Learning about language- 3rd grade JS

This week, the 3rd graders learned a lot about different languages in the world. We learned that there are about 6500 languages spoken in the world today. We checked ourselves to see how many languages we can think of in the class (19) and how many languages can we recognize in a YouTube quiz (3). We learned about Esperanto, a language created in the 19th century by Ludwig Zamenhoff who believed one simple language can help improve communication between all humans and bring world peace.

All of these fascinating facts came from our discussion of the story of the tower of Babel. We explored the questions: was mixing the languages of the people a curse or a blessing? What are the pros and cons of having different languages in the world? How can we communicate with people who speak different languages? Today in class, the students wrote down the lessons they learned from our discussions. They learned that communication is possible if you listen and care about the other, and that it’s not about the language but more about the human connection. I was very proud of their meaningful learning.

Next week in Jewish Studies we will celebrate Tu Bishvat and will also conclude our unit of Torah creation stories with a special project.

In the meantime you can try similar challenges to those we tried in 3rd grade, and guess which language you’re hearing:

http://https://youtu.be/lyGB4nDEVD4

http://https://youtu.be/jmgpo0ZqdRU

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