"Halichoth Teman (YEMEN): The way of educating children"
by
 Rav Yosph QafaH zs'l
Leader of the Yemenite community in Eretz Yisroel &
Beit Din HaRabbani of Tel Aviv and then Jerusalem, serving 38 years as a Dayan.
Directly translated from Hebrew by Hhaim Parchi

The world of the children is not an independent world. It is a part of the overall life of the community. When the child learns how to sit he is sitting around older people. Kids sit with adults --not just when they eat at home-- but also at happy occasions. From here we can see-- from the beginning of his very first steps-- a child observes all the customs and manners by seeing and being part of everything. This (emulation) is learned by how others eat, sit, and discipline. Because of that, his (the child's) education becomes his nature. When the father goes to be a guest.. he takes his kids with him. Before he leaves, he tells them how to behave before the others. He tells him not to forget the rest of the people (around him). But what about the girls? The daughter is stuck like a shadow to her Mom. She learns all the mannerisms from her Mom.

There is almost no separation between youngsters and the older people. Because of the respect for the elderly and their behavior, youngsters are accepting to the traditions without any argument or question. They try to be like the elders in everything. Since everyone has the same rules and manners .. there is a peace between young and old. The Teacher is an influence and is like the continuation of the family. He is like a father. His influence comes to fulfill or perfect what starts in the home. The main part is to teach them Torah. In every city and village they had teachers. The place that they were teaching was not always a good place (I.E -- there were no chairs). Usually the place where they studied was in a simple room on the first floor. Most of the time this floor was like a dungeon where the grain was stored. Usually the floor was made out of mud. The walls of the home were nicer. On the floor they didn't put rugs made of animals. They were only in the living rooms of homes. The Morah had a budget for the straw for them to sit on in the class or he went to merchants for freebies. Besides the things they used to sit on, they put bricks or stones on the books during study time. They also had low benches. Every student brought his books from home. After study, he took them home. Since not every father could provide books, they had limited books in the study room. One would sit in the middle and everyone would share (in a circle) with him.

New Chapter:

Morah and methods of teaching:

The profession of teaching didn't have a lot of respect.... perhaps because most of the teachers were simple people. They didn't have special training as teachers. The teacher used to get a simple room and ask for a few rugs to put on the floor and preparing a little whip or a stick and then he would influence (start with) one of his relatives and then other students followed (signed up). This happens when they hear him read at the Synagogue. Some teachers were gullible. But some teachers were very learned like Rav. Shmuel Bar Shilat in the time of the Talmud. Or like Morie Chaim Gorah - a great Torah sage who taught many students. There was also the Rabbi and the teacher. Both of them were known as Rabbonim. But the teacher was known as the Morie of kids. The Rabbi was just known as The Morehe.

The students went to the study room when he was 3 and a half years -- not to be taught but to get him used to the environment and discipline. CHAIM NOTE: No pishers allowed in the Shul... No making in the Shul...

When the child arrived at 4 and 4.5 years old... The Morehe started to teach him the Aleph Bet. 

Temani pronunciation of Aleph Be:

Aleph, Be, Jimmal, Dole, Heh, wow, zayin, Cheth, tet, yuth, Kaf, Lamed, Mem-maftouho (meaning an open Mem), Mem-mafstumo (closed mem), nun (cafufo- rounded), nun (peshuto- continued), samach, Ahn, Feh (Cafufo-bended), Feh (Fashuto), sad (cafufo), sad (feshuto), Gof, resh, shin, tow

Then they teach the Aleph and Lamed symbol that goes together to represent KEL . Referenced page 50---The first time they are teaching them the order of Aleph Be. Then there are many different ways to teach the Aleph Beh (NO TH) in mnemonics. First mnemonic is groups of 2-4 letters together. Next mnemonic is first and last letters (Aleph Tav) in groups. The next mnemonic is the first and the seventh. Then the next is the halfs. The last one is a base 10 system that starts with Aleph Yud Kof. The six group is a grouping by the pronunciation system-- all letters that sound alike. The last one is has no particular order. Then we are learning the sound of all the vowels. Bahaalotcha--- Yud-Aleph/ Eight SHAMEN.... The Kamatz is pronounced. The holam is pronounced Pearl... Shvah takes an OO sound if a gutteral lettter follows (aleph Cheth Hey Ayn)... Woman pronounce the holom as eh. This comes from the hint from the Torah. It says : "and the sisters -----". After the kids finished learning the vowels ... they go to the truops (ta-amim). The name of the Ta-am tells you what it is supposed to do...