The Excellence Center Reviews

A week ago I arrived in Al Khalil. A Dutch girl living in Denmark, teaching young refugee children from Syria and there for trying to learn some Arabic. Arriving with no knowledge of the Arabic language and the Palestine culture.. now leaving with warm feelings towards the people in Hebron and being able to understand and participate in simple conversations.

Besides from interesting, useful, motivating and inspiring Arabic language lessons, the people from the Excellence center showed me a warm, loving, safe, historical culture and city. Unfortunately a week's visit was too short and I will have to come back some day to meet my friends again.

No where before have I only met a generous and warm staff, caring and loving for all volunteers, students and teachers. If you would ask me what I enjoyed most during my stay in Hebron, I would not be able to answer. Ibrahimi mosque, the old city, Masqubije, Bethlehem. Not even to mention my stay with the loving host family, who introduced me to their everyday lives, to their families and friends, to their children, to their city and to their culture.

I will miss my host family, I will miss the kind staff at the Excellence center, I will miss the joy of learning new Arabic words and sentences.. but most of all, I will miss the delicious foods like humus and the best falafel in the world.

Not only will I recommend any body to travel here and stay for a longer period of time, I will also look forward to visiting Al Khalil again myself.

My name is Maya and I am currently doing my masters in humanitarian action at the university of Geneva. I volunteered at the Excellence Center by sharing some teaching techniques to local teachers, encouraging university students to learn English and writing articles about my experience in Palestine.

Unfortunately, my time in Hebron was much too short. In hindsight, I would have chosen a time where I can stay for at least a month and preferably in summer.

At the center, there are volunteers and Arabic learners. Unlike the latter, Volunteers do not have consistent schedules. Some days I would start at 11 am and finish at 6pm and others, I would start and 9am and be off at 3pm. It all depends on the weekly schedule we are given.

Throughout the week, the center organizes small trips to the sights that must be visited. On Fridays, the Center organizes longer trips to other cities in Palestine. I strongly recommend going with the group as they take you to certain secluded and unique areas that are not mentioned in the mainstream sights to see.

I was fortunate enough to be in Palestine for Christmas and didn't miss the opportunity to be in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. Naturally, it was fairly crowded but the atmosphere was festive and very enjoyable. The Center was kind enough to give us Christmas day off so I ventured with another volunteer to Jerusalem and roved the old city for hours. I was surprised to see foreigners carrying large wooden crosses around Jerusalem. I suppose it is some kind of pilgrimage that simulates the Christ's path to his crucifixion (?)

In Hebron, I live with a host family that will go above and beyond to ensure my comfort and happiness. They have two highly active children (whom I share the bedroom with) and always have delicious meals ready for when I get home. They invited me to join them to a relative's wedding in Jericho. It was my first time attending a conservative, traditional wedding with the women separate from the men and I truly enjoyed the experience.

With regards to the security in Palestine, the only time I felt slightly ill at ease was during our trip to a street where the occupation is extremely visible – Alshohada street. A young settler was doing his daily jogging with a riffle around his chest which to some, can be quite shocking. I strongly recommend to all visitors to take a stroll on this street for many reasons but I will let you figure out why for yourself!

Whether you are planning on learning Arabic or volunteering in Hebron, I would truly recommend the Excellence Center. The staff is kind and professional, the activities are fun and the overall experience is very enriching.

If one word describes my experience here it is “warmth”. I came to Hebron in the depths of winter (note to winter travelers: bring layers!) but warmth permeated every moment of my stay. I spent hours in the Excellence Center kitchen huddled around the fire, drinking sweet and warm Palestinian tea while exchanging sweet and warm words. My eagerness to learn the language and soak in the culture was received with an enthusiasm level that matched my own. Open arms, minds, and hearts opened doors for indelible friendships. I think I heard and used the word “habeepty!” (“my sweetie!”) as much as every other word combined, but it was never unmerited. Marwa taught me to wrap hijab. Shayma took me to a Palestinian glass factory. Abu-Mohamed showed off the Hebrew words he knows while he drove me on a tour through the city. My Arabic teacher Haifa taught me a traditional Islamic wedding dance and I showed her the Hora while we dreamed up plans for each of our someday-weddings.

