Ulpan La-Inyan teaches Hebrew to 2,000 students annually — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, the Ulpan La-Inyan language school, founded by Ami Steinberger in Jerusalem in 2008, now teaches Hebrew to about 2,000 students annually, both online and in person. The school employs between 80 and 90 teachers across different time zones, and its clients include companies, embassies and gap year programs, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Steinberger held his first class on August 18, 2008, in his own living room in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood. He had four students at the time. Two months later, he was invited to teach two parallel courses at AACI, after which he hired another teacher.
Emphasis on conversational practice
The school's founder moved to Israel permanently in 2007. He said he decided to open his own language school because he believed that state courses for new immigrants do not always help students move from knowledge of grammar to spoken language. According to him, large groups limit a teacher's ability to give attention to every student.
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The Ulpan La-Inyan methodology involves learning words through repetition at specific intervals and using vocabulary in conversations useful for everyday life. Homework may include watching contemporary Israeli TV shows followed by discussion, or meetings in a Hebrew-speaking environment, such as at a café.
Online learning and artificial intelligence
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the school's online format was available only for individual lessons and covered no more than 10% of clients. Since then, half of the students have studied online, both individually and in groups. Students include people from North and South America, Mexico and Europe; Jerusalem Arabs seeking to improve their Hebrew for study or work also attend the school.
Steinberger believes that artificial intelligence applications can be useful for disciplined users, but do not replace human communication. Ulpan La-Inyan is developing a hybrid format that will combine a digital course with real-time interaction with people. He also named pronunciation and verb conjugation among the most common difficulties for those learning Hebrew.
