Teach English Speak Arabic

I spent two months volunteering at the Excellence Center teaching English. In addition to teaching English I took six hours of Arabic per week. My teacher was Du’a Qasim. Overall I was satisfied with her teaching methods and what I got out of the lessons. She’s very knowledgeable, communicative, and attentive to concerns. She has a lesson plan set up but she’s open to exploring personal interests her students may have. Moreover, she’s an exceptionally caring individual who is genuine in her goals and committed to her job. The staff at the center also encourage Arabic usage. This is helpful in applying what you learn in the classroom and translating it to everyday experiences. The fact that you’ll be living in a city of over 200,000 people who speak Arabic is just another incentive to learn and improve your language skills.

The center offers three hours of Arabic per week for every volunteer who works at the Excellence Center. However, one can certainly add more hours at a reasonable price. For those coming from the United States, it’s certainly more affordable than anything a university would charge per credit hour. And in my opinion, this is just as effective if not more. I’d encourage volunteers to take additional hours.

The Excellence Center is sanctioned by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and at the end of your volunteer period you will receive a certificate from the Center acknowledging your participation in the teaching aspect and completing the Arabic lessons. Moreover, one can certainly just enroll at the Excellence Center to take Arabic lessons. A few of the individuals I met in summer of 2016 at the Excellence Center attended the Center exclucivly for the Arabic lessons. Again, this a combination of reasonable cost, social environment, and a cadre of capable local teachers who take their profession seriously.

As I mentioned, my teacher was Du’a Qasim, who has been just wonderful in every sense of that word. Extremely helpful and effective as a teacher. I would strongly recommend her as my personal experience dictates as such. The Excellence Center’s staff are capable of working with people from beginner, to novice, to intermediate, to advanced levels. So if you want to learn basic Arabic to more advanced literary and comprehensive understanding of the language, the Center can provide teachers who are capable.

Lastly, the Arabic lessons are a good complementary experience that will certainly help you get around Palestine.