Ein Bustan

After making my way up north last night (finally), I began working today by going to Ein Bustan, a bi-lingual Waldorf kindergarten for Arab and Jewish children in the area. This school functions in both Hebrew and Arabic, raising the children in an environment where their cultures are accepted side-by-side. The school is split into two classes, one ages 3 and 4, the other 4-6. I began by visiting the younger class, taught by Gibi, a Jewish man, and Amna, an Arab woman. Keeping in the spirit of Waldorf education, they would spontaneously break into songs throughout the day that all of the children knew. The songs mostly related to nature since Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish holiday celebrating trees, is coming up soon. The Waldorf educational philosophy favors music as a form of communication, especially with younger children. The teachers at Ein Bustan lead the children in songs in both Hebrew and Arabic.

Shortly after I arrived, the children sat down to lunch, which they began with a non-religious blessing of the food in both Hebrew and Arabic. Afterwords, they went outside to play together.

I headed over to the older class where the children were much more outgoing and all wanted to speak to me in languages I don't understand. My only way of communicating with them was by smiling and nodding (although at one point, a little girl came and sat down next to me and we started to drum together on a table. I'm not sure what sort of communication was happening there, but she seemed to enjoy it a lot.)

The teachers of this older class, also one Jew and one Arab, weren't very fond of the idea of me filming them at all which really put a bit of an end to my day. I did get an opporunity to speak with the Jewish teachers for a bit (the Arab teachers spoke little to no English). My poor Hebrew and complete inability to speak Arabic has proven to be a much bigger obstacle than I thought, especially with children.

Yael, the Jewish woman who teaches the older class, is studying to get her degree in education. She told me that she's writing her thesis on why Waldorf classes try to only use pentatonic music when they sing together (for those who don't know the pentatonic scale, sing Amazing Grace). The pentatonic scale lacks the 4th and the 7th (F and B in C major or Fa and Ti). She claims that this gives it a much dreamier, less grounded feeling. She said that the scale was also much more pleasant to hear and more comfortable for the children. For those of us who speak music theory, we know that this is because the lack of a 4th and 7th completely eradicates the tritone, also known as the devils interval, and the minor 2nd, the two harshest and most dissonant intervals to the western ear. I wonder what the effect would be to only use this sort of music around a group of children who would otherwise grow up to fear and even hate each other.

I asked if there was a language barrier for the children, similar to the one I was experiencing. They conceded that there was, but the teachers try to overcome it by using both languages in daily conversation. Instead of teaching the children, "this is a fork, this is a table, this is a window," they merely use both words in Hebrew and Arabic to promote a more experientially educational atmosphere. (Big words there Amitai)

Ein Bustan is the only bi-lingual Waldorf school in Israel and, unfortunately, they end when the children move on to 1st grade. They are trying to build a continuing program, otherwise the options are for the children to either go to separate schools, or for the Arabs to go to the Hebrew speaking programs. This sadly diminishes the opporunity for them to grow up experiencing the cultures living right next door.

Tomorrow, I will be visiting a mixed Arab and Jewish choir, a project through the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Uri Ben-David. I will have a greater opportunity to film there.