And each of my new besties / habeepties are powerful and inspiring and brilliant. My teacher Haifa was my older-and-wiser role model until I learned her age. So now she is my younger-but-wiser role model. Her patience, energy, and Arab coffee fueled me through seven days of (brilliantly executed) 3-hour classes. The Center’s coordinator Marwa went above and beyond with around-the-clock assurance and support that made me feel welcome, safe, and loved. I am so grateful for these seven days, short but so full, of linguistic exchange and cultural give-and-take. Thank you for having me.

- Ariel Koren beginner Arabic course 12/21-12/29

I accidentally came across the Excellence Centre during a web search when I was planning a visit to the Middle East so as to improve my fledgling knowledge of Arabic. I was intrigued by the possibility of both learning Arabic and engaging in voluntary work in Palestine and decided to spend my Christmas holiday in Hebron. I have not regretted my choice.

During the first part of my visit I studied Arabic for three hours a day, during the second part I engaged in voluntary work with shorter Arabic lessons. I feel I made a great deal of progress with my knowledge of Arabic during a short period of time. This is largely due to the excellent teaching I received at the Centre. My teacher Sheyma introduced a lot of variety into the lessons, alternating grammar exercises with speaking activities and reading texts. I particularly appreciated having discussions with her about current affairs and learning a lot of vocabulary in the process.

Doing voluntary work was an opportunity to contribute to the education of Palestinian students. One of my activities was to assist students in composing a cv in English. It was a pleasure to see how the students engaged with the group activities organised by the volunteers and see how, during the course of two hours, their understanding about the contents and structure of a cv developed and increased.

In the evenings I always received a warm welcome from my host family who not only helped me with my Arabic, but also introduced me to a delicious variety of Palestinian dishes. It is the norm for female students at the Excellence Centre to stay with host families, enabling them to experience life in Palestine in a way that is not open to tourists.

The staff at the Centre are very helpful and take great care to ensure that students feel comfortable and learn about Palestinian history and culture. They organise visits within Hebron, such as to the old city or to a glass blowing factory, where skills going back to the Roman period are still practised. A particular highlight of my stay in Hebron was an excursion to the Dead Sea organised by staff from the Excellence Centre. On our way to the Dead Sea we stopped at the Mar Saba Monastery and a caravanserai containing, according to Muslim belief, the remains of Moses. Once on the shores of the Dead Sea we organise a splendid barbecue on the shores of the Dead Sea accompanied by dancing and smoking the shisha.

On my last day of Arabic classes my teacher took me to have breakfast in one of the famous eateries of the city. Whilst I had enjoyed fatteh - a dish consisting of bread mixed with strained yoghurt, chick peas, spices and olive oil - the fatteh I had in Hebron was probably the best I have ever eaten, not least because the added pine kernels gave it a particularly subtle flavour.

I will return home being able to look back at ten days with my knowledge of Arabic increased and full of memorable experiences.

I have always wanted to go to Palestine, but I was hesitating because of all things people are always talking about. Concerns about safety, culture, language… and about all that I just have to say: if you haven't experienced it, then don't dare to talk about it.

Getting to the Excellence Center was so easy! I felt safe at all times and people were friendly and welcoming. It was not the horrible experience everyone had told me about. From the moment I got into the van to Hebron I felt safe and welcomed. Once I walked through the door everything was even better. Marwa welcomed me and showed me the center, we had some tea and then started talking about how the center works.

We had lunch, she introduced me to the staff and my host family.
I didn't know a word of Arabic and still was feeling like home.
Everyone is nice and they do their best to make you feel comfortable.

They took us for a walk, we visited a glass factory and it was so amazing to see that kind of work directly in the place. I really had such a good time.

There are no enough words to express how grateful I am to them. I felt like home, people are awesome, food was amazing. I even had Arabic lesson with the most wonderful teacher ever. She was patient, kind and encouraging.

So if you are hearing all those who haven't been in Palestine, please stop it and pay attention to this: coming to Palestine was one of the best decisions. Please stop letting people feed fears, just come and be prepared to have one of the best experiences ever.

After three winters of revision for English literature exams I felt the need to warm up, literally and figuratively, for what people call ‘the real world’. Whilst I had no ambitions at all as an activist, I was looking forward to helping out in a West Bank community and learning something about living in a less than ideal political situation. My university essays had been read by a single, presumably rather bored tutor, I thought, it would feel good to do something likely to make slightly larger ripples.

