Polis – The Jerusalem Institute of Languages and Humanities is a non-profit academic institution based in Jerusalem, Israel founded in 2011 which focuses on the humanities through the study of Western and Eastern cultural sources. The institute is located in

Musrara Musrara ( ar, مصرارة, he, מוסררה, also known by its Hebrew name, Morasha, ) is a neighborhood in Jerusalem. It is bordered by Meah Shearim and Beit Yisrael on the north, the Old City on the south, Bab a-Zahara to the east, and the R ...

, near the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem ( he, הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה, translit=ha-ir ha-atiqah; ar, البلدة القديمة, translit=al-Balda al-Qadimah; ) is a walled area in East Jerusalem. The Old City is traditionally divided into ...

. Students come from more than thirty

countries A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, so ...

from six continents.

History

Polis and its faculty have organized intensive language courses and as well as shorter seminars and talks in Italy, Peru, Argentina, the United States, Spain, Morocco, Finland, Sweden, and the Philippines.

The Polis Method

Theoretical Principles

The 'Polis Method' encompasses a variety of approaches and techniques for teaching modern languages applied to ancient languages. These strategies are unified under two major tenets:

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 and

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

. The MA degree in Ancient Philology is granted by either the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome or the International University of Catalonia in Barcelona.

Master of Arts in Near Eastern Languages

The MA degree in Near Eastern Languages is granted by the University of Navarra in Pamplona.

Certificate programs

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Certificates in language fluency

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

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, 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 Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States, located in the Shenandoah Valley. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College and has been characterized as a conservative Cathol ...

in Virginia, Wisconsin, Ave Maria University in Florida,

Bridgewater State University Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Attleboro, and Cape Cod, BSU ha ...

in Massachusetts, and the University of Kentucky 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 Sumerian or Sumerians may refer to: *Sumer, an ancient civilization **Sumerian language **Sumerian art **Sumerian architecture **Sumerian literature **Cuneiform script, used in Sumerian writing *Sumerian Records, an American record label based in ...

was also taught.

References

External links

Polis – The Jerusalem Institute of Languages and Humanities
{{Authority control Coordinates on Wikidata Philology Non-profit organizations based in Israel Research institutes in Israel