about ulpan

[mikefromCA]

so as i said in my introductions im planning on taking ulpan and then from there going into the idf through the mahal 2000 program. i would like know of some peoples experiences of living on the kibbutz and going through ulpan and if they learned enough hebrew to serve. also, i have no idea which kibbutz to choose to stay on so if anybody has any recommendations please let me know

[rafi]

Mike,
Welcome to the board. I hope your plans go as smooth as you hope.

Please read the forum thoroughly. There others with your questions. Most important, read the experiences of the last two MAHAL enrollments and the challenges to those who are not very good hebrew speakers.

Next is your search for a kibbutz during your stay in MAHAL. What are you offering the kibbutz to stay there?

[tavorlior]

each Kibbutz is different. basically, you have to divide israel into north, south and central, in terms of its education system. fi you want to learn hebrew, you stay away from the central part at all costs because that is where israelis are fluent in english and will want to practice their english on you, no matter what you do. the south is second place, but the weather is so nice and being from LA, i am biased in favor of that weather. and of course, i think the people from there are very good too. lastly, in the north is where people tend to know english the worst. so that is your best bet to learn english there. the ONLY ways you will learn english is (1) being forced to speak, read and write hebrew because you have no choice and (2) having the support of fluent israelis from time to time to translate words that are difficult to translate in terms of phrases we take for granted.