Alef Bet Adventure Review
Publisher: Davka Corporation http://davka.com
Reviewed by Caleb Klomparens (age 14)

Alef Bet Adventure is a fun, interactive computer program that teaches the Hebrew alphabet to any student who is ready to learn letters.  The letters are taught in three steps: consonants, vowels, and words.  The student works through the program one letter at a time until the alphabet is learned, and then continues practicing with a vocabulary section. The program is recommended as a year-long course, but students could take more or less time depending on age and ability.

Alef Bet Adventure appeals to visual and auditory learning styles.  An important component of the games and exercises is recognizing letters from auditory cues.  Students build  letters, distinguish between similar letters, match letters and more in order to learn to recognize each letter with its sound.

First, the program starts by introducing the shape and sound of the Hebrew consonants to the user, then providing exercises to enforce these new concepts or to review previous content.  After the Hebrew consonants, the user learns the ten Hebrew vowels and blends consonants and vowels together to make syllables, using exercises just like the first step in ten sections. Next is step 3, vocabulary, where the user navigates through four rooms, bedroom, kitchen, church, and classroom, and clicks on the objects in the rooms to hear the Hebrew word and learn its meaning.  This is followed by exercises for learning the Hebrew words the user sees and hears.

We have used this program to learn the Hebrew letters and vowels. Even our 6 year old is learning the Hebrew letters. We use the program almost exactly as it was intended,  except we read the Hebrew words in step 3 without bothering to memorize them, because they chose everyday household words instead of words you would find in the Bible, and although these words are interesting, and provide great practice, our primary goal is to read the Hebrew Old Testament.

This program is currently priced at $ 49.95 and is available for purchase at the Davka corporation’s website: http://davka.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?product=199.

I recommend this program to learn the Hebrew letters and vowels, but not as a source of grammar or vocabulary. It is useful to listen to the Hebrew words, guessing how to say the words before you let the announcer say it. Also, included in steps 1 and 2 are songs to teach the Hebrew consonants  and vowels, like our English Alphabet song. We sometimes run around the room singing these songs at the top of our lungs.  I recommend playing that song as many times as it takes to recall the Hebrew letter names from memory. This program is a great stepping stone to build vocabulary.