Polis – The Jerusalem Institute of Languages and Humanities is a non-profit

academic institution An academic institution is an educational institution dedicated to education and research, which grants academic degrees. See also academy and university. Types * Primary schools – (from French ''école primaire'') institutions where childre ...

based in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Israel founded in 2011 which focuses on the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

through the study of Western and Eastern cultural sources. The institute was founded by a team of seven scholars from different scientific backgrounds, religions, and countries, including Israel and is located in

Musrara Musrara (, , also known by its Hebrew name, Morasha, ) is a formerly Ottoman neighborhood in what is now West Jerusalem. It is bordered by the Israeli neighborhoods of Mea Shearim and Beit Yisrael to the north, by the Russian Compound and Kik ...

, near the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

. Students come from more than thirty

countries A country is a distinct part of the Earth, world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, List of states with limited r ...

from six

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

History

Polis and its faculty have organized intensive language courses and as well as shorter seminars and talks in Italy,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, the United States, Spain,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, Sweden, and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

The Polis Method

Theoretical Principles

The 'Polis Method' encompasses a variety of approaches and techniques for teaching modern languages applied to ancient languages.

Dynamic language development

Polis believes that grammatical structures must be learned according to their natural order of acquisition. It thus recognizes not only the student's continuous progression in language acquisition based on the four basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also the modes of discourse or literary genres – dialogue › narration › argumentation › poetry – involved in this progressive language acquisition. Taking these principles into account, Polis puts together and adapts a wide range of approaches and teaching techniques that have been developed since the 70s in the States and Canada.

Practical Techniques

Living Sequential Expression (LSE)

In the Polis LSE approach, students are presented with a series of sentences that express "sequences of logically connected actions" and they eventually understand the meaning of the sentences "by performing and then reporting on" the actions referred to.

Other activities and techniques

Activities that require the use of language as one of its chief components can help a great deal in creating a more natural immersive experience. With this principle in mind, Polis encourages students to attend extra-class activities such as the full immersion lunches, where students and teachers dine together while speaking exclusively in the target language.

Academic programs

Third-party Master of Arts (MA) degrees

Master of Arts in Ancient Philology

The Ancient Philology MA is dedicated to the study of both

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

and

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...

. The MA degree in Ancient Philology is granted by either the

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (, ) is a Roman Catholic university under the Curial Congregation for Catholic Education, now entrusted to the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, or more commonly called Opus Dei. It was started i ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

or the

International University of Catalonia The International University of Catalonia (UIC Barcelona) is a private university in Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Master of Arts in Near Eastern Languages

The MA degree in Near Eastern Languages is granted by the

University of Navarra The University of Navarra is a private Catholic research university located on the southeast border of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of '' Opus Dei'', as a corporat ...

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

Certificate programs

Underground_network_of_the_Herodium_fortress

Certificates in language fluency

Polis offers MA-level certificate programs in language fluency in Ancient Greek and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Other programs

Summer programs and international programs

In the summer, Polis offers several intensive language courses, both in Jerusalem and abroad. Courses in Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Modern Standard Arabic and Methods in Teaching Ancient Languages have been held in Rome, Italy and the US Venues have included the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome,

Christendom College Christendom College is a private Catholic college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1977. History 1977—2000 Christendom College was founded by Warren H. Carroll, a contributor at ''Triumph'' magazine. Carroll ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Ave Maria University Ave Maria University (AMU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Ave Maria, Florida. It existed formerly as "Ave Maria College" in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which was founded in 1998 and reestablished in 2007 along ...

in Florida,

Bridgewater State University Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Massachusetts, N ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

in Lexington, Kentucky. In the Polis Institute itself, during the summer, in addition to the language courses already mentioned, Classical Syriac and Spoken Arabic are likewise taught.

Language courses

In the regular school year (October – February) Polis teaches ancient and modern language courses. Ancient languages include Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Latin, Classical Syriac, and Bohairic Coptic. Modern languages include Modern Hebrew (Ulpan), Spoken Arabic, and Modern Standard Arabic. In the past Sumerian was also taught.

References

External links

Polis – The Jerusalem Institute of Languages and Humanities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polis Institute, The Classical philology Non-profit organizations based in Israel Research institutes in Israel Humanities institutes