ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://www.night-light.org/mystyles.css" /> <meta name='keyword' content='blind students, koine Greek, braille greek, braille hebrew, seminary students, ancient biblical languages, braille display, JAWS screen reader, biblical Greek, biblical Hebrew, classical Hebrew'/> <meta name='description' content='Provides information about the study of biblical languages for students who are blind using braille textbooks, computer software, and braille displays.'/> <title>The Experience of Hebrew Study as a Student Who Is Blind</title> </head> <body> <div id="top"> <h1>THE EXPERIENCE OF HEBREW STUDY AS A STUDENT WHO IS BLIND:<br> A CHALLENGE AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR UNIVERSITIES</h1> <p id="sarah"><a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com" target="_blank"><img style="float:left;" src="http://www.night-light.org/sarah.jpg" height="110" width="100">Sarah J. Blake</a></p> </div> <div id="left"> <h2>Mini-Site Navigation</h2> <p> <b><a href="langstudy.html">An Overview of Issues in the Study of Biblical Languages Concerning Scholars Who Are Blind</a></b><br> <b><a href="keyboards.html">Writing in Hebrew and Greek Using Your Keyboard</a></b><br> <b><a href="handouts.html">Preparing Accessible Handouts</a></b><br <b><a href="parsing.html">Parsing Notation Developed by a Scholar Who is Blind</a></b> <b><a href="hebrew.html">The Experience of Studying Hebrew as a Student Who is Blind</a></b><br> <b><a href="index.html">The Study of Biblical Languages: Information and Resources for Students Who Are Blind</a></b><br> </p> <script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/night-light/BzBQ?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/night-light/BzBQ"></a><br/>Powered by FeedBurner</p> </noscript> </div> <script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MadeAliveWeWorship?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MadeAliveWeWorship"></a><br/>Powered by FeedBurner</p> </noscript> </div> <div id="right"> <p> Sarah Blake is a licensed minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN). She is available to provide teaching or music ministry for your church. <a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com" target="_blank">Hear samples from some of her presentations</a> and contact her for booking information.</p> <h2>Support This Site</h2> <p> Development of content for this site is supported by your contributions, the sale of products through various affiliate programs, and Sarah's work as a writer, speaker, and in other areas listed on her <a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com" target="_blank">services page</a>. If the material on this site has been helpful or encouraging to you, please consider shopping using the sites linked here--and return to do your shopping anytime using these links to continue supporting this site.</p> <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=growstro-20&o=1&p=9&l=st1&mode=books&search=biblical%20Hebrew&fc1=000000&lt1=_blank&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="180" height="150" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4619726658333486"; /* Hebrew200x200 */ google_ad_slot = "5653848251"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 200; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <style type="text/css"> @import url(http://www.google.com/cse/api/branding.css); </style> <div class="cse-branding-bottom" style="background-color:#999999;color:#000000"> <div class="cse-branding-form"> <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box" target="_blank"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-4619726658333486:xa2j16j02g0" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="text" name="q" size="40" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> </div> </form> </div> <div class="cse-branding-logo"> <img src="http://www.google.com/images/poweredby_transparent/poweredby_999999.gif" alt="Google" /> </div> <div class="cse-branding-text"> Custom Search </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4619726658333486"; /* Hebrew200x200 */ google_ad_slot = "5653848251"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 200; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </div> <div id="center"> <a name="content"></a> <h2>Introduction</h2> <p> I originally wrote this paper in order to document my experiences as a Hebrew student at Anderson University in Anderson, IN, during the summer of 2007 as well as to record the results of some discussions regarding potential methods for improving the accessibility of Hebrew courses in general. I have received a handful of requests for information about how I managed it. For this reason, I have put the paper online. I hope that it is helpful to someone. It is important to note, for the benefit of those who need such information, that substantial improvement has been made in resource availability as applies to Greek since 2007. I graduated with my M.Div. in August, 2009, with Professional Distinction in Hebrew; however, in addition to two years of Hebrew study, I also completed two years of Greek study and a semester of teaching assistantship in Greek as part of that same degree. Those experiences are discussed in another paper.