ISRAEL LAUNCHING $20 MILLION PROGRAM TO TEACH SCHOOLKIDS BETTER ENGLISH:

 Israel will spend nearly $20 million on a new program to improve the English skills of its schoolchildren. At a news conference on 30 August 2017, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said that not knowing how to speak English well is hurting Israelis in business and in life. The plan will enable the hiring of 1,000 teachers who are fluent in English. Israeli students start learning English in the third grade. The focus will be on speaking the language. More classes will be dedicated to verbal skills, and matriculation exams will include more verbal testing. "We want to see children who are able to engage in an intelligent conversation anywhere in the world, who are able to correspond via email at a high standard, who can consume literature at the highest level,” Bennett said at the news conference. (JTA)