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Parent guide · Grade 2 Biblical Hebrew · Unit 4

Lesson 4.1 The Eh Vowels

Written for the parent. The Read aloud parts are written to your child; read them as they are. Do this parts are for you. Answers for you are marked Listen for.

At a glance

Time
3 sessions of 15–20 minutes
Goal
Find segol ֶ and tsere ֵ and say eh and ey. Read letters with segol and tsere. Read the animal words of Isaiah 11:6.
You need
  • Four cards
  • Crayons
  • A sketchbook or plain paper, and crayons
  • A King James Bible
Print
Worksheet A · the lesson page (it also has a short video (2:55))

Steps

  1. Do this together: Can you imagine a wolf curled up next to a lamb, or a lion lying beside a calf? The prophet Isaiah said that one day in the kingdom of God, even the fiercest animals would live in peace.

  2. Read aloud: The story. Isaiah wrote about the King God would send: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid… and a little child shall lead them. Christians have long read this as a picture of the peace of Christ’s kingdom. The animal words are full of eh vowels: זְאֵב ze’ev (wolf), כֶּבֶשׂ keves (lamb), נָמֵר namer (leopard).

    Read aloud: How Hebrew sounds. Segol is three dots in a little triangle under the letter: בֶּ beh, as in bed. Tsere is two dots side by side: בֵּ bey, as in they. Many teachers simply say eh for both; this course says ey for tsere to help you tell them apart.

    Read aloud: Practice. Read: מֶ meh, לֵ ley, כֶּ keh, שֵׁ shey. Then words: מֶלֶךְ MEH-lekh, בֵּן BAYN, לֵב LAYV, שֵׁם SHAYM (name).

  3. Do this: Say each word clearly; your child says it back twice. Point to a picture or the real thing when you can.

    • זְאֵב (ze’ev) [zeh-AYV]: wolf
    • כֶּבֶשׂ (keves) [KEH-ves]: lamb
    • נָמֵר (namer) [nah-MAYR]: leopard
    • שֵׁם (shem) [SHAYM]: name
  4. A little child in white with a red sash stands under dark trees with a lion, a leopard, a lamb, a kid and an ox resting around him; across a river at the left, William Penn makes his treaty with Lenape chiefs beside a tall ship, and a painted border carries rhyming lines from Isaiah 11: “The wolf did with the lambkin dwell in peace.”
    Peaceable Kingdom, Edward Hicks, about 1826. Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    Do this: Look at the picture together for a quiet minute before anyone talks.

    Read aloud: Edward Hicks, a Quaker preacher in Pennsylvania, painted Isaiah’s prophecy more than sixty times. In this version he added William Penn’s peace treaty with the Indians, which he saw as a picture of Isaiah’s peace coming true in his own land.

    Point and find:

    • Find the little child. Which animal is beside him?
    • Find the leopard. What is it doing?
    • Find the lamb.
    • Read one line of the painted border.

    Ask:

    • “Why would a wolf and a lamb living together be surprising?”
    • “What does Isaiah’s picture teach about the King God promised?”

  5. Show: Read: כֶּבֶשׂ

    Say this: “kaf with a dot + segol = keh.”

    Say this: “bet without a dot + segol = veh.”

    Say this: “sin at the end = s.”

    Answer: KEH-ves (lamb).

    Show: Read: שֵׁם

    Say this: “shin (dot on the right) + tsere = shey.”

    Say this: “end-mem = m.”

    Answer: SHAYM (name).

  6. Do this: Ask out loud. Let your child try first; help only after a real try.

    Ask: Read: בֶּ

    Listen for: beh.

    Ask: Read: לֵ

    Listen for: ley.

    Ask: How many dots does segol have?

    Listen for: Three.

    3 more on the lesson page.

  7. Read aloud: Make animal cards with Hebrew labels.

    Steps:

    1. Draw a wolf, a lamb, a leopard and a goat kid.
    2. Label them: זְאֵב, כֶּבֶשׂ, נָמֵר, גְּדִי.
    3. Circle every segol (three dots) in red and every tsere (two dots) in blue.
    4. Read each label.

    Tips for you:

    • Count the dots carefully: three for segol, two for tsere.

    Done when your child can say:

    • My four cards are labeled.
    • I can read each one.

  8. Do this: Your child picks one or more; you write the date.

    1. Write segol and tsere large and label them eh and ey. Copy and read מֶלֶךְ, בֵּן, לֵב, שֵׁם.

  9. Read aloud: Hicks lived in Newtown, Pennsylvania. Before he was a famous painter he painted signs and carriages, and he always said his preaching mattered more than his painting.

    • Mixing segol (three dots) and tsere (two dots). Count them.
    • Mixing tsere with the colon at the end of a verse (׃). Tsere is under a letter; the verse-end mark sits on the line.

  11. The parent writes a letter with segol or tsere on a whiteboard. Hold up two fingers for tsere or three for segol, then read it. Score a point for each.

  12. Say this: “Tell me what you learned today.”

    Listen for: Find segol ֶ and tsere ֵ and say eh and ey.; Read letters with segol and tsere.; Read the animal words of Isaiah 11:6.

  13. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

    Isaiah 11:6 (KJV)

    In Hebrew, from the Leningrad Codex: <span class="heb-block" lang="he" dir="rtl">וְגָר זְאֵב עִם־כֶּבֶשׂ וְנָמֵר עִם־גְּדִי</span> This is Isaiah’s picture of the peace of the coming King. Find ze’ev, wolf (second word), keves, lamb, and namer, leopard.

Spread over the week

3 sessions of 15–20 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

  1. Session 1. Warm-up, then read and teach the new idea and the new words. Picture study and show how.
  2. Session 2. Practice together, then start the project. Finish the project, then the sketchbook.
  3. Session 3. Narration, the game and the Scripture.