Teaching Heterogeneous Students in Israel

I have been teaching in the University of Haifa for almost twenty years. The courses range from Slavic Folklore and various topics in Russian Literature to the Comparative Epic Poetry and Modern Folklore. The classes are heterogeneous not only in ethnic/religious composition but also from linguistic point of view. For almost half of the students as well as for me, Hebrew, which is the language of instruction, is not a native language. The material taught represents unfamiliar cultures. The explanations given confront different cultural expectations. This paper will concentrate on the strategies implied in my pedagogical work.