The Goodman Initiative - Junior Camp (7-9)

Ten Cool Ways to Use Israel Resource Cards

Carl Schrag — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 18:14:18 +0000

Here are ten great ways to use the Israel Resource Cards at camp! Feel free to adapt them and add your own ideas. You may download or order your own deck at theicenter.org.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Background Cards

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Resource Cards are a great tool for learning countless facts about Israeli history, people, and life

Explanation:

Since they were introduced in 2013, the Israel Resource Cards have become a go-to tool that enhances Israel education at camps and in countless other settings. Check out the ideas listed here, many of which came to us from camp staff across the country. Use any that appeal to you, or let them serve as a springboard for your own excellent ways to put the cards to use.

Designate one day during each session for giving each cabin a Resource Card at breakfast, and task each cabin with finding a way to incorporate something about the person, place, event, or thing into their afternoon rest time programming. At dinner on the same day, after all campers have learned about one card, find a way for campers to share what they have learned. (If campers ever sit with groups other than their cabins for meals, mix up the seating for dinner and ask each camper to share something about the card he or she reviewed at rest hour.)
Hang copies of the resource cards in bathroom stalls around camp. You'll be surprised how many people start to talk about them! (Note: Its great to hang the cards in the stalls, but remember that many campers and staff visit the same stalls time after time. Set a schedule -- nightly, weekly -- to switch the content in the bathrooms around camp so that everyone sees multiple cards.)
Each morning at breakfast, introduce a Resource Card to the campers. You may already have a Hebrew Word of the Day, but a Card of the Day provides opportunities to broaden campers' exposure to important aspects of Israeli history and society. (The Card of the Day can be presented by a shaliach, an American counselor, or even by a rotating group of older campers who prepare their presentations with guidance from the GE or Goodman Fellows.)
Distribute a People card to each camper in your bunk and give them five minutes to learn about the person. Collect the cards and then give the group 10 minutes to engage in a cocktail party round of informal conversation in which each camper must share as much information as possible about his or her character with the other campers. Cabins might want to make a riddle about the People cards part of the nightly bedtime ritual. Units or divisions can have a late-night contest to see which individual camper or team of campers gets the most right answers.
Create a memory game based on the Resource Cards: identify cards that have a parallel in the U.S. (or Canadian) history, such as the David Ben-Gurion card and George Washington, the Knesset card and Congress, Tal Brody and Lebron James, Tel Aviv and New York, the Jordan River and Missisissippi or Colorado river, the Dead Sea and Great Salt Lake, the Negev and Mojave Desert, Hatikvah and the Star Spangled Banner, Israel National Trail and Appalachian Trail, Shekel and Dollar, War of Independence from both countries, Assassination of Rabin and Assassination of JFK, etc. Create cards by gluing the Resource cards, or printouts, onto sheet of construction paper, and gluing images of the parallel North American event to sheets of construction paper also. Start with 30 cards (15 pairs) and have campers gather around the face-down cards to play.
Place Resource Cards at key points on the climbing wall. As campers descend, ask them to share what they learned on their climb.
Go Fish! Played in groups of 2-5 campers, each player selects 7 cards at random. Instruct players to read the information on their cards, and then use their turns to ask other players for specific cards that they think go with their card. For example, a player who is holding the David Ben-Gurion card can ask another player for the Negev card, due to Ben-Gurion's commitment to the sothern region. Each time a player gets a pair, he or she must lay it down and explain the connection.
Place all 80 Resource Cards face-up on the floor and ask campers to do a "gallery walk" and pick two cards that resonate with them. After everyone has picked two cards, campers share their cards and explain why they chose the cards that they did.
Lay out the cards and have people pick one that resonates with them and one that they'd like to learn more about. Go around the circle and let each camper share the cards they picked. The Goodman Educator, Fellows, and/or shlichim can provide nuggets of additional information as people share.
Lay them out and have them pick one from each category (people, events, places, symbols) - have them explain why they chose each and find connections between the cards from the different categories.

Background Cards:

Our Camp's Israel Garden: A Guide to Creating and Programming

JAR — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 18:52:20 +0000

Learn the skills of gardening and the history of Israeli innovation as we create an Israel garden in camp -- full of Israeli fruits, veggies, and herbs that we will harvest and eat together!

