The Excellence Center Reviews

Staying at the Excellence Center truly felt like being part of a family. I had the chance to stay in a host family which gave me the great opportunity of getting to know their everyday life and practice my arabic! The arabic lessons were very helpful, the classes are individual and focus on the most important things to learn. During my volunteering, I got the chance to teach in various contexts, at the Center, in schools, and in refugee camps, which was very interesting to see. I felt that the students were very eager to learn and very motivating. It was very interesting to get to know more about the Palestinian culture and people were very nice and open to internationals. I felt safe at all times and hope to come back to Hebron and the Excellence Center in the future!

My name's Jasmine, 26 years old from Manchester UK. I wanted to visit Palestine alone, and do an intensive Arabic course. For two weeks I did three hours per day with Bisaan -- wow she is an amazing teacher. It is one-on-one teaching and all my needs were met.

It is completely safe here. Even though I have been learning about Palestine for years, and have Palestinian friends in the UK, I was still a little nervous to come alone. After this experience I can say it is 100% safe, the people are SO welcoming, and I would recommend it to anyone, any age, from any place.

The experience in Palestine is unique and cannot be found anywhere else. The Excellence Center provides as an amazing host in Hebron. From the moment I arrived in Palestine they constantly made sure I was happy and feeling safe. With Arabic lessons, visiting cultural sites, teaching English courses; there is endless information and experience to gain. The host families are warm and welcoming, there is never a moment that you do not feel safe in Hebron. Today there is a lot of negative media about Hebron but once you are here it is not even noticeable.

Overall a great atmosphere for a productive learning/teaching environment for students and teachers alike. Winter is not so cold but tends to be less people I personally enjoyed the attention afforded to me as I was one of the few to live here in the winter time. I and many other were able to travel not only around the awesome historic city of Hebron but to many other cities throughout the region. The safety of the city is good, there are some stories and many exaggerated events but you can see for yourself how things actually are when you come.

I had the opportunity to deliver leadership workshops with the Excellence Centre in Hebron and it has been one of the best experiences I have had. My workshops were based on leadership, mastering self-awareness, and using influence and communication to empower one’s environment. I delivered 2 different workshops in English to university and high school students who engaged in the various activities and learning material over 7 days.

The Excellence Centre family have been a great host, where I have enjoyed our daily breakfasts together, assisting in any issues I had. Hebron is a lovely city with so much history to experience, complemented by lovely people. Hebron is unique in that you can truly see the effects of the conflict given the separation of the city into 2 parts. Therefore, I have learnt a lot about the conflict’s history and its effect on people’s daily life.

During the weekends, I had a chance to travel to Ramallah, Nablus and Jericho. It was so interesting to find out that every city in the West Bank is very culturally different. It felt like I was visiting different countries, all providing beautiful scenery and amazing experiences. Felt safe during my stay here.

I can say with ease that, throughout my 2 week travel in the region, my experience in Hebron has been the most impactful due to the lovely people I have met in this city. I leave hopeful and inspired by their strength and love and I hope to come back soon to see all their smiling faces . Love and peace.

I lived in Hebron for two months from November 5, 2019 to January 5, 2020. During that time I took five two hour individual lessons at the Excellence Center. My teacher was Dua'a Qasim. I benefitted greatly from those lessons and learned a great deal. I recommend Ms. Qasim most highly. She was highly focused and the time was spent efficiently. She used Whats App quite effectively to give me audio homework for further study and I appreciated that. Her love of the language and enthusiasm was infectious. My time at the Excellence Center with Ms. Qasim was both enjoyable and profitable.

My experience at the Excellent Center in Halle (Saale, Germany) has been amazing.
I had the chance to meet very special and warm people, who made me feel at home.
Rafat and Mutaz are excellent hosts, very easy-going, always ready to help and adjust things for each one of us.

I totally enjoyed my Arabic lessons with Rafat and I deeply appreciated his patience with me in explaining both Arab culture and history. I'm also very thankful to my English students for being so keen to learn!

I would love to come back at some point this year. In the meantime I'll keep studying Arabic online.

Great time spent at the excellence center. I had 5 lessons with Nadine over a week. I learned so much and was provided a free tour from the center into H2. I felt incredibly safe in the area: the hospitality is just amazing in Hebron. The coffeeshop across the center started giving me free tea and coffee simply because I had been there frequently. Great stay, great city, great program.

I spent 5 days at the Excellence Center receiving 1-on-1 Arabic lesson with Nadine. The instruction was superb. I felt free to change the lesson method how I pleased and Nadine was sure to switch from vocab, to writing, to listening comprehension with videos/conversation as I pleased. I have lived in Palestine before and have not felt safer than I have at the Excellence Center. The neighborhood is clean, the people are warm-hearted and hospitable and the environment is safe and caring.

I spent two weeks in December in Hebron studying Arabic at the Excellence Center. The program with my teacher was very well structured. She has a degree in education and the Arabic language. We worked on grammar as well as on the spoken Palestinian dialect. I learned a lot in this two weeks.

I stayed with a Palestinian family during this time and experienced life as the locals do. It was wonderful to spend time with the family and get to know more about the culture. For anyone considering to visit in the winter I would highly recommend preparing for the cold. Don't let the weather forecast fool you, the temperature doesn't seem low but it is VERY cold here! There is no central heating in most of the buildings so come prepared with you warmest clothes.

The Excellence Center is a great place to learn Arabic and experience Hebron!