Tamar Ben-Vered

Really a sweet woman--impossible to get to through e-mail, but an easy grader who honestly wants every student to learn to love the language. an easy 4 points, and i really feel like i have a grasp of the language conversationally.

Tamar is hilarious. The event that best describes her occured when a student was late to class (it was slated for 10-10:50 and he arrived at 10:07) and she congratulated him on his progress, as he had arrived at 10:10 the day before, she said at this rate, he'd be on time in a few more days. She is very cute, and always chipper, an Israeli of the old school. Class is mercifully short (only 50 minutes) but she fills it with LOTS of grammar, and not as much vocab as one would hope. The class had a broad cross-section of experience and ability, which added to the challenge of teaching us, but Tamar seemed to do well, and cared about your individual progress, requesting private meetings when she felt that there was a concept that needed to be explained, but she didn't want to waste the classes' time.

A charming old Jerusalemite, Ben-Vered gets the job done.

Tamar takes a bit of getting used to - mostly the students getting used to her very specific, old-school ways of doing things - but once trained well, this can be a very enjoyable class. The size (small) combined with the fact that there's only one section (so you end up with the same people for up to two years) creates a very warm, amiable atmosphere in the classroom, and Tamar facilitates this with her unexpected bouts of humor, interrogation (in hebrew) about random aspects of your personal life, and mild-mannered teasing. She's a good and caring person who teaches wonderfully without pushing the students too hard. Just try to be on time for class, do your homework, and resign yourself to her quirky and not always totally efficient style, and you'll do great.

Occasional homework, which are graded hilariously as "tov-, tov, tov+ and tov me'od" a few tests which are graded easily and a final.

Homework every now and then; Final, no Midterm.

Tamar is adorably irritating; she's got her way of doing things and nothing else will suffice. Also seems to have some sort of hearing impediment, but she's definitely got a good sense of humor. The class is early (9AM M-F) and you get an evil-eye chastising if you're late or miss class: that is, she might ignore you or not answer your question or something. Regardless, she is truly one of the "old stock"- you can't email her or any of that technological nonsense. She truly cares about her students and wants you to do well. Tamar isn't out to get anyone... she's just got her way of doing things and you'd better [want to] go along for the ride.

The pace of the course is pretty slow, sometimes maybe a bit too slow. It's way too early in the morning, but if you can get over that, then it's not so bad. She can be very annoying, especially when she totally ignores the fact that you just asked a question. Overall, the course is pretty easy, nothing challenging. Try to pay semi-attention in class, otherwise she'll start bothering you. Really, it may be annoying, but it's pretty easy.

Reviewer who had such a problem with Tamar probably was just a student who didn't do any of the work or never came to class. Slow pace of class actually helped us learn something without having to be overwhelmed by anything. Sure, getting to class at 9 is tough, but that's not Tamar's fault, and she's not a stickler for attendance, as long as you're mostly there and paying attention. She knows, however, when you're learning or when you're totally slacking. Don't screw around with her.

Charming? Tamar is really annoying and of course, the time of the class does not help (MON-FRI 9:00-9:50). This class was plain and simple torture and goes at a very slow pace. Tamar gives these annoying quizzes on Friday mornings because she knows that no one would normally show up. If you make a habit out of showing up late, expect her to poke fun of you somehow. If you dont take it personal, it's quite humorous.