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Physical Space:

Outdoor Space

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

How to garden

History of drip irrigation in Israel

What kinds of food grows in Israel

Explanation:

At the beginning of the summer, choose a plot of land to place your garden. The land should have direct sunlight for at least 6 hours each day, and it should be near a water source.

Once you've selected the land, campers can help create the garden. They will need to hoe the dirt, plant guard rails of wood around the garden (laying them down in troughs dug in the ground is an easy way to do this). The point of planting guard rails is to keep the garden dirt firm and in the garden, allowing the garden to be 'boxed in'.

You then need to dig troughs as lines for planting seeds. Determine which items will need to grow where, and how many seeds you want for each item you're planting.

Once planted and watered, there are many interesting ways to integrate Israel into the experience:

Learning about Israeli innovation.
- Start with drip irrigation, one of Israel's claims to fame. You can set up your own drip irrigation system (a long hose with holes in it) or have your campers brainstorm the problem that led to its creation.
- Once you're on the topic of Israeli innovation, learn more about creations that Israel is (and isn't) well known for. Like the cherry tomato strain Israel invented that ripens slowly and stays on the vine, allowing for it to be sold on cluster like grapes, and making shipping easier. (Other examples can be found here: http://www.israel21c.org/technology/israels-top-45-greatest-inventions-o...).
- Have campers look at areas that need innovation in their garden or around camp. How can they use the examples of Israeli innovation to fix their problems? For instance, if the garden is too small for many people to work in it at once, what could they do to maximize the efforts of the whole group? Or if the garden isn't ready to be tended and a group is coming, what could they do with the other campers to help them feel connected to the Israeli garden?
The garden is a great opportunity for campers to learn Hebrew vocabulary. Create Hebrew and English (and transliterated) signage for every kind of plant in the garden. You can even create a poster for a wall near the garden letting everyone see a 'map' of the garden and what is growing where (in Hebrew and English). Also, you can post an enlarged version of the Resource Cards related to Israeli agriculture (Kibbutz, Drip Irrigation) and while you're planting the garden, you can orient the campers to the important role of agriculture in Israel's history.
Talk about argiculture and the landscape of Israel. Part of Ben Gurion's dream was to see the desert bloom. Why did he care about using the desert? Why did Israel spend so much effort in making agriculture work even in the desert? (Hint: The Negev Desert is 60% of the land in Israel).
You can also bring in a lesson about the kibbutz here, discussing with campers the history of the kibbutz movements and its role in agriculture.
You can also learn about the remarkable work of desalination in Israel. Given that much of the water around the desert has high saline content (the Mediterranean Sea), Israel found ways to use the salted water for irrigation of certain crops.

The garden can become the foundation for a wide array of programming (some examples below):

a cabin activity to prune/plant/harvest
a full age group activity to create the garden
an activity to create signage
a cooking class using the harvested foods/herbs
an Israeli meal where campers describe each item using the Hebrew name

Background Cards:

Supporting Images:

Attribution:

Camp Avoda

Someone's in the Kitchen with Golda!

JAR — Fri, 09 May 2014 16:05:59 +0000

Participants will create a presentation of Israel that highlights all 5 senses of the human body.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

video cameras

Program Duration:

30 minutes

Physical Space:

Open Space

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Israel cannot be 'digested' merely as something you hear about, look at pictures of, or watch on tv. It is a multi-dimensional place, with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and texture, both literally and metaphorically.

Explanation:

Split campers up into groups (with one staff member for each group).

Each group will be given 10 minutes to create a segment of a cooking show. The dish they are cooking is: Israel.

To be clear, this is not a cooking show for an Israeli dish but rather what if the STATE OF ISRAEL was the dish? What would the ingredients be? What would it taste like? Smell like? Feel like in your hands? In your mouth?

Your cooking show must include:

A list of ingredients
Steps for preparing the dish
An anecdote about someone in your group’s personal experience with or in Israel
At least one Hebrew word (not including the word “Shalom”)
A creative title for the show
A special guest chef
Every member of the group must participate in some way in the presentation of the cooking show (be creative with this one – there are no rules to how this is achieved)

After 10 minutes, all groups will be gathered for a quick check in, followed by the next set of instructions:

Using a video-camera or ipad, please film your cooking show. You can spread out to go to a quiet place to film, but you must return to the group in 10 minutes with a finished filmed cooking show segment. Then everyone gathers to watch!

At the end, you can serve Israeli snacks to the campers if you want!

