The Excellence Center Reviews

I spent two weeks at the Excellence Center
in June/July 2019 and learned so much even in the short time I was there. I was able to take Arabic language lessons and even go out into the community and practice what I'd learned with Arabic speakers living in the city.
I also spent time teaching students English in one-on-one sessions. I had some really incredible conversations with students in these sessions, and their perspectives on the world widened my own in many ways.
Everyone at the center was great. The center has a real community atmosphere. Scheduling and plans are pretty flexible, so as long as you're also flexible you should feel right at home.
I stayed with a Sudanese host family, and they were really wonderful. They suggested places for me to visit and helped me practice my Arabic, and just generally made me feel very welcome.

My name is Marta and I’m from Spain. I studied journalism in the university and currently I’m doing some freelancer work for some Spanish media. What I like the most is to write about social topics, which gives me the opportunity to go deeper in issues I’m interested on and to be able to understand better how the world works.
I came to Palestine just to experience myself how is the daily life here, coexisting with the eternal Israel and Palestine conflict. Here, in the Excellence Center of Hebron, I’m doing an intensive Arabic course and living with a host family. The best way to learn a language is always being forced to use it, to listen and practise it, for this reason, the combination of intensive course with the host family is probably one of the best ways of learning Arabic. I’m quite happy for all I learn in just two weeks and how I improve in communication skills and understanding.
A part from the lessons, the Center organizes almost daily different activities for volunteers and students, whose give to option to learn further more than the lessons themselves. Also it’s a meeting and socialization space, where everybody is very receptive to meet new people and understand and respect others, so students as stuff from the Center. This creates a healthy work environment, made of dozens of people coming from everywhere in the world and local Palestinian stuff and Palestinian children and teenager students who learn English on the Center from volunteers.
Among all this activities, in my case, I’ve participated in visiting the two main factories in Hebron: the Kufiye factory and the glass factory, and also in one of the human rights meetings the Center also organizes. I’ve also been to the hikes some members programme almost weekly to the natural sites of Palestine. But during my time here I also get some time to visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem, two quite important, historical and remarkable places in the world. Obviously, during my free time, I’ve found some time to visit Hebron, with its beautiful but also sad historical centre. Living with a local Palestinian family gives me the perspective on how locals life their lives despite the checkpoints, the restrictions and the tense atmosphere. Even this tough situation, Palestine and also Hebron are save cities to move around. Probably the most dangerous thing here is the traffic.
Staying with the Excellence Center in Hebron has been a completely recommendable experience to practise Arabic, to learn the way of living of an Arabic family in a complex and complicated political, legal and unfair situation.

Thank you to my teacher and to my host family to make me feel like at home :D

I was very happy to be able to come back to the excellence centre this summer after having been there last summer as well. I studied Arabic and participated in the Human Rights programme, both of which were fantastic. The teachers and staff at the excellence centre are all wonderful people who have truly become friends, which is part of the reason why I wanted to come back. Also, I met lovely new people upon my second stay. Please don't worry about feeling lonely when coming to Palestine alone, you will meet lots of people and make many new friends! Both times I have felt completely safe staying in Palestine, and both times I felt like I was staying for too short! (5 weeks and 3 weeks). If you have any doubts or questions please feel free to contact me. I would highly recommend the centre for everyone!

My name’s Orla, I’m 21 and from Bristol, UK. I study Arabic and International Relations at SOAS, University of London and took part in the Individual Dialect Classes for 2 weeks at the Excellence Centre in Hebron, Palestine.

Whilst at the centre I took part in some of their trips and tours, including one to the village of Dura which was great. I also participated in the weekly conversation class.

I really enjoyed my Arabic classes. I found them really interesting and useful. My teacher Myriam was so lovely and helpful with my learning, her teaching style was very dynamic and she was able to adapt very readily to things I wanted to cover in lessons even if that didn’t fit with the lesson plan.

Whilst in Palestine I made a trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the weekend. When I finish my studies I plan to go to Ramallah and Nablus too.