The seven days I gave myself between my first click on the Centre website, and arrival in Tel Aviv weren’t exactly stress free, but there were enough youtube videos of happy, normal looking volunteers to keep me satisfied. What’s more, the problems that I encountered at the beginning of my trip were not ones that more days of preparation could have avoided. My dark eyes and olive complexion, combined with a passport carrying a stamp for two months in Morocco fated me to a long wait and an even longer series of questions. Perhaps it’s a good thing that I don’t sleep on overnight flights, since when my bags were impounded for five days in Tel Aviv, my irritation was somewhat dulled.

Thankfully, with the exception of my laptop, once here I felt that I could quite well do without my things. The whole experience of being looked after by a host family and by the Centre felt roughly analogous to the fleecy pink jumpsuit I was lent by my host mother to use as pyjamas. Relaxed, comfortable, and often exuberant: Palestine fitted well enough.

An important factor in my newfound contentedness was the food. I did not consider traditional, Palestinian breakfast at the Centre a poor exchange at all for my eight a.m. start. Flat bread, eggs, humous, falafel, soft cheese, tabouleh, and cakes with tea and coffee, is an undeniably good way to start the day. Between mouthfuls, breakfast is also a good chance to catch up with everyone at the Centre. Chat is conducted in a melange of English, dialect and classical Arabic, covering topics as broad as may be expected from the range of people at the Centre, from the European refugee crisis and US politics, to the local gym and who may or may not be whose habibi.

Breakfast, and Friday holidays are about the only constants in the very varied time table of staff and volunteers at the Centre. I usually spend mornings in meetings and writing and editing articles, but I’ve also helped conduct interviews for new staff members, participated in teacher training programmes, and assisted with oral exams. In the afternoons, twice per week for hour and a half periods, I take Arabic classes in dialect and MSA, which are regular enough but equally varied in content, often involving different media, from music to news articles. Afternoons are mostly spent teaching however, either in the Centre, or at local universities and schools. Trips to teach in local educational establishments are a great chance to see a bit more of the infrastructure here, and invariably involve invites to coffee or lunch by staff members delighted to welcome internationals.

Unsurprisingly, though, my favourite afternoons are spent on trips with the Centre. Though I enjoyed trips with a friend who I (easily) persuaded to visited from home, there’s nothing better than being shown somewhere new by a local, especially in a place as complex and politically charged as Palestine. With the Centre we visited the Old City and the famous ‘sterile street’, Al-Shahada where staff explained how restrictions imposed after 1967 had resulted in a mass exodus of Palestinians. We hiked in the nearby agricultural village of Battir, and visited a local refugee camp, Fawwar. We ate with Bedouin living in the village of Sussia and discussed residents’ struggle to retain the land after their wells and the caves that were their homes were destroyed by the ISF.

I feel very grateful to the people I have met here who have been so generous with tea, maklouba, and most of all the wonderful and sometimes terrible stories about their lives. I am delighted to recommend the Excellence Centre to anyone willing to get stuck in, and I guarantee you will get a lot back.

Talha, 29 came from Canada to learn classical Arabic (MSA) for a month with the EC in order to understand the Koran.

At Tel Aviv I was stopped by security for three hours and interrogated… three hours of stupid questions about my job in Canada, why I came here, if I knew anybody here, how long I’m staying here… It might be a lot harder to answer the questions the next time around now I know so many people here.

After the airport security issues, getting to Hebron was pretty easy. From the airport I got a bus to Jerusalem, where I spent two nights. The bus from Jerusalem dropped me on the Jewish side of Hebron (Khalil) and from there I got a cab to the Centre. My taxi driver also knew where the Centre was on Ein Sara Street, which was really useful since the street is pretty long.

After I arrived at the Centre, I got an orientation presentation which was good, telling me about safety in Israel, things I need to be aware of, some practical advice, and information about local customs.

Since I’m a guy, I don’t have a host family, so after presentation I was shown by Rafat, Centre manager to the EC dormitories. The dorms are about 10 minutes easy walk from the Centre, or 2.5 shekel 2 minute cab ride. Typically in the evenings I eat outside the dorms since food is so cheap if you just want like a falafal sandwich or shawarma. Sometimes though, I go to nicer restaurants, or I’m invited to a home cooked meal with someone from the Centre.

Palestinians are very warm welcoming people and it’s a very closed society, you know, it’s under occupation. They typically don’t get a chance to travel outside of Palestine, so people are really eager to share their experiences and ask about my life in Canada. I’m often told this is the first time that a person is meeting a Pakistani. Our passport says not valid for Israel on it, so that’s not surprising. But people also really open up here, about their lives. They tell you everything you know… the amount of times I’ve heard people say they’d love to own a car but they can’t afford it since cars are so heavily taxed by the Israelis.

