Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

> But more importantly, the students are
> anxious to get into real text and I am anxious to get them there.  Let's
> teach and practice the wayyiqtol first, since it is the most common form,
> ala Kittel, Hoffer, and Wright.  We can read a lot more Tanakh once we
have
> learned the wayyiqtol as compared to the participle in direct speech
> referring to the real present.

who said you can't do vayyiqtol orally and in class? 
you may have assumed too much (too restricted)  from a particular 'natural
approach'. all sorts of adaptations are possible for a text-oriented
course.
if a course is oriented to a text like jonah one gets plenty of everything
(except pual and hof`al, which are under 1% and simply taught as "u/a"
passive vowel replacements). e.g. ma lexa nirdam "what's with you
sleeping?" (participle) and vayyeradam (vayyiqtol/pausal). the first is in
my lesson one, the latter in lesson four. from lesson two on students are
already reading vayYAqom ... vayYEred ...

>  But why would I teach them something only to correct them later?

who is telling them it is the present tense?
 you can tell them that the form it is more than the present tense the very
first time you ever describe it in english. (which can be fairly early on
in the course. my new materials have that in lesson one of jonah.)

>  I am afraid that in a natural approach classroom, 
> the students reherse their way to the latter
> understanding which is false rather than the former.  I know, I know, the
> text will correct them.  But why would I teach them something only to
> correct them later?

as for 'correcting',
i would say adding. 
and i think most would agree that one cannot start with everything all at
once or they end up with a slow, heavy burden. simply let them know that
the scope is broader than English and add a footnote describing some of the
differences. 

and if lot's of biblical material is used and covered then the students
will automatically get proper balance.

randall