I absolutely loved living in Hebron, my host family totally fitted the Hebroni stereotype of being incredibly hospitable and kind. They didn’t speak any English so it was really great for my Arabic and I had lots of fun playing with the many children who seemed to always be around. I also really liked the city of Hebron, it’s not crammed with enormous amounts of things to do but there are nice cafes and gardens that me and some of the other volunteers went to and I found I was never without an invitation to someone’s house for tea, coffee or food.

I generally felt very safe in Palestine. People tend to really look after you and look out for you because of the culture of hospitality. I found as a white western woman I was treated differently to Palestinian woman and generally found the culture a bit conservative with regards to views on women. Sometimes this led me to feel unsafe as I (perhaps wrongly) was overly conscious of people’s intentions and felt anxious at night when walking alone. Additionally, while I was there-there were lots of protests in which tear gas is often fired. It didn’t make me feel particularly unsafe as it was definitely something you could avoid if you chose to.

There isn’t something I love most about Palestine, there is too much to write! I love the food (the maa’lubeh, hummus, falafel, kanafeh) the weather (was warm but not too warm - in late June and early July), the people were gorgeously kind and hospitality and I plan to embark on lots of walking trips so will let you know about the nature, but generally I’ve heard it’s beautiful.

A favourite experience was meeting my host family and playing endlessly with their granddaughter. We played loads of great games and they even took me to a Palestinian wedding.

I have found lasting impressions of Palestine. I really want to come back and volunteer at the centre and stay in Hebron for longer, two weeks was not enough!

I would definitely recommend the Excellence Centre to anyone wishing to gain a good grasp of spoken Arabic. It’s really immersive, with people engaging in conversation with you in Arabic from the minute you walk through the door. The staff and volunteers were a really lovely group of people and I had such a great (if short) time there.

I have just spent two weeks here at the Excellence Centre in Europe and can say I have loved every minute of it! The centre staff are wonderful, I could not have asked for better hosts and teaching English to refugees has provided me with so much new experience.

I was nervous to travel as a solo female but everyone here made me feel so at home. Just go for it if you are considering volunteering here!

The interns at the centre introduced me and the other volunteers to the city upon arrival which was very insightful and prepared me for the weeks to come. Having breakfast most mornings at the centre together was a lot of fun as we were about to have a good time before getting into work for the day! I had no issues with anyone I worked with, the centre is incredibly relaxed.

My name is Rosalind I am 22 years old and I am from Norway. This is my second time at the Excellence Center, last year I did Intensive Arabic for two weeks and this year I am doing Fieldwork and Academic Research Program for one month. I am currently a BSc student of Anthropology in England and came here to conduct research for my dissertation. The reason I came back was because I was confident that the Excellence Center would be able to help me with the research I conducted. As I do not speak Arabic very well the help from the Excellence Center was essential for me to succeed in the research I did.

The staff at the Excellence Center helped translating the questionnaire into Arabic, finding people to be interviewed and finding people to fill in my questionnaire. I even got the chance to bring the Questionnaire to Hebron University; this would not have been possible without the help from the Excellence Center.

Alongside my research work, I studied Arabic three hours each week. This was a great opportunity for me to improve my Arabic as I hope to become fluent in the language someday. Although Arabic was not the focus of my trip this time, I was able to really improve, thanks to my Arabic instructor and my everyday conversations with Palestinians. When learning Arabic at the Excellence Center you get the opportunity to learn Arabic one to one and to focus on what you find most important.

This is the second time I have I travelled in Palestine by myself and I have always felt safe. Everyone I met was very friendly and helpful. I also met many international volunteers who also travelled alone.

I took advantage of my free weekends to travel with some other international volunteers to Bethlehem, Ramallah and the Dead Sea. Bethlehem is probably my favourite city in Palestine, however there are many places I have not had the opportunity to visit yet. Bethlehem is a cosy small city where you can see the wall and talk to people about their memories when the wall was build, and most famously it is the city where the Church of the Nativity is. I have only been In Ramallah for a daytrip, but I am planning a second visit before I fly back to Norway.