One of my neighbours asked me round for coffee, and told his friends I was coming. Before I’d been sitting in his lounge for five minutes, his brother turns up to talk to me, and then some of his neighbours - just like that - that would never happen in Canada. People can really talk here… I guess partly because they don’t have a lot of outside activities to do, they often just sit in the lounge, talk and smoke, and relax.

Times like that were a good opportunity to use Arabic a bit. Fusha, which I’m learning, is also 70% similar to regional dialect (the pronunciation is different, and a few words) so if you have a grasp of Fusha, the transition to spoken dialect is quite easy.

When I started studying with the Centre, I was at Beginner one level and I studied one month for 15 hours per week. At the beginning, I knew how to read - not very well but - moderate level because I’m Muslim.

I felt from the lessons that I could quite quickly begin to start to break down lines from the Koran and understand it. Even after just two weeks I had enough vocabulary to start recognising a few words, here and there.

The lessons were good and pretty varied. We translated small suraah from the Koran, and one lesson we listened to the national anthem, mawtani (my homeland), and translated it.

Another cool thing about my experience here was meeting a lot of foreigners at the Centre. Like I’d never properly met a British person before, but I met a British girl here, as well as people from Denmark, and Norway, and everywhere. It’s rare to have the chance to meet people from all over the world like that.

We did a lot of trips together, both with the Centre and in our own time. The staff here took us to Battir one Friday, which was a very nice hike close to Bethlehem. The landscape is really striking - all arid and rocky - very different to Canada.

After Battir we went to Soussia, which was a rural Bedouin village. Soussia is under threat from occupation and settler expansion. They don’t have access to electricity because they’re forbidden to construct anything, and their wells are often demolished. Also the caves they’d been living in were filled in by the Israeli Government, so they’re living in erected tents. It’s sad, but really important to see how people are living in the face of the occupation.

My favourite trip was without doubt Jerusalem. Being in Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock was a really special feeling as a Muslim. It’s the third holiest site in Islam, so I felt very happy and very privileged to be able to be there and pray there. Jerusalem is a very beautiful place; there’s a lot of history here.

After Friday prayer at the mosque, I went into the Arab quarter, which is so lively with people buying and selling you get totally lost in the crowd. And at the same time as you see people selling like galaxy phones, you feel so much history every it’s like a museum. The ancient walls and cobblestone road, and so many old buildings. Every army that came here has left something behind; the Crusaders, Muslims, Jews, it’s an incredible place.

What’s also amazing is that when you’re in the old city in Jerusalem, you see all of the Abrahamic faiths. The Wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque is also the Western Wall, so when you’re the mosque you can see the Wall like fifty metres away. I felt like all of these religions with a special connection to this place are so close together; we come from the same source. But at the same time, we don’t talk to each other. The Jews and Arabs, but we don’t talk. Christians talk to me more, but politics poisons all of that.

There are so many things to see here in Palestine, and everything is so close by. Twenty minutes from the Centre, and you’re in Bethlehem, forty five, and you’re in Jerusalem. And there’s really local things to do as well, like Battir and Masaba.

The Excellence Center offer great opportunities for those who want to study Arabic. Classes are on a 1-1 basis, with really good and inspiring teacher. Having said that, what really sets the Center apart is the environment. The center provides a very friendly atmosphere where there will be a lot of social activities and trips outside your normal schedule. So not only will you improve you Arabic, you will also learn a lot about the culture and political situation in Hebron and the West bank.

Everything about coming to Palestine was a first for me: travelling on my own, being in the Middle East, living with a host family and teaching. Before I left Denmark, I was not sure whether coming here would be a good idea or not – but now I am so happy with my decision to just quit my job and to go on an adventure. I have been volunteering at the Excellence Center in Hebron for almost 3 months now and I have had so many amazing experiences and have met so many wonderful and kind people at the Center and in the city of Hebron.

When I arrived here three months ago, everything was new for me. I started off living with a young host family; my 'parents' only being a few years older than me. The family was very kind, but it was difficult to become a part of their daily routine without being more like the nanny of their two baby girls. They also lived far away from the Center, so I had to pay 10 shekels to go both back and forth everyday (this is 4 times the usual rate in Hebron). I enjoyed my family, but unfortunately my host mother at that time had to travel to Jordan, and I was not allowed to be in the house with the father alone. Luckily for me, the night before getting this disappointing news about having to move out, I met the fiancée of my host father's brother. She wanted me to meet her family. We bonded instantly and I moved in the very next day.

