At 11am, the siren went off prompting us all to #remember and #honor those who gave their #lives for this #country. I was 14 years old at the time. We were #living in #Raanana for the year, a #trial to see whether we could acclimate as an #American #family living in #Israel. We would end up returning to #LA that summer, but that moment on Yom Hazikaron at the military cemetery changed me forever: then and there I decided that no matter what, I would make Israel my %home one day.
When this finally happened, #language was not an issue: my Israeli father made sure that I and my siblings would speak #Hebrew. But as I settled into my new home in #Jerusalem, I saw that for so many #English speakers, language posed a major barrier to leading #happy lives in Israel. They had gone to #ulpan and could understand some of what was said around them, but they couldn’t open their mouths to speak in Hebrew.
Now, I have this hobby of learning languages. Even if it’s just a few words, I love to greet people in their native tongue. Some languages I’ve come to know fairly well – Spanish, French and Arabic – thanks to the Pimsleur language learning system.
Seeing the plight of English olim in Jerusalem, I saw an opportunity – to help them learn to speak Hebrew with confidence, using a method no one else was. Ulpan La-Inyan was the first program to focus on #conversational Hebrew. 12 years later it’s become a trend, but we’re still the only ones whose highly interactive lessons are inspired by Pimsleur’s work – to new #olim, old olim, #tourists and anyone who wants to learn this crazy #ancient #modern language, in Israel (we have centers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) or anywhere in the #world with our #online classes and Your Daily Dose of Hebrew.”

Ami Steinberger Nefesh B’Nefesh Olim Success Stories Friends of the IDF (FIDF) Ulpan La-Inyan