In Search of Satisfaction - The Third Age

My first contact with Israel was when I represented Australia on the running track in 1965 at the 7th Maccabiah. As with many others at that time, Israel made a great impression and I was irreversibly smitten. The Six Day War in 1967 did not change my mind so, having completed my final accountancy exams in December 1967, I made Aliyah the following month.

In retrospect, the subsequent ten years were not simple, but during this time I slowly became professionally proficient in Hebrew, completed my Israeli accounting qualifications, found a job, a partner and started a family.

As an accountant in public practice for the following thirty-five years, I was focused upon my work and raising my family. I would often think of things that I could or should have done if I had not had to work long hours during those years. In my work, I had no contact with my Arab neighbors. I kept thinking that if I had taken the time and made the effort to learn Arabic I could have been more independent and less reliant upon the Hebrew media to understand the mindset of our Arab neighbours, which would have assisted me in formulating my own opinions.

As it was, upon my visits to Melbourne, my family and friends would request my "expert" opinion on what was happening in Israel. They, being as well informed through the media as I was, knew just as much about it as I did. My answer was therefore invariably a weary "never a dull moment" and I left it at that.

Upon retirement I sold my practice and looked for activities that would fill my days productively and provide me with satisfaction.

Five years ago Shifra, my neighbor, suggested I might be interested in conversing in English with students at a school in our area. Kochav Yair, where we live, is situated a short distance from Tira, an Arab town within the Arab Triangle which is comprised of Tira, Taibe and Qalansuah. Shifra approached me about the possibility of my volunteering as a coach of English at a school in Tira. I saw this as an opportunity to obtain a better understanding of our neighbors and agreed to try it. Until then ESRA had not penetrated the towns of the Arab Triangle with tutoring English and the English teachers there had never heard of ESRA.

My mission was to assist young students in seventh, eighth and ninth grades (middle school) in developing their English conversation abilities. I had never had any teaching experience other than correcting my two daughters' speech errors.

My first encounter was when I was shown by the English coordinator into a classroom of thirty kids comprising both boys and girls, "to meet the class". I was politely introduced to the English teacher in the classroom . . . and then she left. The English teacher sat at a desk at the back of the class. I can only imagine what those kids were thinking. Here is a person aged seventy-five, much older than any teacher they had ever encountered, who does not speak a word of Arabic and who suddenly appears in their classroom and who is going to speak to them in English. If ever I had to think quickly on my feet, it was at that moment. I asked each student his name and his hobby. One by one, I moved through the class. I formed an impression of who spoke a little English and who spoke none. Before I had heard every child, the bell rang and it was all over.

The following week I fronted up for three classes comprising three or four students in each group and wondered just how I was going to get through the next two and a half hours. I had previously attended some instruction sessions for tutors provided by ESRA, which gave me a little confidence. What should I talk about? Would the students be willing to engage with me in conversation? Could I break through the obvious cultural barrier? I was determined to make the forty-minute periods meaningful and productive for the students as well as for myself.

In order to log my activities and to record the names of my students and any relevant information concerning them, I equipped myself with a thick exercise book. This became an invaluable accessory for scribbling ideas and generally for spelling and providing information through drawing. For the first year, I diligently provided each student with a sheet of paper with his name written clearly on it so that I could address each child by name and become familiar with the names. Unfortunately, circumstances were such that, due to school timetables and curriculums, students tended to be swapped with irritating regularity so that I had to make do each week with registering their names only in my exercise book.

During our sessions we sit around a table and interact as friends with the rules laid down in advance: "only one student speaks at a time", "in English only", if you don't understand say to me "I don't understand" and don't ask your classmate in Arabic to translate for you. Generally, the students comply with these rules.

With only a few exceptions students are extremely motivated to improve their spoken English and to increase their vocabulary. They are very obviously enjoying the experience and it is apparent to me that they have little practical opportunity to converse with a native English speaker. With time, my weekly sessions have become more relaxed for the students as well as for me. We are all clearly enjoying ourselves. Not being a teacher by profession means that I have free reign concerning conversation subject matter whilst always being careful to refrain from discussing religion and politics. Nevertheless, by asking pertinent questions I am at last becoming more familiar with their culture, festivals, customs and mindset. I find that some of my students feel free to enquire about the festivals and customs that govern my life in Israel. Many of my preconceived notions of my students' family socio-economic situation have been invalidated. My students invariably have at least one parent who has completed higher education and works in the free professions.

Due to the limited time at my disposal and the continual disruptions in the scheduling of school time (festivals, outings, strikes etc.) I became aware of my limitations in making a real difference to the students' English. As a result I have placed much emphasis on motivational aspects such as the importance of English in getting ahead in this world, for university entrance and, of course, as tourists. I do my best to make the conversation enjoyable. As I have no curriculum to comply with, we are free to discuss these issues as much as we want… and it all contributes to their conversation abilities.

At present, we are becoming familiar with the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. Most of my students have not heard of John Lennon. I play a clip of the version of the song performed by Noa and Khaled in English, Hebrew and Arabic. They get a kick out of this whilst making use of words included in the lyrics.

Philip Brooks made Aliyah from Melbourne Australia in 1968 having completed his studies in Accountancy in December 1967. He practiced as a CPA in Israel for 35 years before retiring in 2014.