Lesson 14: Israel Lebanon

• The State of Israel was established

  May 14, 1948
• The State of Israel is an independent nation located between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the head of the Gulf of Aqaba
• The official language of Israel is Hebrew
• The literature of Israel spans a period of more than 3,000 years
• The Bible is considered the greatest masterpiece of Israeli literature and has a profound influence on human development
• Scholars based their teachings on the Bible, which were compiled in the Mishnah and became the basis for the discussions and commentaries of the Talmud
• Judah Ha-Leru was the most notable Hebrew poet during the Middle Ages
• Modern Hebrew literature is generally regarded as having begun during the first half of the 18th century with Moses Hayyim Luzzatto
• Lebanon has experienced a long succession of Mediterranean cultures including Phoenician, Hittites, ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Arab
• Writers from Lebanon with international reach

  • Kahlil Gibran
  • Georges Shehade
  • Michel Chiha
• In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat for forging a peace accord which ended the conflict between Israel and the PLO over the Gaza Strip and West Bank territories
• Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli who was against the conditions set in the peace accord
• Kahlil Gibran, born in Lebanon, is best known for poetic parables and aphorisms contained in works like The Prophet and Sand and Foam
• Kahlil Gibran's poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages
• Kahlil Gibran's drawings and paintings have been exhibited in the great world capitals
• Figurative language goes beyond the literal meaning of words
• Restating figurative language in everyday language can help understand the ideas that a poet wants to put across
• History and the Nation by Kahlil Gibran is an allegory
• History and the Nation by Kahlil Gibran features symbolic figures
• His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages
• His drawings and paintings have been exhibited in the great world capitals
• An allegory is a literary selection with symbolic figures working together in a set pattern
• An allegory has a second meaning beneath the literal one
• An allegory may be a story, a description, or a poem
• Everyman is a morality play where Everyman represents the ordinary person going through the journey of life
• To understand an allegory


  1. Identify the figure or object that has a symbolic role

  2. Find out what each one symbolizes

  3. Remember that the symbolic element might be a detail, a character, or an incident that has a meaning beyond its literal meaning

  4. Find out how these symbols work together in a set pattern to convey the message
• Elements of a story

  • Plot
  • Character
  • Setting
• Conflict refers to the struggle between two opposing forces in a story
• External conflict


  Struggle between the character and an outside force such as another character or nature
• Internal conflict


  Struggle within a character's mind
• Knowing the conflict in a story helps us to confront our own conflicts in our daily lives
• Connotation of a word is the image you have in your mind
• Denotation of a word is the meaning found in the dictionary
• To be a good speaker, you should cultivate a pleasant voice and clear articulation
• Willful


  A willful person is someone who acts deliberately and often stubbornly
• Cultivating a Pleasant Voice and Clear Articulation

  1. Clear articulation

  2. Courteous manner

  3. Pleasant voice

  4. Good choice of words
• Cultivating a Pleasant Voice


  Listen to yourself as you speak
• Clear Articulation


  1. Have tuning up exercises every day

  2. Practice breathing deeply and exhaling with specific sounds

  3. Practice saying specific sounds like 'aye'
• Preparing for an Interview

  1. Decide on the topic of the interview

  2. Contact the resource person for a convenient time and place

  3. Learn about the person to be interviewed

  4. Prepare the questions to ask
• Reporting Direct Speech (Statements, Imperatives, Questions)

  1. Change direct speech to reported speech for statements, imperatives, yes-no questions, information questions, and suggestions

  2. Note changes in punctuation, verb tense, and verb forms

  3. Use specific verbs to introduce reported speech based on the type of speech