Stav Gare

Enc1102
9/9/15
11:30-12:20
Becoming Literate in the Military
My literacy narrative is written in an interview format because it is the best
way to describe my experience because I have been asked many of these
questions before. This interview format makes it relevant to actual events
and discussions Ive had with people.
Interviewer: Good morning Stav, thank you for meeting with me today to
discuss your overall military service and how it has affected your literacy
abilities. First I would like to know some background information about you
and why you decided to move half way across the world to join the Israel
defense forces.
Stav: Good morning to you as well. I know moving to the middle east is not
the average move for an eighteen year old girl, but it was most definitely the
smartest decision Ive made to date. When I moved to America when I was
three years old, my parents always made it their prime goal to instill a love
for my Jewish homeland, Israel. Being raised as a Zionist and attending
Jewish private schools my whole life led to my decision of moving and
drafting into the Israeli military. I believe that as a Jew, it is my inherent

obligation to give back to my country, and the best way of doing that is by
protecting and defending the land. In the Middle East it is necessary for there
to be an army because without one, Israel would not exist. Although I didnt
know much of the Hebrew language when I was eighteen, I decided that
joining the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was the most important step to take.
So as soon as I graduated high school, I squeezed everything I could into
three suitcases and boarded a fourteen hour flight to Israel.
Interviewer: Thats a very interesting and bold move for such a young
person. As you stated, you didnt know much of the Hebrew language before
moving to Israel, can you explain what Hebrew you did know?
Stav: As I mentioned I was sent to private Jewish schools my whole life and
Hebrew was a required language. From pre-k through high school we learned
the basics of the Hebrew language, including the alphabet and how to form
simple everyday sentences with correct grammar. Although we had Hebrew
classes in high school, our teachers mainly focused on teaching us biblical
Hebrew. Although Modern Hebrew and biblical Hebrew have the same roots,
the meanings and pronunciation of the words differ greatly. Because my
schools focus was on the understanding of biblical Hebrew, my literacy in
biblical Hebrew exceeded my literacy in Modern Hebrew.
Interviewer: So you only knew the basics of Modern Hebrew and moved to a
country that only uses that form of communicating and writing. Wow. Werent

you nervous? Did you know what level of literacy proficiency was needed for
the military?
Stav: Honestly, when I moved to Israel I decided that everything would
eventually fall into place as long as I stayed motivated and focused.
However, when I got to Israel I was utterly shocked. First off, realizing how
strong my American accent was, I refused to speak the basic Hebrew I knew
for the first six months in Israel. I was embarrassed and was misunderstood
plenty of times so it really aggravated me. Being thrown into a country by
choice and not understanding the language was definitely my most
challenging part of moving, but it was also my motivation to learn the
language. Not only did I need to learn Hebrew to be able to communicate
better with the people around me, I also needed it to better understand
Israels culture if I wanted to adjust to my new living circumstances. The
importance of knowing the Hebrew language became clear during my first
draft in the military. After I was interviewed, I received a list of jobs that I
could acquire with my low level of proficiency in reading and writing. This list
on a piece of paper would determine my next two years in my military
service, and by no means was I pleased with my limited options. Unlike most
militaries, people from all over the world join the Israeli military. Because
most those people dont know Hebrew well, the army has an optional Hebrew
military course. Thankfully, I received the option of joining the military
Hebrew course to improve my literacy skills. Once I would finish the course,
depending on how well I would retest, I would receive a new list of jobs. So I

took option B and was determined to try my absolute best in the military
Hebrew course.
Interviewer: Was the Hebrew military course successful in improving your
Hebrew literacy skills?
Stav: 100%. It definitely improved my Hebrew, but because most people in
the military Hebrew course were American, after class we would just speak in
English. The course definitely taught me how to read and write more
professionally, but I was still missing conversational Hebrew skills.
Interviewer: Well do all positions in the military require a high level of
literacy? Did yours?
Stav: Not all positions in the military require it, but mine definitely did. Even
before I drafted, my dream job was always to become a physical training
instructor. Being able to explain thoroughly and communicate to your
soldiers is a priority in becoming any type of instructor. Although my
conversing skills werent up to par with the average instructor, when I
retested for positions I received acceptance into the physical training
instructors course. Although I learned a lot over those four months in the
military Hebrew course and was accepted into my dream course, this was
only a third of my long journey.
Interviewer: What specific literacy skills do physical training instructors
need? What are the other two-thirds of your journey?