</p> </p> <h2>Discovering Hebrew</h2> <p>  Oh! Oh, oh, oh! I exclaimed.  I have seen one! I have to find it! I began frantically turning pages in a book which had been sitting near my Hebrew textbook. Locating what I was looking for, I began to shout and pound on the book.  There it is! There it is, there it is, there it is! Woo hoo! This is fun, fun, fun! </p> <p>  Would you like to translate that? asked Melanie, a fellow student who was sitting in on my Hebrew lessons. Her contagious laugh rang out over the room.</p> <p>  I found it! I shouted again.</p> <p>  I m glad, exclaimed Lew, my professor;  but what is it? </p> <p> I studied the page carefully so that I would not give the wrong information. Slowly I verbalized my finding.  A braille dot 5 is a daghesh! It s not used in my textbook, but it is in the Bible! </p> <p> Lew shared my excitement, and I became a new person. No longer a timid reader, I lit up and began to devour my Hebrew lessons as quickly as I could given the hurdles we were encountering. As my study progressed, I found that studying biblical texts in Hebrew opened up a whole new world of ideas for me.</p> <h2>The Barrier and the Dream</h2> <!-- google_ad_section_start --> <p> When I spent some time as a Christian ministries student in Anderson University's undergraduate program in the early 1990s, the possibility of attending seminary lingered at the back of my mind. However, for many years I failed to act on it due to a single barrier: the inaccessibility of biblical language courses. I longed to study Hebrew, and I knew that it certainly must be possible since the Jewish Braille Institute had produced a braille Hebrew Bible. In the summer of 2001, I learned that a blind student who had graduated from a Texas seminary was giving away her Hebrew Bible, I sent her an email requesting it. It sat in my possession, unused, for six years; and my parents often urged me to give it away since I would probably never use it.</p> <p> In 2006, I finally entered the Anderson University School of Theology as a Master of Divinity student. I decided that it was time to take on the challenge of learning Hebrew, whatever that entailed; and I began to search for information about what I needed to do and what resources I needed to obtain in order to make this possible. I was discouraged on many fronts, even by other blind people who had successfully completed Hebrew courses. Some told me that I would probably lack the intellectual ability to learn the language well due to the difficult nuances of the Hebrew languages. One said that I would need to be "smarter than everyone else in the class," and he was sure that I was not. He recommended that I take Greek because it would be easier. I only became more determined to learn Hebrew, especially when I learned that gaining access to Greek materials would be just as difficult. I would need to purchase a Greek New Testament as well as a textbook; and no Greek materials were available in digital braille files.</p> <p> I began my study of Hebrew in May, 2007. I have learned that the challenge of accessing biblical language materials is not unique to me, and solving it is not as simple as obtaining textbooks in braille or recorded format. In order to learn Hebrew effectively, I would need to become familiar with the methods of print Hebrew writing and the varieties of Hebrew braille that I might encounter depending on the time and means of production of the material I am reading. Technology affords me a wide array of new opportunities to access materials; but it also presents new learning challenges.</p> <p> I studied two modern languages prior to learning Hebrew. In both cases, I did well and was often bored with the slow pace in the course. My greatest difficulty was with memorizing vocabulary. In the process of learning Hebrew, my greatest difficulty has been with the challenges presented by decisions that braille transcribers have made which have rendered important information unavailable to me. This has slowed my learning considerably. In some cases, it has resulted in the need to re-learn some things. Since I was not familiar with Hebrew and Lew was not familiar with braille, these difficulties could not be anticipated, and my needs could not be accommodated ahead of time.</p> <p> Since blindness is a low-incidence disability, students in other seminaries encounter these same difficulties again and again when attempting to study Hebrew. In a number of informal conversations throughout the year as I sought information and assistance from people who had studied Hebrew successfully, I was frequently told things like,  I don t know anyone who has done this. I know several people who have tried and dropped out. They went to Bible college so that they wouldn t have to take Hebrew. One person is quoted on Dallas Theological Seminary s web site who took time to learn braille before beginning his Hebrew study. He says that initially he chose a course of study that did not require Hebrew; but learning Hebrew later enhanced his study and ministry. More recently, my contacts have begun to say,  If you find a way, please tell me what you did. For the sake of enabling more people to complete their studies with positive experiences, I have here documented my experience in the hope that it can be of benefit to teachers and students alike.