I arrived in Hebron when it was still Ramadan. Experiencing Hebron during and after Ramadan seems like experiencing two different cities, both good in different ways. During Ramadan the day starts later and during the night people go shopping, buying ice cream and visiting family members. Living in a host family I had the opportunity to experience Ramadan up close with good food in the evening and walks in the city during the night. After Ramadan, life goes back to normal, the working day starts earlier and shopping is more of a daytime thing to do.

Overall I really enjoyed Palestine and the Excellence Center and hope I will come back one day, Inshallah.

I've been very fortunate to be chosen to work at the excellence center. I have had an extremely interesting time and made some amazing memories with new friends which I hope to keep for years to come. During my time here I have gotten to learn about the individuals who call Hebron home as well as the culture and language that has developed here over thousands of years.

I suppose the first thing that struck me was in the classroom. The students that come to the center are all so excited to be there. Palestinians are some of the most educated individuals in the middle east and I really enjoyed seeing so many people both inside and outside of the classroom just be so curious about anything from language and culture, to science and math. They also never were rude or mean spirited towards one another. In other classes I have taught, I've seen students be so nasty to one another. Teaching here has been very refreshing.

I know most people comment on how friendly people in this region of the world are. As an individual from the south of the United states I found the hospitality less shocking. What was very interesting to me was that everyone I ever interacted with knew every other person it seemed that I interacted with. Even from other cities at times. For a city as large as Hebron that is quite the feat. There are a lot of factors that build into this I think. Some of these include how large the average family is, a robust hospitality culture, as well as a thriving gossiping culture. You'll find that if you are ever in need of something or someone you will find someone that can help you out.

Another thing of interest to me is that though the occupation is always overhead, sometimes quite literally with jet planes making a point to remind everyone right above houses. The people here generally go about their lives and laugh and love one another and still open their houses to strangers and friends alike. I have to be honest I was told by other middle eastern friends that the people of Palestine are cold and rude but that has not been my experience at all. And to be honest once more I find their hope for their future here inspiring.

The past month at the Excellence Center in Europe has flown by. I feel as if I just arrived in Halle, a city I have grown to love, and just began interning at the Excellence Center, a place that feels like home. While I expected that the experiences of living in Germany and working at an organization like the Excellence Center would allow me to grow, challenge me, and give me a new perspective, I had no idea just how valuable these experiences would prove to be. The first week, in which I had intensive Ammiya classes and got to know everyone at the Center, allowed me to better serve my students, peers, and friends at the Center and communicate with them and with others in the city. Learning Arabic is even more rewarding for me when I can apply it in real life and allows me to be vulnerable, understand how terrifying it was for refugees to come to a country with a completely new language, and to learn from others about their language and culture. Though I struggled a bit in the intensive course as I am not a gifted language-learner, I’m really glad that I had that opportunity to get to know the people that the center serves, and I used what I learned over the next three weeks.
The second and third weeks of the internship combined teaching English classes with sessions and presentations on culture, integration, politics, history, educational psychology, teaching strategies, scheduled personal conversations with refugee peers, and community building activities within the Center. I had many opportunities to learn about Syrian politics and culture, the situation of refugees in Germany and Halle, teaching English as a foreign language, and how the Center operates and provides services to the community. Through presentations, classes, and intensive conversations, I was able to apply the information that I learned about integration and peoples’ realities to the English classes I taught, which proved very valuable to how I approached the internship. What is unique about the Excellence Center is the community that it creates between the staff and the people who come to the Center. After a series of presentations on the varied layers, issues, and components of integration into German society and on how the political history, social structures, and international relations of Syria contributed to the refugee crisis, the ability to have a deep discussion on these topics and on our everyday lives with two Syrian youth was truly invaluable. Something that drew me to interning at the Center was the possibility to have such an experience, as in my opinion, it’s not possible to serve a group of people without an involved knowledge of their situation, history, day-to-day lives, and their needs. Being able to apply this knowledge to teaching English classes has allowed me to become more understanding and hopefully more effective as an intern, volunteer, and global citizen.
The presentations and sessions on educational psychology, I had one of the most rewarding opportunities of my life—the chance to work with an underserved community to fulfill an education and social need has allowed me to develop myself personally and professionally while also learning about the situation and lives of immigrants and refugees in Germany. I have been able to develop personal connections with my students and gain an insight into their experiences, everyday lives and culture. Learning about the educational psychology that goes into teaching a foreign language has enabled me to further extend myself in these areas while opening my eyes to a new passion and interest. I also feel more confident and prepared in my teaching and methods, and I now have a deeper understanding of how to effectively motivate and meet students’ needs.
Beyond the practical skills that I learned from analyzing and presenting on the official Excellence Center teaching manual, which gave me a deep toolbox of classroom strategies and advice, the week’s focus on teaching and educational psychology highlighted to me the importance of providing these educational opportunities for refugees, especially opportunities that also encourage mutual, intercultural understanding. Though the trainings and presentations on educational psychology contained multitudes of information, strategies, rules, etc., the main focus on motivation made this clear to me. All of the refugees that I’ve worked with both at the Excellence Center and at home in North Carolina have demonstrated such a strong motivation to improve their lives, become a part of a new community, and create their own futures. English classes and learning the English language are a vein through which refugees can do all three of these things. However, even though refugees may have a deep, intrinsic motivation to improve their lives by learning this language, it is crucial that teachers, volunteers, and peers encourage and foster this motivation inside and outside of the classroom.
In the final week, the lessons that I learned over the time of my internship culminated. I am sad to leave Halle because of how much I learned, the incredible connections that I made with my students, and the community that I have become a part of at the Center. I had the opportunity to learn so much about the intersections of German culture and the refugee situation and Arab culture, the lives of my students, and about the ways in which I can serve the refugee community. I am so genuinely excited to keep in touch with my students and colleagues, who are now like friends and family. This experience gave me so many valuable skills, opportunities, experiences, and unforgettable moments. I look forward to returning to the Excellence Center in Europe as soon as possible!

