Teacher Mike

Teacher Mike As someone who has learnt Hebrew myself I underst Teacher Mike is about learning language in a smart way.

In order to speak today’s Hebrew we need one, highly used vocabulary, two plenty of practice speaking and listening and three a supportive space that you feel secure enough to make mistakes and be playful. We have 3 main principles that we focus on in all our lessons and course. 1) We focus on speaking as the premier language skill. With speaking we can do what we really want to do with language - connect with others. 2) Technology - we use apps that employ spaced repetition learning, the most effective way to learn anything. 3) Community - our courses are taught in a group environment. This makes things more fun, motivating and more effective. You have people going through the same experiences and sharing the same goals.

*Technically it should be בְּבֵית קָפֶה (be-vet kafe). Most Israelis today say ba-bet kafe, so that's the one you'll hea...
01/10/2026

*Technically it should be בְּבֵית קָפֶה (be-vet kafe). Most Israelis today say ba-bet kafe, so that's the one you'll hear.

I put lists like this in my Hebrew newsletter, for those interested: teachermike.kit.com/d226141d86

27/09/2026

The show got cancelled. It's raining on the day of the hike. Your friend can't make it after all. In Hebrew, there's one word for how that feels, to be bummed out: לְהִתְבָּאֵס

It comes from the noun for a bummer, בָּאסָה. According to the Hebrew Language Academy, it's an Arabic word from a root meaning disaster, trouble, misery. Israeli Hebrew took that heavy word, made it everyday size, and then built a whole verb out of it:

I was bummed = הִתְבָּאַסְתִּי
That sucks = זֶה מְבָאֵס
Don't be bummed = אַל תִּתְבָּאֵס

You can also use it to cheer someone up. No need to be bummed, everything will be fine = אֵין מָה לְהִתְבָּאֵס, הַכֹּל יִהְיֶה בְּסֵדֶר

Do you like seeing words like this? Let me know, so I can make content that's actually useful to you.

🪑 Sukkot starts Friday, and the whole holiday runs on one Hebrew root: י.ש.ב (sit / settle).🪑 לָשֶׁבֶת — to sit🗂️ יְשִׁי...
24/09/2026

🪑 Sukkot starts Friday, and the whole holiday runs on one Hebrew root: י.ש.ב (sit / settle).

🪑 לָשֶׁבֶת — to sit
🗂️ יְשִׁיבָה — a meeting (yes, also a yeshiva: literally a place where you sit and learn)
🚌 מוֹשָׁב — a seat. Also a moshav, the farming village.
🏡 תּוֹשָׁב — a resident, someone who's settled somewhere

So where's the yud go? In מוֹשָׁב and תּוֹשָׁב the י isn't there and instead we get an "o" sound.

Save this for the sukkah 🍋 and test yourself: how do you say "Come sit with us" to a woman? Answer's in the slides.

חג שמח!

#חינוך #עברית

23/09/2026

Ever notice that Hebrew doesn't bother inventing a new word every time it needs one? פְּקָק is a perfect example — it means a cork in a w**e bottle, and it means a traffic jam on the highway. Same word, same root, same idea: something's blocking the way through.

The word itself goes back to Talmudic and Midrashic Hebrew, long before anyone in Israel was sitting in traffic. Modern spoken Hebrew just picked up that old "stopper" word and pointed it at the road.

Next time you're stuck in a פקק, at least you'll know the linguistics behind your frustration. Anyone else been in a brutal one this week? Tell me about it below.

🔑 I find that seeing connections through words that share the same root adds geniune enjoyment to my language learning a...
17/09/2026

🔑 I find that seeing connections through words that share the same root adds geniune enjoyment to my language learning and helps me remember words.
How many words do you know with the shoresh פ.ת.ח?
Let's have a look...

🗝️ מִפְתָּח - key (literally "the opener")
🚪 פֶּתַח - entrance / opening
🔓 פָּתוּחַ - open
👐 לִפְתּוֹחַ - to open

Once you see the pattern, you stop memorizing words one at a time - you start seeing families.

Save this one. Test yourself: can you use all 4 in a sentence?

#חינוך #עברית

14/09/2026

You pull up after a long drive and start unloading the car — in Hebrew, that's לִפְרוֹק. Straightforward enough.