</p> <h2>Arranging for Hebrew Study</h2> <p> I began my official journey toward Hebrew study a year before registering for the course. I felt that it was necessary to explore all avenues of possible study in order to locate the one which would allow me to gain the most accurate knowledge of the language as well as the use of braille and other tools for accessing Hebrew materials. In the end, I determined that there were no viable options except study with a class or tutor, preferably locally so that I could meet and discuss any difficulties I was having. Ideally, a private arrangement would allow me to utilize one of the texts which was available in braille from the Jewish Braille Institute.</p> <p> When I finally began making arrangements to register for class, I found that the research regarding course options was an important thing to have done. My dean was as concerned about finding an accessible course of study as I had been, and he asked whether there might be an accessible course somewhere else or whether I might consider studying Greek since the Hebrew professor s schedule was quite full. I prepared a letter explaining the options I had researched ; the materials I had obtained; my personal reasons for wanting to study Hebrew; my long-term plans for doctoral study, which would potentially require me to learn both languages; and a description of the materials I would need to obtain at personal expense in order to study Greek. The decision was made to offer an arranged course during the summer.</p> <h2>Resources for Making Hebrew Study Accessible</h2> <p> In the past, blind students have relied heavily on readers to assist them with accessing materials, including biblical language texts. Today, a number of resources exist which improve access to these materials. I have access to many of these resources; and part of my goal in language study is to learn to use the tools that I need to access materials so that I can continue with my studies in the future and use language resources as references for teaching.</p> <p> My search yielded a very limited number of textbook titles available in braille. While I do not advocate the use of recorded materials to learn languages, I broadened my search to include titles which may have been produced by Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, a nonprofit organization which produces recorded textbooks for students through the graduate level. No texts were available in recorded format.</p> <h3>Braille Texts for the Study of Biblical Hebrew</h3> <p> The Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) lists two texts for the study of biblical Hebrew available in braille: Thomas Lambdin s <i>Introduction to Biblical Hebrew</i> and Kyle Yates <i>The Essentials of Biblical Hebrew </i>. The books are listed in the JBI catalog with special publication dates which apparently represent the dates of transcription (Lambdin, 1978, and Yates, 1967). Since the Lambdin text was once used as a text at AU, it was chosen for use in my arranged course. Only after ordering it and comparing it to Lew s edition did I confirm that it was, in fact, a transcription of the 1971 print edition.</p> <h3>Resources for Learning Hebrew Braille</h3> <p> JBI distributes a book by Eliezer Katz, published in 1956, entitled <i>Hebrew Braille: A Manual for Hebrew Braille and Basic Hebrew</i>. I obtained two braille copies of this book along with the Hebrew Bible in 2001. My attempt at obtaining a print copy of this manual was unsuccessful; so we could not work through it together easily. The book illustrates the use of Hebrew letters and punctuation marks within the context of basic modern Hebrew vocabulary and explains the differences in the writing of Hebrew in print and in braille. I used it as a supplementary text while reading my first several lessons from the Lambdin text. Since the transcriber who worked on the Lambdin text did not include any notes explaining the use of special symbols when representing transliteration or significant decisions regarding braille usage (discussed later in this paper), this manual was exceptionally helpful in sorting out some particularities in my learning process and understanding why I was making certain types of errors in my exercises.</p> <h3>The Hebrew Bible in Braille</h3> <p> The Hebrew Bible has proved to be an invaluable resource for me. JBI has since made the Hebrew Bible available in digital braille files (discussed later); however, some differences between the digital files and the hard copy version have made working with the hard copy preferable during this portion of the learning process. The hard copy also includes prefatory information which explains important historical developments in the International Hebrew Braille Code. This information is vital to my understanding of Hebrew and affects the way that I utilize technology to produce my own Hebrew materials.