It was a rough start to my time in Hebron, what with all of the changes, but I am so happy that I moved. I love my current host family. They feel more like my real family than a host family by now. My host parents are exactly the same age as my parents in Denmark, so it is just like home. I have 3 brothers and 4 sisters in Hebron. They are all around my age. I spend most of my free time with my family. We talk, laugh, and watch television and they are always willing to answer all of my never-ending questions about their religion and customs. Sometimes the language can be a bit of a barrier, but we have made it work. One of my sisters is pretty good at English, so in the beginning she translated as much as she could. During the last three months my family have developed their English and I have gained a lot of knowledge of Arabic from them.

During my stay my host sister, the fiancée, has gotten married. It was a great experience for me to be a part of all of the planning that is necessary for hosting a Khalili wedding. The wedding was beautiful, she was so happy and I even cried. It was very overwhelming, and very different from the Danish weddings that I am used to.

I will miss my Khalili family so much.

One of my main reasons for coming here was the possibility to try teaching for the first time. In the future I want to study History and being a teacher is one of the career possibilities that a bachelor degree opens up for me. So I wanted to test out if teaching was even something I could picture myself doing. The Excellence Center is one of the only places I have found where you can teach without experience – so I came here to get that experience. I have realized that teaching feels very comfortable for me. One part of the role as a volunteer at the Excellence Center is to help the teachers with developing creative games and activities for the students. I have had so much fun discovering how the students learn the easiest way and also figuring out which games work and which don’t. The Center has provided plenty of material and books to be inspired by when planning lessons. The focus at the Center is to develop the students’ language, and I have been so proud when I could feel that that was exactly what was happening for my students.

I have taught my students a lot, but they have taught me even more. It has been very interesting for me to get an understanding of the young Palestinian peoples struggle under the occupation and the conflict with Israel. They have told me a lot about their daily life, both regular life and the one that is affected by the conflict. They have also taught me about their views on the role of the women in the Khalili society – and I have had to stop some very heated discussions between students with different views. Other than that I have learned about their opinions and points of view about religion, Zionism, culture and customs. The Center sometimes hosts Conversation Days at other schools and community centers. I have found them to be a really good opportunity to see the different layers of the society in Khalil. It is also a lot of fun to try to teach new students and be in new places. It is very heartwarming to give the students positive experiences with speaking English, which might be new for some of them.

I arrived here three months ago with absolutely no knowledge of Arabic at all. I struggled a bit in the beginning, but now I feel more comfortable using it. I have had a wonderful newly educated teacher called Marwa. She has done everything she could in order to make my lessons about the topics of my interests and to use different methods while teaching. I wanted to learn Palestinian Arabic so I could speak with the people that I am surrounded by. The staff at the center have done everything they could to teach me and to practice with me every single day as well. Before I came here I thought I would be better in Arabic than I am now, but according to the staff I am one of the starters that have learned the fastest, which is a great feeling.

The Center has been a wonderful place to be. The staff have done everything in their power to give me a positive experience. They have been my friends from the day I arrived. They have helped me understand the society that I am now a part of. They have explained about religion, culture, special occasions and customs. They have also done everything they could to be as flexible as possible about days off and planning of trips. The social life at the Center is a joy to be a part of. I love the laughs over breakfast and the political discussions over dinner. I am so happy that my colleagues and the staff at the Center have become my local friends. I will definitely go back to visit them in the future.

The Center has also organized many trips and ceremonies that I have been a part of. I especially enjoyed the graduation party for the students and the visits to the refugee camp Al Fawar, Suhada Street and the Bedouin village Susya. The party was a great opportunity to say goodbye to the wonderful students I have taught, and they were all so proud when they received their diplomas. The trips really gave me a special kind of goose bumps. It is very intense to see the results of the occupation and very touching to hear the stories of the people it has affected the most.

The customs of Hebron are very different than the customs in Denmark. It took some time and some inappropriate handshakes with men, before I figured out how to greet others properly. I have been here for so long that I now feel that I have most of the customs figured out. At all times I have had covered shoulders and knees. Sometimes it draws some unwanted attention to me when walking on the streets of the city, but it is never more than attention and looks. I have at all times during my stay felt safe and respected. I have always felt welcome. Wherever you walk people will shout out "Welcome!" to you. You will meet people everywhere that invite you for a cup of coffee or even a Friday lunch. I like this feeling that adds to the city. Every single person in Hebron is just a friend you haven’t met yet.