But here's what makes the word interesting. פ.ר.ק — the root of לִפְרוֹק — actually shows up all the way back in Genesis, in Isaac's blessing to Esau: "וּפָרַקְתָּ עֻלּוֹ מֵעַל צַוָּארֶךָ" — "you shall break his yoke from off your neck." Even then, the root meant taking a burden off yourself.

Modern Hebrew just ran with that. You can פּוֹרֵק a suitcase, am******on, a piece of furniture — or you can פּוֹרֵק your stress, your anger, your frustration. Same word, same motion: putting down something heavy.

There's also לְהִתְפָּרֵק (to let loose) and the classic idiom פָּרַק עֹל (to shake off an obligation) — straight from that same verse.

What's something you need to לִפְרוֹק today?

✍️ One root. Four words you'll actually use this week.The root כ.ת.ב is all about writing — and it turns up in places yo...
10/09/2026

✍️ One root. Four words you'll actually use this week.

The root כ.ת.ב is all about writing — and it turns up in places you wouldn't guess.

📝 לִכְתּוֹב — to write
✉️ מִכְתָּב — a letter
📍 כְּתוֹבֶת — an address (literally "a written thing")
📰 כַּתָּבָה — a news article

Here's the part that gets people: כְּתוֹבֶת, the word for your home address, comes straight from "to write." An address is just something written down.

Save this, and try building one sentence with each word.

#חינוך #עברית

In 2011 I landed in Israel and could barely speak any Hebrew at all.Fifteen years on, I live on a small kibbutz in the n...
07/09/2026

In 2011 I landed in Israel and could barely speak any Hebrew at all.

Fifteen years on, I live on a small kibbutz in the north. I'm here with my Israeli wife and our two kids. I speak English with the kids, my wife and I speak a mix, and the rest of my life runs in Hebrew: my friends, and most of my work. I teach in Hebrew. I facilitate men's circles in Hebrew. I do couples work in Hebrew.

When I look back on these 15 years learning Hebrew, I feel a sense of freedom and a strong sense of belonging.

Here are six things I've learned along the way. If a few of them resonate — or you have reflections of your own — I'd love to read them.

בהצלחה — מייק

06/09/2026

You get a haircut in Israel, and within an hour five different people have said the same word to you: תִּתְחַדֵּשׁ. It's not "congratulations" and it's not "nice haircut." It literally means "renew yourself" — and Israelis say it for anything new. Shoes, a phone, a car, a new profile picture.

It started as a blessing over new clothes: תְּבַלֶּה וְתִתְחַדֵּשׁ — "may you wear this out, and then get a new one." A quiet wish for a long life. It's written down in Jewish law more than 500 years ago by the Rama, who also records an odd little rule: you don't say it over leather shoes or a leather coat, because you'd be wishing for another animal to die to replace them.

Same root — ח־ד־שׁ — as חָדָשׁ (new), חֲדָשׁוֹת (the news), and חֹדֶשׁ (a month, named for the new moon). Is there a word in your first language that comes close to תִּתְחַדֵּשׁ? I don't think English has one — tell me if I'm wrong.

🌱 One root. It grows up, raises kids, and builds towers.The Hebrew root ג.ד.ל is all about size — getting bigger, and ma...
03/09/2026

🌱 One root. It grows up, raises kids, and builds towers.

The Hebrew root ג.ד.ל is all about size — getting bigger, and making things bigger.

🌱 לִגְדּוֹל – to grow, to grow up
🌾 לְגַדֵּל – to raise kids, grow plants, breed animals
🐘 גָּדוֹל – big, large, great
🏙️ מִגְדָּל – tower

Here's the bit that trips people up: לִגְדּוֹל is something you do (I grow), לְגַדֵּל is something you do to something else (I grow tomatoes). Same three letters, different binyan, opposite jobs.

And on its own, גָּדוֹל is slang for "awesome / nice one":
— קִבַּלְתִּי אֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה! ("I got the job!")
— גָּדוֹל! מַזָּל טוֹב! ("Awesome! Congrats!")

Another everyday one: עֲשִׂיתֶם מִזֶּה סִיפּוּר גָּדוֹל — "you made a big deal out of it."

Save this for your next lesson, then try building one sentence with each word.

#חינוך #עברית

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