</p> <h3>Using Technology to Access Hebrew Materials</h3> <p> In the normal course of study, I scan my textbooks, run them through an optical character recognition program, and use a program which converts text on a computer screen into synthetic speech to read the text. I use the same  screen reader to access text which is already on the computer, such as web pages and other electronic resources. The program also allows me to interact with word processing applications and monitor my own writing.</p> <p> The difficulty in using such a program with Hebrew material is that the speech output device cannot speak Hebrew. The program can display Hebrew on a braille display; but it does present some challenges. The program I am using is called JAWS. I do not know whether other screen readers will perform as well or better with Hebrew.</p> <p> I purchased <i>Scholar s Library: Gold</i> from Logos Biblical Software, which provides access to a number of biblical language resources. The software does not work well out of the box with JAWS. After much research, I learned that a user, Dean Masters, had written a set of complex scripts for JAWS which provide the ability to navigate through the interface; read texts; identify hyperlinks within the texts; and, most importantly when accessing the language resources, copy text to the clipboard for viewing in another application. This is important because the method of accessing the text within Logos does not make it easy to work with the braille display efficiently.</p> <p> Ehud Ben-Yehuda and David Wearein s <i>English-Hebrew Dictionary</i> and <i>Hebrew-English Dictionary</i> (Washington Square Press, 1964) are available for download from www.hebrewvisions.org, a web site available from the Jewish Braille Institute to provide downloadable braille Hebrew texts. In the absence of a usable lexicon, these resources in hard copy format can prove helpful. It is difficult to search braille files for words, especially using a qwerty keyboard, due to the nature of the computerized braille translation process. Braille is created using only six dots; so there are a limited number of characters available for the production of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. This means that characters are often exchanged between languages; so the dot pattern which is used for a c in English is used for a vowel point in Hebrew. The computerized codes which communicate to an embosser or a braille display regarding which braille characters to produce do not correspond with print symbols for English or Hebrew letters. The computer simply uses a basic set of codes to communicate with other computerized devices based on a set of  rules contained in a program. When the resulting file is opened by a sighted user in a word processor, it appears as a confused set of letters, numbers, and symbols. When the same file is opened by a blind person using a braille display or printed on an embosser, it makes perfect sense within the context of braille.</p> <p> My final set of tools for the study of Hebrew includes the Duxbury Braille Translator, a program which translates standard text into braille-format files, and a braille embosser. These tools allow me to produce hard copies of my notes and other resources as needed. This production is sometimes needed for a variety of reasons: the ability to reference a dictionary or study a vocabulary list; potentially the ability to read a Hebrew text which is not completely accessible using technology; and the ability to examine the proper use of spelling and other orthographic features.</p> <!-- google_ad_section_end --> <h2>The Study Experience</h2> <p> Since I could not find people who had studied using Lambdin s text recently, especially with the combination of technologies available to me, my Hebrew study has been very much an experiment. My professor and I have learned what problems existed by encountering them; and we have learned how to overcome them by devising and testing experimental solutions. This reveals the first element to successful instruction in biblical languages for a student with a disability: open-mindedness and flexibility on the part of both professor and student.</p> <h3>The Challenge of Working with Braille</h3> <p> Several differences should be noted regarding Hebrew braille.</p> <ul> <li>Braille is written and read from left to right.</li> <li>As discussed below, dagheshes and shevas are dropped.</li> <li>Vowel symbols follow the consonant which they modify.</li> <li>Limited cantillation marks are used.</li> <li>Stressed syllables are not marked.</li> <li>The metheg is not used.