Personal and professional growth

The past month at the Excellence Center in Europe has flown by. I feel as if I just arrived in Halle, a city I have grown to love, and just began interning at the Excellence Center, a place that feels like home. While I expected that the experiences of living in Germany and working at an organization like the Excellence Center would allow me to grow, challenge me, and give me a new perspective, I had no idea just how valuable these experiences would prove to be. The first week, in which I had intensive Ammiya classes and got to know everyone at the Center, allowed me to better serve my students, peers, and friends at the Center and communicate with them and with others in the city. Learning Arabic is even more rewarding for me when I can apply it in real life and allows me to be vulnerable, understand how terrifying it was for refugees to come to a country with a completely new language, and to learn from others about their language and culture. Though I struggled a bit in the intensive course as I am not a gifted language-learner, I’m really glad that I had that opportunity to get to know the people that the center serves, and I used what I learned over the next three weeks.
The second and third weeks of the internship combined teaching English classes with sessions and presentations on culture, integration, politics, history, educational psychology, teaching strategies, scheduled personal conversations with refugee peers, and community building activities within the Center. I had many opportunities to learn about Syrian politics and culture, the situation of refugees in Germany and Halle, teaching English as a foreign language, and how the Center operates and provides services to the community. Through presentations, classes, and intensive conversations, I was able to apply the information that I learned about integration and peoples’ realities to the English classes I taught, which proved very valuable to how I approached the internship. What is unique about the Excellence Center is the community that it creates between the staff and the people who come to the Center. After a series of presentations on the varied layers, issues, and components of integration into German society and on how the political history, social structures, and international relations of Syria contributed to the refugee crisis, the ability to have a deep discussion on these topics and on our everyday lives with two Syrian youth was truly invaluable. Something that drew me to interning at the Center was the possibility to have such an experience, as in my opinion, it’s not possible to serve a group of people without an involved knowledge of their situation, history, day-to-day lives, and their needs. Being able to apply this knowledge to teaching English classes has allowed me to become more understanding and hopefully more effective as an intern, volunteer, and global citizen.
The presentations and sessions on educational psychology, I had one of the most rewarding opportunities of my life—the chance to work with an underserved community to fulfill an education and social need has allowed me to develop myself personally and professionally while also learning about the situation and lives of immigrants and refugees in Germany. I have been able to develop personal connections with my students and gain an insight into their experiences, everyday lives and culture. Learning about the educational psychology that goes into teaching a foreign language has enabled me to further extend myself in these areas while opening my eyes to a new passion and interest. I also feel more confident and prepared in my teaching and methods, and I now have a deeper understanding of how to effectively motivate and meet students’ needs.
Beyond the practical skills that I learned from analyzing and presenting on the official Excellence Center teaching manual, which gave me a deep toolbox of classroom strategies and advice, the week’s focus on teaching and educational psychology highlighted to me the importance of providing these educational opportunities for refugees, especially opportunities that also encourage mutual, intercultural understanding. Though the trainings and presentations on educational psychology contained multitudes of information, strategies, rules, etc., the main focus on motivation made this clear to me. All of the refugees that I’ve worked with both at the Excellence Center and at home in North Carolina have demonstrated such a strong motivation to improve their lives, become a part of a new community, and create their own futures. English classes and learning the English language are a vein through which refugees can do all three of these things. However, even though refugees may have a deep, intrinsic motivation to improve their lives by learning this language, it is crucial that teachers, volunteers, and peers encourage and foster this motivation inside and outside of the classroom.
In the final week, the lessons that I learned over the time of my internship culminated. I am sad to leave Halle because of how much I learned, the incredible connections that I made with my students, and the community that I have become a part of at the Center. I had the opportunity to learn so much about the intersections of German culture and the refugee situation and Arab culture, the lives of my students, and about the ways in which I can serve the refugee community. I am so genuinely excited to keep in touch with my students and colleagues, who are now like friends and family. This experience gave me so many valuable skills, opportunities, experiences, and unforgettable moments. I look forward to returning to the Excellence Center in Europe as soon as possible!