Teaching English in Israeli Haredi Schools

Abstract

Studying English in countries even where it is not used in daily speech has become a pre-requisite to professional advancement, particularly in the fields of science, communication and technology. Simultaneously,English has become a cultural conduit to Western culture, a sensitive issue in certain societies wishing to retain their non-Western ethnic or religious nature. This article deals with the attitude of educators among four groups of Hebrew-speaking Israeli Haredim (ultra-orthodox Jews) towards teaching English at the elementary- and the high-school level,examining issues of language policy, and gender and age differentiation. The article focuses on three broad categories of Israeli Haredi attitudes towards teaching English, which have been termed the “particularistic”, the “proselytizing” and the “pragmatic”, and discusses what we can learn from Haredi language policy vis-a-vis its view of and interaction with the non-Haredi and non-Jewish world. The article also touches upon the broader repercussions of this discussion, which include issues of language policy, globalization, and the spread of English throughout the world.