</li> </ul> <p> Lambdin s text begins with a general introduction of the Hebrew language and characteristics of Hebrew writing (orthography) and pronunciation. Lambdin uses transliteration to indicate the likely pronunciation of Hebrew words. The transliterations seemed unnecessary when we first began working with the text; however, over a period of time, I discovered that they served an unintended purpose. They assisted me in determining whether certain things had been omitted from the Hebrew braille which I needed to understand when writing Hebrew exercises. In time, I began to learn that there were rules that governed these pieces of information; but Lambdin does not explain them since such explanations are not needed for sighted students.</p> <p> In Hebrew braille, dagheshes and shevas are not used. This practices of omitting dagheshes and shevas began in 1944. The Hebrew Bible produced by JBI is produced using a copy which was originally transcribed in the 1930s. Only the prefatory material is new. The date of 1974 on the title page represents only the printing date. This explains why I encountered dagheshes and shevas when reading the Bible in hard-copy format but did not find them in the Lambdin text, which was transcribed in 197.</p> <p> The loss of dagheshes and shevas greatly hinders the learning process of the scholar who is not accustomed to working with Hebrew. For someone who has heard Hebrew read in the synagogue, perhaps the outcome of working with this material would be different. After a number of weeks, I finally remembered that two consonants never follow each other in Hebrew as they can in English. In braille, I might read the word é´Þ׸Ô, but what I am really reading is éé´ް׸Ô. Lambdin s transliteration of the vocal sheva aided in this learning process by reminding me that where I encountered two consonants, I should anticipate a sheva. Likewise, the transliteration of double consonants reminded me that in certain places I should anticipate a daghesh. The letters Ñ, Û, ä, and ê include separate symbols in braille for the stop and the spirant. However, in some cases, there is no means of transliterating the location of dagheshes; and I continue to search for reliable ways to overcome the problem created by the loss of the daghesh in braille. The best solution will likely be to use technology so that I can instruct it to include the daghesh.</p> <p> A significant difficulty occurred when my professor and I read through the prefatory material and discovered entire paragraphs and portions of tables missing from the braille text. The book was transcribed in the 1970s by hand; and as I have read through it, I have found many errors which are consistent with hand-copied braille errors and which suggest a lack of proofreading. Ordinarily, studying efficiently would mean that I might read on my own, do some exercises, and we discussed the lesson in class and had a test. The lack of integrity of the braille text has made this impossible. Much of class time has been spent comparing the text and correcting errors that cause me to learn things incorrectly, re-teaching things that I cannot learn clearly because lack of transcriber s notes makes portions of text unclear, etc. It has been necessary to alter assignment and grading strategies in order to compensate for the impact of these difficulties on class time.</p> <h3>Overcoming the Limitations of Working with Braille Texts</h3> <p> A limitation of braille is that it is bulky. The Lambdin text takes up two feet of bookshelf space. This means that I must carry about five pounds of book just to access the first 56 pages and the prefatory material. Since I often find myself referring back to a previous lesson to review something, look up a braille sign for clarification, or study vocabulary, I found it necessary to devise an alternative strategy for accessing material that I had learned. I began taking notes on my computer so that I could page through a file instead of carrying extra volumes of text. Accessing the text on the computer brings its own problems; but it provides me enough information to jog my memory that I am able to work with it.</p> <p> My computerized file is split into sections. It includes a chart displaying the Hebrew characters, their name, and the keystroke needed to produce them; a section with notes divided by topic according to Lambdin s treatment; and a section with vocabulary divided by lessons. I add to the notes section as I go along so that the subsections grow over time. In this way, for example, if I need to review the rules about the definite article, I have them all in one place.</p> <h3>Working with the Hebrew Bible</h3> <p> I found that working with the digital braille files from JBI was difficult. These files were not copies of the text from the hard copy. They represent an entirely new production which is likely meant to be more faithful to the Masoretic text. This text does no include chapter or verse numbers. The inclusion of chapter and verse numbers is a Medieval Christian practice which is helpful to scholars. It is helpful to me and Lew as we ue the Hebrew Bible as a resource for locating examples of vocabulary and braille usage.</p> <p> This dilemma meant that I needed to have access to the hard copy version of the Bible. We planned ahead on some days, and I brought a volume with me. On other days, we met remotely, using audio conferencing technology via the Internet so that I could utilize whichever hard copy resources I needed from home.