The challenge of Hebrew's Final letters

It's not just North American students that have special challenges with Hebrew's five sofiyot (the letters that appear in a different form at the end of a word). It turns out that Israeli children do, too. Hypotheses from Israeli researchers attribute the difficulties to the lack of AlefBet songs and picture books that include final letters, as well as a larger emphasis by teachers and parents on the beginning letters of preschooler's names (like the Yud in יוֹסֵף, but not the final Fay), For North American children, many Hebrew primers do not teach the sofiyot until the latter part of the book.

So, how might you address the challenge? If you are introducing a Hebrew letter of the week with Jewish Life Vocabulary, explain the concept of sofiyot and integrate these letters as part of your Letter of the Week choices. For example, you could choose ס when introducing ְסְכַך OR you could introduce its final letter. Ditto for שָׁלוֹם and other words. 

As you experiment with this "innovation," consider whether sofiyot are best introduced once children have had a year or more of JLV/Letter of the Week OR if younger children can grasp them. On the one hand, this could feel complicated, on the other hand, English has both upper and lower case letters that are introduced as young as Kindergarten - Hebrew print includes just five letters in a different form.

Let me know how it goes! 

Nachama