Excellence Center Stay

My name is Mats, I’m a Belgian teacher who volunteered as an English language teacher in Hebron, Palestine.
It’s weird to think that it has been 3 months since I last wrote about my experience in Palestine. Back in September I knew very little about this little place called Hebron, apart from what I’ve read in the little research I did.
It’s no secret that the political climate during my stay has greatly changed. For the most part during my stay, there had been no reason for concern and keeping myself to the same guidelines as I follow in all ‘big cities’ has worked out well. What is important to note for future volunteers is that cultural awareness and respect take priority, as well as heeding the advice of the locals and your host family.
Spending my time here as an English language teacher has been a great experience for me personally. In the past 3 months I worked with many of the staff member (although with some not as extensively as I would have liked) and have come to respect them greatly. These are Palestinian teachers who arrive after their regular hours to supplement their already busy schedule in order to help students improve their English, as well as going out of their way to make the various volunteer that come and go feel welcome. Special thanks should go out to Marwa, who not only leads the center but also has taken up the valiant task of trying to teach me Arabic. It did not matter if I failed to do my homework, forgot everything that she fought tooth and nail to teach me or if I had to bug her with another one of my questions, she always went out of her way to offer help with a smile.
The students have, for the most part, been nothing but welcoming and eager. Classes have been hectic at times, especially for the volunteers with little teaching experience, but that’s part of the experience and the regular staff members have always gone out of their way to offer assistance. After my second month I was given my own personal Intermediate 1 class and – while I’ll never say this in the classroom itself – all of them have been such incredible students that I feel proud and privileged to have been their teacher.
As a teacher-volunteer, part of your job will also be to take private classes with 1 or 2 (adult) student. These classes are the ones that are most memorable to me. Khaled and Eiman, the government officials who were always ready with a joke and a story (and the occasional cheating attempt when I was playing some games with them) and Wa’el, the traveling doctor with whom I had countless conversations about life and who taught me so much about Hebron and Palestine, I’ll miss them a lot.
Most of all though, I’ll miss ‘the Sheikh’. He started off as our landlord, since the male volunteers rent out his old parental home, but Sheikh, as well as his entire family, have become friends and companions during my stay.