It’s easier than you might think!
1. Decide on the key areas required
Together with your staff, draw up a list of key areas that you feel are essential. This process could be fast and business-like, or you might choose to take this opportunity to explore with your colleagues what you really do feel is important for your students to know: geography? history of wars? Songs? And if so, which songs? Hebrew phrases? Etc
Choose no more than 7 areas.
Don’t only think words: Perhaps you’d like them to recognize various views of Israel? See a painting and name the artist? Hear a song and tell who sang it? Watch a film clip and name the characters? Etc.
2. Prepare the links
You will not be giving your students a list of questions and answers. You will give them the links… Take each issue you have decided on, and draw up a list of web links that offer information about each one (google is really really helpful!). Limit the number of links for each issue. This is what the students will work with. They may be asked any question whose answer can be find on these websites.
3. The students get to studying…
Hand out the list of links, and announce the date of the first round of the quiz. It is for the students to study the web pages, and build their knowledge.
4. Dip into the various sites, and draw up your list of questions.
Depending on the size of your institution, and the time you have available, you may wish to organize various heats: class quizzes before the whole school quiz. All you need to fix is that the final will take place as part of your Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations. Make sure the final prize is a good one… (Perhaps there is a prize for the winner of each class quiz, as well as the school winner). Feel free to send the list to the adults of the community – why not also have a grown-ups section?
For example…
You might decide that visual recognition of Israel is important. Send the students to this site, and tell them they will be expected to recognize and name the places on the full itinerary presented. At the quiz, project the images onto a large screen for all to see.
You may decide that basics of the Hebrew language are crucial. Send the students to a site with different Hebrew phrases that cover, for example, Getting Acquainted, Colors, Questions, etc.
Is it important for them to know the basics of Israel’s wars? Warn students they will be quizzed on all the basic information to be found on this page, or you might go further and note that each opening paragraph on each individual page about each war (War of Independence, for example) will also be quizzable…
Chag Haatzmaut 