CASINO NIGHT: Content Card Bingo

JAR — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 20:53:09 +0000

Come play bingo using the cards of the Goodman deck. It's more than just regular bingo, it's also Israel trivia!

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Background Cards

Program Duration:

30 minutes

Physical Space:

Indoor Space

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Explanation:

The game starts when all the players receive bingo sheets. A bingo sheet is a card/page with a 5x10 grid. 5 columns on the card correspond to 5 letters of the name of Israel in Hebrew "י-ש-ר-א-ל".

24 numbers per each card are random. Each column comes from a different set of cards (save for columns 4 and 5 which both come from People). The center of the card is Star of David that completes a diagonal, horizontal, or vertical line.

When the game begins, the caller selects cards from the Goodman Deck at random and calls them out by biographical information, followed by the name. As soon as the caller describes the picked card, and the players identify which name goes with which number, all the players mark it on their tickets. The winner is determined when one or several of the players complete the winning bingo pattern. The pattern can vary, depending on how hard you want to make the game. It can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal, or a full house (when all the numbers are to be covered).

Variations:

You can make the game harder by not announcing the name of the card, only the biographical facts for the event, person, place, etc.

Supporting Materials:

Bingo Board Template (filled).docx

Bingo Board Template (empty).docx

Tag into the Flag: An Israel Icebreaker

JAR — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:35:54 +0000

The campers will participate in an icebreaker that simultaneously engages them in conversation about Israel and puts them surreptitiously into the shape of the Israeli flag!

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

15 Minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Icebreaker - getting to know other people

The sense that people have all different kinds of relationships with Israel

Explanation:

The faciliator will gather the campers/participants on a large field or in a large open indoor space. They will be instructed that this will be a game of tag, but not a traditional game of tag. The facilitator will ask everyone to follow the directions of each task.

The first task – please find someone from a different city or whom you don't know from home. Great! You should all be standing in pairs, holding hands. (If you are shomer n’giah, you may find an alternative to holding hands, of course.)

Next, please discuss and add up among the two of you how many years you have been at your camp. Now, find another pair that matches (or comes close to) your number. Great! You should now be standing in groups of four.

Next task is to talk amongst yourselves and determine how many times the members in your quartet have visited Israel combined. If you are playing this game with staff and have a shaliach in your foursome, consider yourselves lucky! You have a lifer! And add the number of the non-shlichim in your group and then add 10 to your number. Now find another quartet that matches (or comes close to) your number. Great! You should now be in standing in groups of eight.

Now this gets fun! Please now circle up, huddle, and go over who everyone is in your group and what they love most about Israel (even if they haven't been).

Your next task now is to find another group of eight that has at least one person in that group who has been to Israel! Great! You should now be standing in groups of sixteen.

Our next to last task is to get into 3 groups of 32. In order to do that, please circle up and huddle with your group of 16. A staff member will now bring to your group a slip of paper. Please read the slip of paper and accomplish your task!

SLIPS OF PAPER

(4 groups get this slip) Your task is to stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder with your backs right up against the long end of the open space, facing the space. There will be another group with this same assignment. Please include them in your line. There are three other groups getting this slip of paper. You can only partner with one other group and your two groups must be standing opposite and facing the other two groups.

(2 groups get this slip) Your task is to create a standing equilateral triangle in the very center of the field using all 16 people in your group. There will be another group with this same assignment. Please ensure that their triangle and your triangle overlap to make a Magen David.

The faciliator should be in a place where a picture from above can be taken and the ideal way to end this program is to play Hatikvah on a loud speaker and get everyone to sing along while showing them an Israeli flag so they recognize the shape they're standing in.

Variations:

You can always do this with smaller/less groups.

Curricular Subjects:

Current Events

The Hebrew Alphabet Paparazzi

Joy Langer — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:20:08 +0000

Discover you know Hebrew when you look through your camera lens, do yoga, and eat glida! Look for abstracted Hebrew letters around you and photograph beautiful meaningful art. Move your body and get a great yoga workout spelling Hebrew words with your peers. Celebrate what you’ve learned, Ben Yehudah, and have some glida! This Hebrew literacy through art program is great for visual and kinesthetic learners.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

see attached materials list

Program Duration:

Full-day program

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

To learn kinesthetic and visual ways to approach teaching Hebrew

To use digital cameras to think abstractly

To learn some basics in composing a successful photograph

To learn about Ben Yehudah and the Hebrew language

To learn Hebrew letters and words through photography as medium

To learn how to incorporate yoga and movement into Hebrew literacy

To celebrate our national language with an ice cream party! To use culinary art to teach literacy.

