Teach English in Halle, Germany (1-13 Weeks)

I am a 20 year old guy with a South Korean nationality. My cultural background, however, is a mix of Latino, African, North American(USA), and east Asian. This is because I spent my school years traveling from continent to continent, following my Father’s work; born in Dubai, started pre-school in Florida, then Georgia(USA), California, S.Korea, Cameroon, and Chile, where I started and finished my high school. Now I live in the great state of Bremen, North-West Germany, where I am majoring in Computer Science with a minor in psychology.
My family was not the picture-perfect asian family. On the outside, both my parents were self-made, born into poverty but each found their way to become middle-class providers. But within our walls, arguments and family feuds were a constant. At one point, my sister, who is three years older than I, took charge of my growth, and I thank her every day of my life for her; if not for her, I would not be here today. My friends in high school were not the most caring nor the kindest people. I look back at those years and think if I had found a better group of people, I would not have been feeling so down for such a long time. When I got to college, things stayed the same. Same kind of friends, same kinds of activities, and so forth. But in the summer of 2022, I traveled. For the first time in my life, I traveled because I wanted to, and not because I was following my Father’s life or anyone else’s. I met people with extraordinary stories; from refugees escaping a war ravaging country to people who were kicked out of college for burning their dorms down. I heard their stories, told them mine, and I learned a lot about respecting and dealing with people.
In Halle, I joined the Excellence Center and met so many amazing people. I taught for the first time in my life. I had to re-learn English grammar, I had forgotten that things that came naturally for me had actual words for it; like prepositions and adverbs and conjunctions. I did not feel comfortable with the idea of teaching people anything, but I wanted to try it because of that exact reason. If I had not taught this summer, I doubt I would have ever done it in my life, and I am thankful for the people who made it possible for me to try new and uncomfortable things.
I learned German with Max. The first few classes were confusing and too fast-paced but towards the end, many people had left back to their home countries, and the class structure changed to a more small-talk oriented dialogue based class, which I enjoyed much more. I learned more in my last 3 classes than I did in the first “all”.
I met people who I took a lot from. Whether it was about immigration policies and perspectives of actual refugees or experiences of adoption. I listened to their stories and it has shaped my view of the world.
The Excellence Center is what you make of it. If your focus is to meet new people and learn a new language on the side, you can do that. If you want to learn a language intensively and meet new people on the side, you can do that too. There is no one holding your hand telling you what to do next, which was perfect for me because I am a bit spontaneous.
Halle is an extremely small city for me. Having lived in the capitals of all the countries I’ve been in, I did not know what to expect of Halle. But the experience of waving to people you know on the way to a restaurant or to teach a student is an amazing feeling.

I visited the Excellence Center with the aim of learning more about different cultures as well as some conversational Arabic. It was a truly unforgettable experience. I met amazing people, ate amazing food and came away feeling truly inspired. Rafat has a gift for bringing people together and the Excellence is a hub for a diverse range of lovely folks.
At the time of my visit, the other volunteers were mostly American and we had a lot of fun talking even talking about our own cultural differences (I was trying to teach them proper British pronunciation…).
I was incredibly lucky with my host family who were so friendly and of a similar age. They were very generous with sharing their traditions; including films, music and of course more food!
Teaching English was also very rewarding and my students were always keen to learn - even if they had just worked a night shift at the hospital...
My Arabic teacher was very informative and really tailored the lessons to my level. We had a book, provided by Rafat, which helped to structure the content too and has given me something to look back over. It was also good to be surrounded by German because you couldn’t help picking up little bits of that too.
I would highly recommend the Excellence Center to anyone looking to explore Arabic and German cultures simultaneously and connect with wonderful people.

Working at the Excellence Center in Halle last Summer was an experience that will remain with me for a long time to come. The work is meaningful, the management is kind, understanding and competent. The sense of community around the Excellence Center is unmatched: community events are commonplace, and people are so hospitable that making friends is truly a breeze. I would recommend this program to anyone looking to step outside of their comfort zone while doing meaningful and rewarding work, anyone looking to learn new languages, or anyone interested in seeing European history play out before their very eyes!

My experience at The Excellence Center in Europe was fun, enlightening and very worthwhile. When I first arrived in at the center in Halle, I was warmly welcomed and was able to start working the day I got there. As I was given a tour of the facility, I started to realize that I was about to be apart of a pleasantly tight-knit group of people who care about the wellbeing of the community and its inhabitants through means of intercultural-change and understanding.
While working there, I was very in control of my schedule, who I wanted to teach, and how I wanted to teach it. My boss, Rafat Shantir, was very understanding of people who wanted to take a little time of to do things like travel. He was also very accommodating of the things we would want to teach. My coworker, for example, started a class that taught people who were interested in learning how to do computer programming.
The relationships that I built were probably the most important takeaway from my experience at The Center. I mainly taught in a one-on-one setting, and I really got to know my students throughout the 3 months that I taught there. As most of my students were Syrian refugees, I was given an opportunity for an intercultural dialogue, the likes of which I had preciously been exposed to, especially coming from the US. Overall, my work at The Center was a great life experience and has opened my eyes to new cultures and the importance of all of us sharing and exchanging our cultures. Through these intercultural dialogues, we can build a world of tolerance, harmony and mutual understanding.

I had been awarded a fellowship from my university to come to Halle. The trip was extremely affordable and worth-while. Halle is a very economical city and living with a homestay is ideal in terms of learning. Even without the fellowship, the trip would not have been overwhelmingly expensive like trips to European cities can be.
I found the Excellence Center through a classmate of mine at the university. As I am interested in language learning, I took it upon myself to apply to the Center and check out the times that I could come. The Center was super flexible, as I was able to come during my Spring Break while abroad in Spain. I was here for about a week, and within this week I have had so many new experiences that I did not even expect to have.
On my first full day here, I came to the Center to have a Palestinian breakfast. This was very different for what I am used to eating in the US and in Spain, but it was delicious and healthy. On this day, I also had a chance to check out the Marktplatz in Halle, which is filled with beautiful architecture, local residents, and tons of authentic German street-food. During the evening, I got to have a Syrian dinner. Trying all of the different foods was something I had the opportunity to do many times over the course of this week. This is a very unique opportunity, and the mix between German culture and many different Arabic cultures makes Halle as well as the Excellence Center a multicultural hub for interesting cuisines, music, stores, and aesthetics.
While teaching English was certainly the most challenging part of my trip, it was also the most rewarding. My first-day teaching was the hardest, as I had never really led a class by myself before. By the third day, however, I could already see my teaching abilities improving and the students seemed to be getting a lot more out of my classes. Seeing this improvement and learning about teaching was extremely gratifying.