The culture in Hebron is exceptionally interesting. From the delicious local dishes such as stuffed eggplant, Makluba and Mansaf to the extraordinary way of celebrating weddings! The city never seizes to amaze me. The area is packed with interesting traditions such as the beautiful traditional dress and the slaughtering of sheep for Eid-Al-Adha. The architecture of the buildings is not that interesting, but the interior design is beautiful in most houses. From the creatively decorated roofs, to the almost caricatured design of the children's rooms to the beautiful, beautiful guest salons. All of that mixed with the excellent weather and the welcoming people makes Hebron a fantastic place to live.

When you have days off I recommend you to travel and see the country. Spend a night under the stars in the Bedouin village Susya, climb the roofs of the Old City in Jerusalem, swim in the Mediterranean sea at the beautiful beach in Haifa and explore the markets of Nablus. This country offers so many amazing experiences. You can travel with the friends you will most likely meet at the Center or you can travel on your own. It doesn’t matter if you are interested in history, religious sites, politics and the occupation, architecture, scenic nature or partying, the country offers something for everyone. If you are interested in historic sites I recommend Hisham's palace in Jericho, which shows architecture from the earliest Arabic period. If you are interested in Christian religious sites I recommend walking in the Jordan river close to Jericho, visiting the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and walking on the Via Dolorosa all the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Of Muslim sites I recommend visiting Abraham mosque in Hebron and Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Of Jewish sites I recommend the oldest cemetery in the world on Mount Olives in Jerusalem. The best places to get a closer look on the occupation is taking a stroll along the separation wall in Bethlehem, walking around in the Old City of Hebron and visiting the Bedouin village Susya, which is just south of Hebron. If architecture is more your thing I recommend the Jewish quarter in the old city of Jerusalem and the extraordinary tomb of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. If you are interested in scenic views and nature I recommend taking a hike in Bateer or spending time on Mount of Temptation close to Jericho. But if all you want to do in your free time is relax, party and have a good time I recommend going out in the discotheques of Bethlehem, grabbing a cocktail on the beach in Haifa or going to the Shuk Market in Jerusalem on a Thursday evening (market by day, party by night).

My last travel recommendation is a thing you cannot miss out on – you have (!!!) to visit the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is an “otherworldly” experience and is an absolute MUST.

The first thing I noticed about this center is how comfortable it is to be there. Really from the first day it was easy to feel at home. The staff, the students, and community that come by are all relaxed, joke around with eachother, and are welcoming in a genuine and calm way. We eat breakfast all together, people randomly make tea for eachother throughout the day, it really does feel comfortable and easy to be part of this learning family. This makes it easy to learn because it is a comfortable place and a supportive environment to make mistakes in Arabic.

Another wonderful thing about this center is how much it supports the education of people from Hebron. Most of the classes are for Palestinians who want to improve their English. I have a lot of respect for the way this center is truly focused on this mutual learning of both English and Arabic. It is inspiring to know that the infrastructure of the school is not just for the benefit of foreigners who want to learn Arabic, but is also, and maybe primarily, for Palestinians who want to learn English. By coming to this center that is located in Hebron, you participate in witnessing disparities, suffering and resiliency of the occupation in ways specific to Hebron and at the same time, you know that by supporting this center you are supporting an incredibly positive institution in society in Hebron and also in Palestine.

The quality of the teaching in the center is excellent. The teachers regularly get training and refresher training on teaching methods and the center has checked in with me a few different times to be sure the quality of the teaching is what I was looking for. They want to be sure there are no problems, and best of all, the did this in a discrete way so if I had anything to request, I felt I truly could have.

My amazing teacher Rashaa has gone above and beyond in a number of ways in the short time I have been here. She really listened to what topics were important to me and taught in creative and effective ways. For example, I am a nurse, so on the 2nd day I show up to a table full of medical type equipment she gathered from her family so we could learn and practice in 3D! Amazing! She also learned I plan to work in refugee camps in Jordan and she looked up videos about the camps in Arabic so we could practice the relevant vocabulary while looking at images and hearing from people living in the camps. Both of these were very effective ways to learn and I definitely feel like I have learned a lot of Arabic. Her dedication is contagious and motivates me to study more!

Overall, I would 100% recommend coming to this center.