Explanation:

1. Begin with a basic yoga warm up. Start with breathing exercises, mountain pose, downward dog, stretching, etc. Have a large Aleph Bet chart up somewhere participants can see it.
2. The facilitator will ask participants to make the sound of the bet. They will then try to move their body in the shape of an aleph. There are many ways of approaching this. Participants can move their body however they think it makes a bet. Be sure they move in ways that feel comfortable to them as no one should feel any pain. Ask the participants to come up with a few words that start with the letter bet. Repeat with a few other letters. Hand out alphabet sheets.
3. Invite participants to pair up to create letters and then eventually words.
4. Ask a few participants to photograph the poses.
5. Share a few successful photographs from magazines or from famous photographers. Discuss why they are successful. Introduce the terms: composition, contrast, focal point, and depth of field.
6. Share the abstracted photographs of letters from google searches.
7. Participants should make view finders with index cards by cutting a rectangular opening in the center of the index card to look through to search for letters and frame them before shooting.
8. Send participants in groups of 2-4 with a digital camera to photograph. Ask them to find letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and photograph them. Ask them to find as many as possible in the given time. If possible try to find letters that might create a Hebrew word. Give participants a few Hebrew words to “look for” around camp – see handout.
9. After participants photograph 5-10 letters in their groups, facilitator will send them to be printed.

Variations:

1. For younger participants and or beginning Hebrew language learners, facilitator can focus on the letters and create Aleph Bet books. You can do this in various styles. Participants can create group dictionary or individual books. Participants can come up with vocabulary word lists that start with each letter.

2. For older participants facilitator can expand this project into more conceptual art and create poetry or sentences. Each photograph can be thoughtful and used as a visual interpretation of the meaning of the word or phrase they write – example teva – where each letter is found in nature…. or a poem or teffilah about nature where the letters are all found in nature.

3. Participants can create acrostic poems with the letters.

4. Have a photo exhibit for the entire community and invite participants. Have the artists act as guides and explain their work to the viewers.

5. Older or more advanced Hebrew learners can create a yoga dance and tell a story highlighting the main words of the story with Hebrew yoga words and yoga art. They can tell any story or a brief biography of Ben Yehudah.

6. Younger participants can have a Hebrew letter scavenger hunt. To transition campers from one place to another, counselors can ask them to look for letters and photograph on the way. They can do this for a few days until they collect many letters.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Aleph Bet Handout.doc

Hebrew Literacy through Abstract Art Materials list.doc

Attribution:

Joy Langer

Stories Come Alive Late at Night at the Museum

JAR — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:05:28 +0000

Campers will create a sculpture museum demonstrating different stories from modern Israeli history. This is great for a group of campers who like to be physical and/or run around.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

none!

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

A Division/Age Group (30 – 50 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Campers will learn about the stories behind 4 important events in Israel: the foundation of the state, the Yom Kippur War, the illegal Aliya movement, and the 1977 Maccabi Tel Aviv European championship

A sense of the scope of different events throughout modern Israeli history

Explanation:

Step 1: Introducing the Museum

Introduce a benign concept such as "A Baseball Game" and ask a few volunteers to come up and create a sculpture that represents the theme of a baseball game. Once the sculpture is in place and has been frozen, the leader will invite the rest of the group to come walk around the sculpture (of frozen people) being careful not to get too close to the 'artwork' and certainly not to touch it.

Step 2: Stepping into the Story

The leader will then give instructions for the activity:
- You will be split into groups and each group will be tasked with creating four different sculptures, one for each story on the sheet (see attached resource). The rules stipulate that every member of the group must be a part of every sculpture. There will be four exhibits, and you must create your sculptures in order of the sheet.
- The leader will then split everyone into groups. Each exhibit will get 4 minutes of prep time followed by the groups displaying at once. The leader will walk around and invite one group at a time (and only one group at a time) to release their sculpture to walk around to see the others and then return to their sculpture form in time for the next group to take the tour. This will happen four times.

Stage 3: Wrap-Up

The leader should ask everyone what the experience was like being a sculpture of a frozen scene in Israeli modern history. Did they learn anything new?
How did they decide what moment to portray? Was there disagreement in the group?

