Hebrew 103/303
Department of
Hebrew and Semitic Studies
University of
Wisconsin–Madison
Fall 2005
Class: MW
Instructor: Jim
Kirk
Email:
jkirk@wisc.edu
Office: 1336 Van Hise Hall
Office
Phone #: 262-8240
Office Hours: F
Welcome
to Biblical Hebrew! The purpose of this
course is to acquire a basic knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.
Biblical Hebrew is the ancient Semitic
language in which (most of) the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh, or Old
Testament) was
written. Other texts written in ancient
Hebrew are found in several hundred inscriptions, letters, and
administrative documents
discovered by archaeologists, as well as in the famous
This year
(including the spring semester) we have
three general goals:
ü
You will read Hebrew narrative by
sight come May.
ü
You will see the importance of
reading the Bible in Hebrew, not just in translation.
ü
You will enjoy reading Hebrew (and
probably spend your summer reading Hebrew for fun!)
We will
begin reading real Biblical Hebrew from the
Bible this semester!
Requirements:
1)
Attendance
is crucial for your success in this class.
You are expected to attend each and every class.
If for some totally unavoidable reason you
must miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes from another
student
and be prepared for the next class session.
If you fall behind I promise you that this class will quickly
become unenjoyable
for you.
2) Every Monday we will go over a
new lesson
from the textbook. As part of your
preparation for class you must read over the new lesson before
class. Even if you don’t
understand everything in
it, our class time will be more productive if you have read through the
material beforehand. You should be
prepared to read the Hebrew examples aloud.
3) Every day of class you will be
assigned exercises
from the textbook. We will go over these
assignments at the beginning of the next class period and I will
collect
them. Simply handing in these
assignments will be worth 15% of your grade.
DO NOT LOSE POINTS HERE. These
assignments cannot be handed in outside of class, except by special
permission.
4) Every Monday
we will begin class with a brief
10 minute quiz that will test you primarily on material
covered
the previous week. However, since this
is a language class you may consider every quiz cumulative
(especially
when it comes to vocabulary). No
surprises at all on the quizzes. Just
know everything! The quiz will start at
the beginning of the hour, so please do not be late.
There will be no make-up quizzes (except by
very special permission), but your lowest quiz score will be dropped.
5) We will have
a mid-term (October
17) and a final exam (Friday, Dec. 16 at
6) Oral recitation: It is important that you gain the
ability early on in your study of Biblical Hebrew to not only
understand the
grammar of the language and translate, but also to read Hebrew aloud
fluently. To encourage you in this you
must prepare a
text—either Numbers
A note on
vocabulary and
memorization:
The
vocabulary of the Hebrew Bible includes roughly 10,000 words. This fall and spring we will memorize almost
all the words that occur 50 times or more.
There are no short-cuts to memorization and very few people can
cram 100
new words into their brain an hour before a test. Therefore
it’s imperative that you keep up
with vocabulary. With each new lesson,
one of the first things you should do is sit down and make
vocabulary
flash cards. Then carry that
stack of cards around with you everywhere you go and whenever you have
a free
moment go through them. You should do
the same thing with anything else that needs to be memorized (I will
let you
know). You can buy
blank flashcards of various shapes and sizes at the UW Bookstore.
Class
participation and
preparation:
Classes will
follow a simple pattern. First, we will
go over the previous day’s assignment.
You should be prepared to read the Hebrew exercises fluidly and
translate from the Hebrew (not just reading your English translation!). I don’t expect you to necessarily have all
the right answers, but I do expect that you have given it a good-faith
effort. If you are stuck, try and
identify exactly what’s causing your confusion.
We will not always have time to go over every exercise in class,
so tell
me which ones would be most helpful for us to go over together. Second, we will go over any new material (you
should have read the new lesson before class). Third,
we will review old material.
Email List:
I have set
up a course email list for our use. The
address is: hebrst103-1-f05@wisc.edu.
Please feel free to
use this
list to communicate with your fellow students, arrange study groups,
ask
questions, or do anything else related to Biblical Hebrew.
Grading: (approximate %)
Grading
Scale: A
94-100
Daily
Assignments: 15%
AB 88-93.99
Quizzes:
25%
B
82-87.99
Midterm
Exam: 25%
BC 76-81.99
Final
Exam:
25%
C
70-75.99
Oral
Textbook:
Cook, John A., and Robert
D. Holmstedt. 2005. Ancient Hebrew: A Student Grammar.
Unpublished. Pick up at
Bob's Copy Shop at
|
Day |
Date |
Lesson |
Topic |
Exercises
(TBA) |
|
Fri |
Sept 2 |
#1 |
Alphabet
(Consonants) |
1-8 |
|
Mon |
5 |
|
NO CLASS (Memorial Day) |
|
|
Wed |
7 |
#2 |
Syllables, Dots, Dashes, and Vowels |
1-5 |
|
Fri |
9 |
|
|
6-10 |
|
Mon |
12 |
#3 |
QUIZ #1; Article; Inseparable Prepositions; Conjunction |
|
|
Wed |
14 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
16 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
19 |
#4 |
QUIZ
#2; Singular Nouns; Qal Perfect; Objects |
|
|
Wed |
21 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
23 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
26 |
#5 |
QUIZ #3; Plural/Dual Nouns; Qal Perfect; hyh |
|
|
Wed |
28 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
30 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
Oct 3 |
#6 |
QUIZ #4; Constructs; Irregular nouns |
|
|
Wed |
5 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
7 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
10 |
#7 |
QUIZ
#5; Pronouns; segolate nouns; modal perfect |
|
|
Wed |
12 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
14 |
|
MIDTERM
EXAM |
|
|
Mon |
17 |
#8 |
NO
QUIZ; Qal Imperfect; Past Narrative; hyhy; yhyw |
|
|
Wed |
19 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
21 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
24 |
#9 |
QUIZ
#6; Adjectives; Demonstrative pronouns |
|
|
Wed |
26 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
28 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
31 |
#10 |
QUIZ #7; Personal Pronouns; Qal Participle |
|
|
Wed |
Nov 2 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
4 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
7 |
#11 |
QUIZ
#8; Intro to Binyanim: Piel, Hifil |
|
|
Wed |
9 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
11 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
14 |
#12 |
QUIZ
#9; Piel, Hifil: Imperfect, Past, Participle |
|
|
Wed |
16 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
18 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
21 |
|
CLASS
CANCELLED (SBL) |
|
|
Wed |
23 |
#13 |
Jussives,
Imperatives |
|
|
Fri |
25 |
|
NO
CLASS (Thanksgiving Break) |
|
|
Mon |
28 |
#14 |
QUIZ
#10; Infinitive construct/absolute |
|
|
Wed |
30 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
Dec 2 |
|
ORAL
RECITATION DUE |
|
|
Mon |
5 |
#15 |
QUIZ
#11; Passive-Reflexive Binyanim |
|
|
Wed |
7 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
9 |
|
|
|
|
Mon |
12 |
|
QUIZ
#12 |
|
|
Wed |
14 |
|
|
|
|
Fri |
16 |
|
FINAL
EXAM ( |
|
If you have trouble accessing this page, contact: Chris Dargis (cadargis@wisc.edu)
Latest revision date: 8/23/2005 (cad)