</p> <h3>Blindness and Problems with Reading and Writing</h3> <p> I tend to make some unusual mistakes in reading and in writing Hebrew using the computer. The reasons for these mistakes are worth explaining because they are not mistakes common to sighted students. In order for a blind student to overcome these mistakes, it is important to be able to address any blindness-specific problems which may be affecting the learning process.</p> <p> I installed a Hebrew keyboard on my computer which is available from Logos Biblical software. Most of the characters on the keyboard correspond to phonetic sounds (e.g. the y key for Ù, b key for Ñ, k key for Û, etc.) There are some instances where this is not the case (j key for × and f key for ê). In Hebrew braille, a Ù is represented by the same character which is used for the English letter j. The Ø (as a spirant) is represented by the character for the English t; and the ä (as a spirant) is represented by the character for the English f. These correspondences caused me to make certain errors in writing which were incomprehensible at times (particularly the mispronunciation of Ù as an h sound as would occur in Spanish with a j or typing of × when what I clearly needed was Ù).</p> <h3>Challenges in the Use of JAWS to Access Hebrew</h3> <p> Since the JAWS screen reader has played an integral part in my study experience, some comments about its function are in order. JAWS is primarily a program for English speakers; but some developments have made it possible for users to access foreign-language materials, especially when using a braille display. Beginning in JAWS 6, support for Hebrew was included via a function called enhanced edit support. Some difficulties exist with this function.</p> <p> When displaying Hebrew from web pages, JAWS alters the display of text so that the Hebrew is displayed from left to right, which is characteristic of Hebrew braille. In all other programs, however, this feature does not work. This means that I have learned to read Hebrew in both directions. When learning to read from right to left, I often struggled with letter reversals.</p> <p> Another difficulty I encountered when using JAWS with Microsoft Word was that a number of Hebrew characters did not display at all. I could sometimes determine what these should be based on context; but I have not found a way around this problem yet.</p> <h2>Creating Accessible Hebrew Courses</h2> <p> As I progressed in my study of Hebrew, I became very passionate about the lack of accessible Hebrew courses in colleges and seminaries. I began to tink about what would be needed in order to make it possible for other people to study Hebrew successfully. All students do not have the same technology available that I do; and all students do not have the same skills for using technology that I do.</p> <p> Creating a Hebrew course which is fully accessible would require attention to textbook selection and production, the availability and usability of technology, availability of instructor or teaching assistant who is at least knowledgeable in the basics of Hebrew braille and technology, possible provision of one-to-one tutoring or in-office assistance, and attention to teaching methods. The need for such a course is great; and the benefits to the university, students, and the community are many.</p> <h3>Textbook Selection and Production</h3> <p> In order to ensure that a course is accessible, textbooks should be selected which can be obtained in braille, accessed easily using technology, or produced in braille with a minimum of effort. As mentioned previously, very few texts are already available in braille; and those which are available are very old and may contain a number of significant transcription errors. This suggests that new efforts should be made to make Hebrew textbooks accessible. If the state of technology can be improved so that Hebrew can be read accurately using a screen reader and braille display, and if workstations with screen readers and braille displays are available for use on seminary campuses by blind students who do not possess this technology, then electronic textbooks may be a viable option for making a course accessible. Otherwise, the best option for obtaining textbooks in an accessible format is to obtain files in Microsoft Word format which use the Unicode-based fonts so that they can be translated using the Duxbury Braille Translator and printed on an embosser.</p> <h3>Availability and Usability of Technology</h3> <p> The problems discussed earlier with using JAWS to access Hebrew would prevent many people from studying effectively. I am able to work around these difficulties because I have advanced knowledge of JAWS and Windows concepts and am not taking other courses along with Hebrew. I also have the advantage of possessing each piece of technology personally that I might need. Many students possess only a computer with a screen reader. Some possess a device called a notetaker which includes a braille display and may allow for some access to language materials. However, most students learn only the basic skills needed to use their technologies for the daily uses needed. They would not be able to alter the program as I have done in order to make it display Hebrew more effectively.