Stav: Well like any physical training instructor, you need to be able to explain
whats, hows, and whys of bodily functions. After my military Hebrew
course, I had a month before the physical training instructors course began.
During this time I worked as a secretary and on my free time I would read an
anatomy book I recently purchased. I would read it in Hebrew and
transliterate it into English until I became familiar with the basic terms. When
I started the course I needed to learn and understand Anatomy, Physiology,
and Nutrition in Hebrew. You could imagine how tough these topics are in
your native tongue, but to learn them in a foreign language is pretty difficult.
Thankfully, I now knew basic anatomy words in Hebrew so I understood parts
of the lectures. Besides the knowledge and understanding of what and how
our body works, I needed to know how to explain why. I needed to be able to
verbalize to my future soldiers the physiology of our bodies. Beyond knowing
and explaining a humans anatomy and physiology, I needed to be able to
instruct workouts. This was the most difficult yet most obvious part of being
a physical training INSTRUCTOR. I had to know how to yell commands,
explain and show workout positions, and invent/intertwine innovative
exercises. This course was another one-third of my journey.
Interviewer: Well my obvious next question is what is the last third?!
Stav: Well once I finished those four months in the physical training
instructors course, we each received interviews with different branches in
the military and each of those branches have different standards. Most girls

wanted to be placed in the air force not only because of the decent living
conditions, but also because of the soldiers we trained and workouts we
instructed. Thankfully, I was accepted into Israels Air Force. However, on my
base I was one of the only Americans out of a thousand people. Although it
was difficult to speak Hebrew even on my down time, it helped me practice. I
also had fun teaching Israelis some English phrases because their accents in
English sounded worse than my American accent in Hebrew. Slowly I decided
to embrace my American side and I would even throw in some English words
in my workout classes. For some reasons Israelis got a kick out of it so I used
it to my advantage. My favorite workout lessons were definitely instructing
spinning classes and Zumba classes, but those lessons werent taught in my
course. I had to then study these new techniques not just by text, but by
practice. Learning the Hebrew in spinning and Zumba classes by being active
helped me understand specific terms faster and more easily. After a month
of giving workouts I was assigned to teach officers in training. These groups
were generally around twenty male soldiers and one or two female soldiers. I
would have these courses for six months at a time and have intense
workouts with them three times a week. Our workouts focused on different
types of running methods. These running methods would prepare them for
their final physical examination at the end of these six months so they could
officially become officers. Besides for spinning and Zumba classes having
their own vocabulary, so did running. Thankfully my soldiers were amazing

and sometimes when I would get confused with words they would help and
correct me.
Interviewer: Overall were people supportive of you moving to Israel and
learning their language?
Stav: Yes and no. When I first joined the IDF, once soldiers heard I voluntarily
moved to Israel to join the army they would call me crazy and stupid. They
didnt understand why I would ever leave America and my family to join a
military with such little benefits. I would then explain to them that I did not
draft for benefits, but to give back to my country that protects my family and
friends. When others would hear this they then admired my motivation and
supported me in any way they could.
Interviewer: Do you see any differences between being brought up in
America and then being emerged into Israels society? Any literacy
differences?
Stav: There are plenty of differences between being brought up in America
and in Israel. Besides from the vast cultural differences, the vocabulary there
is different. In America where there is no mandatory draft, families dont tend
to use military phrases, but in Israel the teaching of military literacy skills is
very common. Nevertheless, language, like in any country, is taught
primarily the same way, which is through books and other concrete methods.
On the other hand, I learned the Hebrew language through the combination
of lectures, repetition of writing, and actively practicing. Everyone has their

own way of learning and mine was through the combination of audio, visual,
and kinesthetic learning. Moreover, I learned Hebrew literacy through
experience. My experience of moving to Israel, joining the military, and being
surrounded by the foreign culture and environment influenced and forced
me to learn this difficult, yet beautiful language of Hebrew.
Similar to Malcolm X and his institutional sponsor of literacy being an
unconventional one, prison, my institutional sponsor, the military, isnt a
typical institutional sponsor of literacy. Malcolm said that In fact, prison
enabled me to study far more intensively than I would have if my life had
gone differently and I had attended some college. I imagine that one of the
biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions, too much
panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that. Where else but in
a prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely
sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day? (Malcolm X, 5) This is similar to
my learning of Hebrew through the military because like prison giving
Malcolm X the time, tools, and motivation to become literate in English in
order to learn more about slavery, the military gave me the same. The
military gave me the time and tools in the Hebrew course and throughout my
service to become literate in Hebrew as well as the motivation to learn
Hebrew in order to become a physical training instructor. By being in the
military I had no distractions from learning Hebrew because I was surrounded
by it, just as Malcolm was exposed to books in prison. By my parents
instilling nationalism in me, I moved to Israel to join the military. Through the

military giving me the tools and time to learn Hebrew, the military became
my main institutional sponsor of Hebrew literacy.
Work Cited:
X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. "Learning to Read." The Autiobiography of
Malcolm X. (1965) Print
-