IMPORTANT NOTE:

You are strongly encouraged to try coming up with your own moments in Modern Israeli History that you feel would be interesting for the campers to play with. They could be part of a curriculum that already exists, that the campers have been studying, or they could be new for most of the campers. (This activity can be used both as an introductory activity and/or as a review activity, or both).
Engage with your Israeli staff to think of stories they might know that would work in this activity.
If you are choosing new moments for this activity, you should be sure to give a summary blurb of the event along with several key elements and historical facts about the event. The events you choose do not have to be positive, happy events, though that is encouraged.
They should involve several characters, moments of suspense or achievement, and they should be uniquely about Israel.

Variations:

Variations in Format:

If you have campers who are really into drama, you can turn this into a drama program by having them act out a crucial moment in the story instead of creating a tableau.
This can also be done in a photography class. Take pictures of each of the tableaus (including close-ups of different parts) and display them around camp (or on your website) with an explanation of the story.

Variations in Content:

There are endless variations on the type of stories you use. For younger kids, you might want to choose simpler stories, or just places (like the shuk or the Dead Sea).

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Night at the Museum.docx

The Amazing Autograph Race

Carl Schrag — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:29:52 +0000

Celebrities. Paparazzi. Autographs. What could be more fun for a night at camp? This activity blends the red carpet experience with Israeli history and culture by challenging campers to collect the autographs of as many Israeli heroes as possible. In the process, they learn about important personalities in Israel's history and present-day.

Curriculum Themes:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Large Room (capacity 100+)

Number of Campers:

Large Group (75+ campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

A diverse array of people have made history in Israel

Many different visions come together to create the State of Israel

Explanation:

Stage 1: Setting the Stage

This activity does not require a lengthy introduction. The facilitator can ask campers in the crowd to shout out names of famous Israelis and one or two things they know about each of them. The facilitator could then name a variety of celebrities, ranging from historical figures (Herzl, Ben-Gurion, Kook) to present-day people (Omri Casspi, Bar Refaeli, Natalie Portman, Yair Lapid) and ask the campers if they'd like to meet them.
Campers can be divided by cabins, or in inter-age groups. Each camper receives an autograph book filled with photos and short bios of individuals whose lives and work have impacted Israel.

Stage 2: The Red Carpet

Staff members dressed in costumes representing each of the celebrities enter the space, and campers begin to approach them to ask for autographs. Celebrities share short stories, and then ask each camper a question before signing autographs.
Before bringing the celebrities into the room or the outdoor space where the event is taking place, the facilitator should review the rules of the game:
- Group members can work in small teams or individually.
- Celebrities will sign autographs only after engaging campers in conversation. Campers must do one of three things in order to get their autograph:
  - Ask the celebrity a question (Where did you live? What did you do to make you famous? Where did you come from? What is the thing you are most proud of?)
  - Provide a fact about the celebrity (i.e. Hey! I know you! You were the Israeli guy who plays in the NBA!)
  - Find something in common with the celebrity's life (Hey! You like basketball! I like basketball!)
If you'd like, you can also allow the celebrities to pose for pictures with the campers to add to the fun.
Once the allotted time is finished, see which group/cabin has the most autographs and proclaim them the winning paparazzi team. They can take a group picture with all the assembled celebrities.

Variations:

Variations in format:

This activity works best when there are a lot of people involved, in order to maximize excitement. It can be a campwide activity, or it might be an evening activity for a couple of units together.
Depending on the number of campers involved, you can increase or decrease the number of celebrities who participate.
The closing activity can include a vote for favorite celeb, an opportunity for celebs to share one sentence with the campers, or other avenues to reinforcing what campers have learned during the contest.

Variations in content:

While this program is designed with a diverse list of celebrities and types of celebrities included, you can also make it more narrowly focused and choose to base your choices on theme (politicians, artists, famous women, etc.).
The autograph book should be tailored to the celebrities you are using -- feel free to add or drop those who won't work for your program.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Autograph Booklet 2012.pdf

Attribution:

Inspired by Camp Airy and Camp Louise

Israeli Schlep

JAR — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:11:35 +0000

Schlep is Yiddish for ‘lug stuff around’ and while that might not sound like a lot of fun...it actually IS! In 'Schlep', groups of campers -- perhaps divided by cabin -- are asked to bring to the activity a pillowcase full of random stuff from their cabins. The random stuff then becomes iconic items in Israel as the competition heats up and the cultural funducation ensues!

