New Rehovot center offers activities for Anglo kids
Haaretz
September 16, 2005
By Charlotte Halle

A new English-language center in Rehovot will offer activities for children of native English speakers, as well as classes in English as a foreign language.

"We originally planned only to teach English as a foreign language, but I've had so many requests for story-time and games [from native English-speaking parents] that we are now arranging it," says Dionysis Theodorou, a British-Cypriot resident of Rehovot who set up the new center after identifying a gap in English-language instruction in the area.

"They're more passionate than Israelis about learning English because they don't want their children to lose what they know from home and they understand the importance of English. It was a response I didn't expect," he said.

While classes at several levels for native Israeli adults and elementary and high school students have already started, Theodorou says that activities for children from English-speaking homes will begin in the coming weeks. He also has plans to establish a library at the center and to arrange for the screening of movies and guest speakers in English.

All the center's services will be presented at an open day at its premises in Rehovot's Sha'arayim neighborhood on Thursday, September 22 from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. For details, call (08) 945-4847.