Excellence Centre Review

I am a twenty-four year old master's graduate who studied Palestinian dialect at the Excellence Centre, Hebron for three months between September and December 2019. I also occasionally volunteered to teach English classes when there was a shortage of staff.
One of the main goals of coming to Hebron was to improve my Arabic and, in that respect, my experience was first class. Shayma Sinnokrot, my language instructor for the duration of the three months, was an outstanding teacher and, beyond that, always made me feel incredibly welcome and motivated to learn. Each class I would transcribe dialogue from a Palestinian television series- Salma wa Sari - and Shayma would help me with queries, vocabulary, and the nuances of grammar and pronunciation in dialect. Shayma's help was absolutely invaluable and my Arabic has improved immeasurably under her guidance. In particular, her command of English and her ability to identify differences between modern standard Arabic, which I had studied previously, and the Palestinian dialect were extremely helpful. Shayma is an exceptional linguist and a wonderful person. Anyone coming to Excellence would be blessed to have her as their teacher.
Aside from language studies, a significant amount of my time at Excellence was spent getting to know staff, foreign students, and Palestinians taking English classes at the centre. This was another really enjoyable element of the experience. Marwa and Khitam Shantir, who facilitate the daily running of the centre, are endlessly warm and friendly. Alongside Muhammad Tamimi (Abu Muhannad), they also organised numerous events in the centre and visits around Hebron which enriched my time here.
As a city, Hebron is unique. The contrast between life in the Palestinian-governed area (H1), where the Excellence Centre is located, and that governed by Israel (H2) is stark. In the three months that I was here, the atmosphere in H1 was invariably calm and relaxed with a similar feeling to some other Arab cities that I have visited in the region. It is also a great place to speak Arabic since everyone is extremely welcoming, but many people around town are not fluent in English and there are few tourists. Culturally, Hebron is more conservative than other parts of the West Bank and students should probably be aware of that before they arrive (modest dress and engaging with members of the opposite sex). I should also mention that, during my time here, several female students experienced unwelcome male advances or harassment in Hebron. For the most part, however, they indicated that they still had good experiences overall.
One less enjoyable element of my time in Hebron was my accommodation situation. Although I had agreed (and paid) to live with a Palestinian family in the hope of speaking Arabic to them on a daily basis, I was placed in a different apartment owned by them where I mostly lived alone. I had also been told I would have one meal a day with the family, but they were not willing to provide it. The family also repeatedly refused to give me access to the boiler in my apartment which made for weeks of ice cold showers just as winter was approaching. Having said that, I do know many of the students at Excellence had much more positive experiences with their families and, in my own case, it just meant I spent more time making friends in the town itself.
Overall, the warmth of everyone at the Excellence Centre will be my abiding memory from Hebron and that is something for which I am truly grateful. I learned a great deal, made good friends, and had a wonderful experience in Hebron as well as travelling around other parts of the West Bank. I highly recommend the Excellence Centre as an Arabic language institute.