Massada College is fortunate to have a large international population, meaning that many students speak one or sometimes two languages other that English at home. They have often immigrated to Australia from other countries, and they bring with them a broad, international and tolerant outlook on life.

We foster this outlook and introduce it to all in our community through a love of the Hebrew language and through promoting a multicultural environment. Massada is proud to offer Hebrew.

The students of Massada learn to read, write and speak Hebrew in its modern form as it is the language of the State of Israel. But Hebrew is one of the world's most ancient languages still used today; it is the language the bible; so the teaching of Hebrew also provides a means of introducing traditions and values, and of helping to place the children and their work in an historical context. It strengthens the children's ties with Israel and with History itself. Hebrew is a beautiful, lyrical language that is often spoken and sung in our students' homes, so they are often feel empowered in enjoying their traditions when they have a better command of the language.
Jewish festivals and traditions often become enlivened by the language and even more valuable when the students can understand what is being communicated in its native language.

At Massada, we also find that knowing the Hebrew language allows the students to form strong bonds with each other and be very understanding when a native Hebrew speaker, our Israeli immigrants, arrive to the school for the first time - there are no communication barriers.

One of the most important tasks in teaching Hebrew is to develop a positive attitude toward this second language. Complementary to the sometimes necessary rote learning, this can be achieved through pleasant learning activities such as games, quizzes, songs, dance and art.

Practically, in order to cater for the wide range of student backgrounds a module system has been successfully developed at Massada College where students work on units in small groups at their own pace and are therefore not left behind in the pace of the regular class.  In this way individual programmes can be coordinated.

While Massada College values the learning of Hebrew, we recognise that some of our students are not Jewish and most of our students do not get the opportunity of continuing Hebrew at senior school. However, recent research into languages has shown that children who learn a second language to a high competency also find that comprehension of their first, native language and of other subjects also improve. Our teachers recognise this and aim to offer a well-rounded education where the learning of each subject and the development of ways of thinking are benefited by the introduction of our second language.