My name is Lea, I'm 26 years old and I'm from Germany. I spend a bit more than 3 weeks in the excellence center in Hebron to do the intensive Arabic program. I studied Amia, the local dialect and it was really fun.

I learned all the basics about introducing myself, speaking about daily life, food, hobbies...

so I could follow some conversations at the end of my stay. I'm quite impressed by how fast I got used to the language without doing any language course before. I have to thank my wonderful teacher Ahlam, who really forced me to speak Arabic and explained everything again and again. Thanks to her I felt comfortable to speak to other people and could improve my spoken language every day.

Before coming to Palestine I really recommend you to learn at least the alphabet (I did so). So you can start right away to learn the words and the grammar. One time you arrive don't be shy to start talking. I had a lot of friends, who helped me every day to learn new words. I just kept asking them about everything and tried to remember.

Hebron itself is also really worth to visit. It's maybe the most important place to get to know if you want to understand the history and the actual political situation of the holy land. The people are very kind, welcoming and respectful. You're get always invited for a coffee or tea and people try their best to help you. My host family was also really lovely and explained to me everything.

I felt most of the time comfortable and safe. Besides of the streets, the city is super calm and you can walk alone everywhere you want.

So come to Hebron and be part of the excellence center.

Shortly, I got great experience in this excellent center. I have always wanted to interact with refugee people and help them. I got two weeks off and I wanted to spend my time on valuable experience. Even though I had only four days in the excellent center I have gotten a lot of amazing experiences. Usually, in this center, I participated in some English lessons and helped students. I felt they are eager to learn English to be able to get a job in Germany and to have a better future. In another class, we talked about different cultures and countries.

To be honest, before I came here, I did not talk a lot with people from Syria. I have been in Germany for about two months and even though I know there are a lot of refugees in Germany I did not have any opportunities to talk or interact with them. In this excellent center, I talked with young people about a lot of topics in the classroom and it was quite interesting for me. We talked about cultural differences, countries, and people. People here are very welcoming, passionate which makes me motivated and I had a lot of things to learn from them. Staying with my host family was an amazing experience and it was my highlight. I was not so familiar with Arabic culture before I came here but I experienced their culture as being a part of their family. Meeting a lot of people from different backgrounds was such a great experience and in only four days I had a lot of things to learn. This time I had a short time here, but I wish I can do it more volunteer activities in the future. Overall, I got an amazing experience in this excellent center.