goals.
• Teaching in English with switches to Hebrew depending on the level of the group.
• И самое главное – Все наши ученики начинают писать и говорить на иврите уже спустя 2 недели.