</p> <p> Similarly, most students would not spend many hours searching for scripts to access Logos software. They would expect it to work when installed. If technology is to be used in the study of Hebrew, it should be both available and usable with a minimum of effort. The use of adaptive software for Hebrew study should be documented thoroughly; and documentation should be available in hard copy braille as well as other accessible formats.</p> <h3>Instructor or Assistant Knowledge</h3> <p> If the instructor is not familiar with Hebrew braille, having an assistant on site who can help with some aspects of teaching would lessen student frustration and speed the learning process. A bright student with good communication skills can communicate the location of a problematic word or sign within the text. A struggling student who has become frustrated or emotional and feels intimidated by the entire process may find this task difficult and overwhelming.</p> <p> Having a teaching assistant on hand who is knowledgeable in braille would also enable another creative adaptation to the learning process. Some of the exercises and tests could be done in braille, enabling the teaching team to determine whether a problem is due to a lack of understanding of Hebrew or a breakdown in the braille-to-print conversion process. Such problems could then be addressed in the teaching process and re-tested later.</p> <p> In the arrangement where an assistant is present, the bulk of communication about braille and print differences would fall on the assistant and the professor. An assistant could potentially serve a number of valuable roles, serving as a tutor as well as a consultant regarding the impact of blindness and the use of braille. The assistant who also has in-depth knowledge of technology could also provide help with its use in the classroom.</p> <h3>Tutoring or In-Office Assistance</h3> <p> If the blind student is integrated into a standard Hebrew course, tutoring sessions or in-office assistance may be necessary to address areas of special concern where braille and print communicate differently, where there are transcription errors in the text, or where the student is experiencing learning difficulties related to blindness. Examples include the omissions of dagheshes and sheva or keyboarding errors based on the unusual character correspondences discussed earlier.</p> <h3>Teaching Methods</h3> <p> Teaching methods have the greatest potential to impact the blind student s learning process. In the mainstream classroom, information written on the board should be available to the student. Objects used as demonstrations should be equally available to the student. In summary, visual information must be made auditory or tactual.</p> <h2>The Benefits of Accessible Hebrew Instruction</h2> <p> Providing accessible Hebrew instruction benefits the university and the community as well as the student. It enables the building of community through new relationships that require innovative strategies to accomplish something that has never been done. It equips ministers who may otherwise have given up preparing themselves for the work that God has called them to do. The ministry that takes place as a result of this equipping is ministry that builds up the whole body of Christ. For this reason, I hope that more universities whose mission is equipping people for ministry will make their courses accessible.</p> </div> <div id="footer"> <p> Sarah J. Blake is the author of two chapters in the 2011 publication, <i>Discipleship That Transforms</i>. She also presented a paper at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature entitled "Using Technology to Meet the needs of Biblical Language Scholars Who Are Blind."</p> <p> This document is copyright 2010 by Sarah J. Blake. For permission to reprint, please email Sarah at <a href="mailto:sjblake@sarahjblake.com">sjblake@sarahjblake.com</a>.</p> <h2>Do You Need a Guest Speaker?</h2> <p> Do you need a speaker for your church, college, or community event? Sarah Blake provides teaching on topics related to biblical studies, pastoral care, and ministry to seekers. She is also available to lead worship at retreats or special events. Visit Sarah's <a href="http://www.sarahjblake.com">ministry and services page</a> to hear samples of her presentations and get booking information.</p> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4619726658333486"; /* Hebrew728x90 */ google_ad_slot = "0460404163"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <p> This <a href="index.html">biblical languages mini-site</a> is part of a larger site providing information about living well with chronic illness and disability, Christian faith, and other topics. Please <a href="http://www.night-light.org">visit the rest of the site</a>.</p> </div> </BODY> </HTML>