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Israeli iconic symbols (menorah, shield, star of david, olive branch, etc.)

Israel's geographic diversity (Eliat, Jerusalem, the Negev, Ein Gedi, kibbutzim, the beach, etc.)

Foods native to Israel (falafel & pita, oranges)

Explanation:

Stage 1: Explaining the Game of Schlep!

Campers should be divided into equal groups and seated around the space in a circle equidistant from the center. (Make sure they are equidistant otherwise one team will have an advantage!)
The leader should stand in the center of the circle with a microphone or loud voice. Once everyone is seated in their groups with their pillowcases full of stuff, the leader should explain the game.
The name of the game is “Israeli Schlep” and here’s the way it works:
- The leader will call out a word that represents something found in Israel or something that represents Israel. Each group then has two minutes to create a representation of that word using people of the group and at least one object from the bag, and schlep it to the leader (or judges table if there is one). Points will be awarded based on speed and creativity.
The leader will then do a test round for no points. The leader should not just say a word from the list included below. Rather, the leader should describe how it fits in Israeli life. For instance:
- Ein Gedi is a beautiful park in Israel that contains a waterfall. Schlep over a ‘waterfall’.
- The national emblem of Israel is actually a Menorah. Bring me a ‘menorah.’
This way, the campers will learn something about Israel (there’s a waterfall? in the desert?) and will have fun at the same time!
The leader should stress that it's not just about putting objects together but using the people in the group to create a picture.

Stage 2: Playing!

THE LIST:

You will need this list to facilitate the program (please add to it and add to this template). Feel free to add your own, especially in consultation with the Israelis on your staff:

In Israel, many people eat FALAFEL AND PITA SANDWICHES. Schlep over a FALAFEL AND PITA SANDWICH.
The national symbol of Israel is a MENORAH. Schlep over a MENORAH.
The symbol on the Israeli flag is the STAR OF DAVID. Schlep over the STAR OF DAVID.
Israel is home to olive trees, lots of them. Schlep over an OLIVE BRANCH
Israel has lots of shoreline where people go to the beach. Schlep over some SAND.
The sun is bright in Israel, especially since the buildings in Jerusalem are all made of white Jerusalem stone. Schlep over some SUNGLASSES.
THE WESTERN WALL is the last remaining exterior wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Schlep over THE WESTERN WALL
Want to get around in the Negev (the Israeli desert?). Ride a CAMEL. Schlep over a CAMEL.
Another symbol of Israeli strength is the SHIELD. Schlep over a SHIELD.
In the Negev, there are a people called Bedouins. They live in really neat tents. Schlep over a BEDOUIN TENT.
In Israel, there is a park called Ein Gedi which has a WATERFALL. Schlep over a WATERFALL.
In Eilat you can get lots of things...including a SUNBURN! Schlep over a SUNBURN.
In Israel, some people live on a communal farm called a KIBBUTZ. Schlep over a KIBBUTZ.
Motorola developed the cell phone in Israel, and voicemail was invented in Israel too! Schlep over a CELLPHONE.
Israel is home to many fruits and vegetables. One fruit that grows in Israel is the ORANGE. Schlep over an ORANGE.

Stories in Motion: Israeli Culture Bridging Political Gaps

Dalia Davis — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 19:52:10 +0000

Stories in Motion engages participants with pieces of Israel’s history through creative movement and physical expression. As participants bring to life the story of an Israeli dance company that faces and overcomes a difficult political situation, the cultural exchange finds resonance in the hearts and minds of the participants.

Curriculum Themes:

A People’s Hope

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Roughly half of Jews in Israel are of Middle Eastern descent

Cultural exchanges can bridge political gaps in a way that discussion cannot

Israeli artists sometimes find themselves in dangerous situation when they tour because of people's negative opinions about Israel

Explanation:

1. Background information: The following background information will help the participants understand the story that this program is based upon. Facilitator introduces these three pieces of information to the group.

