The Intensive Biblical Hebrew course in Addis January 20-24, 2025, was successful.
The intensive course in Addis Abeba turned out to be a huge success. I had arranged for the use of two classrooms at the Evangelical Theological College (ETC), and this institution indeed offered very useful premises. It also gave me a promising local academic contact.
Initially my goal was to offer advanced Biblical Hebrew for my private students from the 2024 Ethiopian projects. However, it turned out that a class of 5 students wanted to have supervision at beginners’ level and learn how to use TheWell for their language learning. Instruction was handled by one of my private students. Two of these students are advisors in training in Wycliffe Ethiopia and students from my 2023 course for Wycliffe. They now have their own box and can pratice 6/24. One student is a beginner of Biblical Hebrew from ETC. Two other students are other former students.
I used the other classroom to teach five advanced students, two of my 2024 students as well as as three students studying at ETC. During the course we focused on Jonah chapter 1, 3 and 4. I introduced exercises for them and trained reading and translation. I also introduced them to the functions of the Hebrew verb. My main focus was to use my DePaCK method as a tool for a complete analysis of the text.
The most important outcome of the tour is that ETC students may commit to relearn Hebrew driven by the Hebrew text in order to eventually become certified instructors for BibleOL in Addis Abeba.
I have had important support from a number of people. Sigurd Grindheim and his wife Kidist are advising me on strategies to improve the project. Professor of Hebrew Bible Abeneazer Gezahegn at ETC as well as PhD student and OT instructor Henok Afework are interested in evaluating the potential of BibleOL for ETC.
Even ETC Principal Dr. Frew Tamrat meet my classes and got a first-hand impression of this new learning environment.
You will find the full program on https://theonlineprofessor.org/en/blog/152/