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FEATURES & COMMENT

Interact in
Interact in staging Monster March workshops in both
Hebrew and Arabic schools for almost a
year now. The feedback has been great.
“The Monster March activity is very playful,’
Israel one teacher wrote. “The actor, Abraham…
Israel
managed to get all my students on their
feet and singing in English.”
Another contact at the Hebrew Arabic
theatre led to my third project with a
language school in Nazareth – a fascinating
city that welcomes thousands of Christian
Plays and puppets are an excellent way to get tourists from all over the world every year.
The Kamal-I school purchased an
children in Israel – both Arabs and Jews – to exclusive licence to use all my action songs

interact in English, as Charles Goodger discovers and study material and stage Fun Songs shows
at the theatre in Nazareth, and in September
I spent a busy week teacher-training to help
f all the countries I have known for putting on first-rate plays in familiarise teachers with the method.
lived and worked in during Hebrew, Arabic and English.
my 30 odd years in EFL, After talking to the Director for Arabic Personal impressions
Israel is the most fascinating productions, Mahomet Kundos, we agreed My EFL projects bring me back to Israel
Oand diverse. to work on an Arabic-English version of the regularly and I enjoy the wonderful climate,
Opportunities to teach English are limited, FunSongs Puppets and Monster Show for local marvellous food and friendly people – yet I
as there are many Jewish mother-tongue primary schools. can’t help wondering at the contradictions
English teachers from English-speaking Until that point these workshops had that beset this part of the world.
countries eager to spend time in Israel. been only been performed in Italy, and more When I first told friends and family I’d be
I found plenty of other possibilities. recently in Latvia, where I had lived for moving to Israel for a few months, the usual
When my wife was asked to teach Italian five years. This new adaptation involved comment was “But isn’t it dangerous?”
at Tel Aviv University, I took extended leave translating the Latvian parts of the script In the summer of 2014 I saw tourism
from my post at Bologna University to join into Arabic while the English stayed as it evaporate overnight after the tragic and
her. As well as teaching, I write packages of was. On Mahomet’s advice, I also made bloody Gaza war that July. And I remember
language-learning action songs that schools some cultural adjustments to the original a missile (rendered harmless by the Tel
and teachers can download from the website songs and puppet scripts. Aviv anti-ballistic system) fired from Gaza
and YouTube. The show was a great success and brought clattering down into the courtyard of our
I also stage bilingual puppet shows and me to the attention of the Israeli Ministry of apartment building in Jaffa. This was the
action song workshops which combine Education, which was launching the “Let’s one time I felt in danger.
entertainment, collective learning and Talk” project for Junior High schools. I myself always tend to tread carefully when
interaction. Performed well, these “FunSongs the question of Israel and Palestine comes up
Shows” can be highly effective. Kids learn Nationwide as so many people (who often know nothing
while having fun and expressing themselves “Let’s Talk” is a nationwide program about the reality of life there) have very
through music and mime, rhythm and rhyme. for schools, set up to stimulate English strong views.
conversation and interaction. Funded by I have come to admire the attitude of the
My fi rst break the Ministry, the US Embassy and a non- Arab Israelis with whom I have worked. They
One of my first EFL opportunities in Israel denominational educational foundation never discuss politics and just get on with
arose from a conversation at a party at the called AMAL, schools across Israel, their lives, though I do sense a deep-rooted
Hebrew-Arabic Al Saraya Theatre in Jaffa, including those in Arabic-speaking villages, sense of grief.
just outside Tel Aviv. Located in what was can choose from a series of freely-provided I also have great admiration for the Jews,
once an ancient tannery, the theatre is well one-hour workshops. who have succeeded in creating such a
In February last year I was asked by the prosperous land.
I admire rather less – my own business
Chief Schools Inspector of English Studies
CHARLES GOODGER at the Israeli Ministry of Education to interests notwithstanding – an educational
meet up with Dafna Hillel, an events
policy which invests so assiduously in teaching
organiser recruited to coordinate the
children English and Hebrew, but not Arabic.
program.
I managed to convince them that a
workshop based on teaching the action CHARLES GOODGER
song “The Monster March” (it teaches
14 parts of the body) was a good idea. is founder and CEO of
Abraham Goldstein, a talented Israeli- FunSongs Education.
American actor and teacher I’d been www.funsongs.co.uk
The Arab-Hebrew Theatre in Jaffa
introduced to in Tel Aviv has been
editorial@elgazette.com 35