A. The Oslo Accords:
The Oslo Accords were bilateral agreements signed in Washington following negotiations, part of which was clandestine, between Israel and the PLO. The main concern was on the Israeli withdrawal from the territories of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, in order to allow the establishment of a Palestinian Authority for self-government for an interim period until permanent arrangements would be established. On September 13, 1993, the problems regarding the mutual recognition were resolved, allowing Rabin and Arafat to sign the Declaration of Principles at the White House in Washington.
(www.Knesset.gov.il)

B. Margalit Oved
Margalit Oved—dancer, choreographer, singer, actress, musician—an émigré from Yemen (in the early 1950s), began her career in her teens as one of the original members of Sarah Levi-Tanai’s ethnic Inbal Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her creative roots go further back, however, to her native Aden, where as a child she danced barefoot and carefree. Her story, told through her dances, is that of a Jewish Yemenite turned Israeli and then American. Despite her several transformations, she did not abandon her earliest influences. At the same time, she has internalized her experiences in the United States, including the raising of an American-born family, and used them to inform her more recent work.
(www.jwa.org)

C. Barak Marshall
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Barak is the son of acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and musician Margalit Oved. Since his accidental entrance into dance in 1995, Barak established himself as one of Israel’s most innovative voices.
(www.BarakMarshall.com)

Tell the group that they will now have the opportunity to learn more about a cultural exchange that overcame a situation of political strife.

2. Studying the Text:

Partner Study/Chavruta:
Divide participants into pairs and have them read the text “Barak Marshall: Dance Bridging Cultures.” Each pair receives three different colored highlighters and uses different markers to highlight characters, actions, and emotions respectively.

Group Discussion: Participants analyze and reflect upon the story as a group.

Guiding Questions:
*In addition to fear, what do you think the Israeli dancers were feeling in the moments before they performed?
*Do you think Marshall and his dancers anticipated receiving the reaction that they did from the crowd?
*Why do you think the crowd reacted as they did to the performance?
*What do you think about the dancer’s decision to perform despite the animosity they were receiving from the crowd? Do you think such cultural exchanges are worth placing one’s life in danger?

3. Dancing the Text

Role Assignment: Facilitator leads the group in creating a list of the characters in the story, along with their actions and emotions (a sample list is provided in the supporting documents). Characters can be human as well as inanimate objects. Participants choose characters from the story such that each participant has at least one role. They are asked to begin creating movements that express their character’s actions and emotions.

Costuming: Participants create costumes for themselves from white bed sheets or other material scraps. Facilitator provides markers, scissors, and safety pins along with the material.

Dance Creation: After creating movements for their particular role and getting into costume, participants dance their movements as a group while the facilitator reads the text. This is repeated two or three times in order to help the movements coalesce into a cohesive dance. Then the narration ceases and the dance is put to music with the story being told without words.

Dance Performance: Have the participants dance their piece one final time, but this time instead of setting it to music, play the attached youtube video as they are dancing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waw66l_Igzg). This video is one of Barak Marshall’s choreographic works.
They may need to repeat the dance a few times in order to fill the time of the entire video (their movements do not need to match up with what is happening in the video, but they may do so if they like).

Variations:

Younger Participants: It may be easier for participants to study the text and highlight the characters, actions, and emotions as a group rather than in partner study.

Older Participants: If the group is a bit older, the facilitator might want to include in the processing portion of the session, a discussion about culture as a means for bridging gaps.

Some possible questions to encourage discussion:

• Do you think there are any instances in which a particular cultural piece should not be included in a given performance or exhibition venue? Why or why not?

• There are an increasing number of places that will not allow Israeli performers or artists to participate in festivals and other such cultural exchanges. What do you think are the effects of such decisions?

• What do you think might have happened if before the performance the dancers had responded to the insults they received in Arabic by speaking openly in Arabic? Do you think the story would have ended differently? Why or why not?

• Do you think culture is the best mechanism by which political gaps can be bridged? Why or why not?

Additional Time/Sessions: This session can be a part of a lesson or a curriculum on the Jews of Middle Eastern descent, or the plight of Yemenite Jews. Part of the impact of the story is that Marshall’s mother is a Yemenite Jew, and many of his dancers were of Middle-Eastern descent, yet the audience was unaware that there was such a thing as a Jew of Arabic descent. The facilitator may choose to show the film “The Forgotten Refugees” or to address the history of this population in another way.

Larger groups: In order to accommodate larger groups, multiple people can dance each role and choreograph their movements together.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Barak Marshall Text.pdf

Israeli Culture Character Chart.pdf

Attribution:

Dalia Davis