Short Term Volunteer Projects in Germany

A fun and relaxed place to teach students and to learn a language. I taught English and took German classes for almost 3 months at the Center and had a great time. Great for your CV and getting experience in the sector. The Excellence Center also provides breakfast every morning and tea and coffee are freely available. Everyone here is pleasant and approachable if you have any questions about anything. And the director will always be there to give you advice and guidance should you ever need it.

As a volunteer at The Excellence Center, I experienced hope, empathy, and connections (and more). It amazingly exceeded my expectations. More than a relevant new element for my CV and improved language and teaching skills, Halle and The Excellence Center renewed energies and hopes.

The EC staff is incredibly supportive and welcoming, and you can always count on them! You will feel a part of the EC family. For me, team breakfast was a lovely way to start the day and a chance to exchange life experiences and learn about different cultures.

While teaching English, I could get to know my students and build authentic and meaningful bonds. My German classes as a student were essential to increase my confidence in my skills for conversational German.

In my free time, I could also discover Halle's sweet cafés and friendly Beer Gardens. The museums offer an exciting combination of history and modern art. Besides the city center, parks and the river were an excellent alternative to face (and enjoy) the German summer.

I highly recommend The Excellence Center volunteer experiences to open-minded people eager to learn about new cultures and make memories for a lifetime. I promise you will thank me for the tip and the EC for its fantastic work!

Volunteering in Germany is the least likely thing I would expect to be doing after 5 months of lockdown due to the coronavirus, but I'm so glad I did. I did conversational English lessons with Syrian refugees who told me about migrating and integrating in Germany.

I also studied German at the centre which really helped me with my confidence in conversational German. Although I had studied German at high school, it was great to speak to a local and actually integrate into German culture......

I am a math Ph.D. from the US. For a while, I was looking for an opportunity to volunteer and provide mathematics education for the Syrian war refugee students in Europe. At first, I made an effort to contact the Dutch and German governments. Then I found this volunteer program in Halle, Germany.

I never even heard of the city before I found this program. I came to Halle anticipating nearly nothing, It turns out, however, that I found a home that I want to settle in. Unlike my ex-students, Syrian students are very motivated and eager to learn, meet new people and appreciate what you teach them. The only issue, that my German language skill is not good enough to teach them in German. However, some of them speak good English.

I stayed in Halle for a bit more than 2 months now and will stay full 90 days until my visa expires. Over that period, I have had 1 student that I teach mathematics in English.
He was a university student when the military conflict in Syria started and unfortunately had to quit his program in Syria.

I am lucky to find him that I can help him to rebuild his dream to get a university education in Germany in the future. I am also teaching 3 English courses here as well as learning German. The past 2 months have been having been one of the most beautiful periods of my life.

The city itself is equally beautiful and has historically and culturally rich background. I am definitely coming back! I totally recommend this volunteer program for one who wants to meet new people, learn German and live the daily life in Germany.

I love it here in Halle! I am really going to miss being part of the community when I leave, and I am already planning a return trip. My German has drastically improved because of my exposure to the language in the city and with my host family but also because of my wonderful German teacher.

As well as being a student I have also I have also been teaching plenty of English in the centre. I have four classes, stretching from individual teaching to small group and various levels. I have found this equally challenging and rewarding but I received lots of guidance and support from Rafat and his team throughout. It has been wonderful getting to know so many different people at the centre – it is truly amazing to see all these different languages and cultures come together.

I have got into a real routine here including morning runs in the park and ice skating at the local ice rink and it was super easy to get stuck into life here. My German host family has also been wonderful welcoming me into their family, sharing their meals and making sure that I am happy in Halle. I will have to come to visit them in the future because I feel so at home here.

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.

Life is full of encounters. Some however, will stay in your memory forever. I can say without a doubt that the entire month I spent volunteering at the Excellence Center in Europe was filled with such encounters! Getting to know and help the wonderful souls that surround this humble language center was such a rewarding experience - it is opportunities such as these that emphasise the importance of seeing the human race as one big family.

Rafat and Mutaz certainly have a wonderful vision towards supporting the integration of Syrian refugees into Germany, and it was an honour to be a part of this purpose. My time at the center was dedicated to writing articles, teaching group/private English classes and presenting talks on Australia. It was also a pleasure to get to know my fellow volunteers, spending our spare time exploring Halle together.

I can't wait to come back and see my family in Halle!

Simply stated, I had a great time at the Excellence Center in Halle.
I found the Excellence Center a friendly, welcoming place full of activity, yet it was relaxed, never hectic. I enjoyed the all-hands breakfasts around 1000 in the morning where volunteers and staff leisurely discussed the day's activities and chatted. I also liked that you might be at the Center until around 1800, but there was always time between classes and other activities for lunch and to run errands or do other things.
Teaching Syrian refugees English was difficult but rewarding. I was there for a month, which might seem like a long time, but it was just enough time to get to know them and their needs and help develop some plans and projects. From that point of view, I wish I could have stayed longer.
I also had a good experience with the EC's Arabic program. I came with intermediate/advanced classical Arabic knowledge, which was a good prerequisite for delving into colloquial Palestinian Arabic. But even without any or little Arabic background, the advantage of learning Arabic at the EC is getting to work and practice with native speakers.
Halle itself is an interesting, middle-sized city. My accommodations were located near the Saale River, where there is a wonderful bike/walking/jogging path and green areas to hang out in, and all of this was just a pleasant 10-minute walk away from the Excellence Center. You can also take the streetcar or bus, or use the bike paths. Steinweg, where the Excellence Center is located, is one of the most interesting streets in Halle. It is full of shops and restaurants, and it is centrally located near the main train station and the downtown area (Marktplatz).
I whole-heartedly recommend spending some time at the Excellence Center in Halle; it's a great experience!