Don’t forget to pack your English!
As a TYO Spring Intern, I’ve been given the unique opportunity to work with an inspired group of entrepreneurial women from the Nablus area. These women aren’t satisfied with the everyday humdrum life that becomes of most women in the region so they’ve decided to take their fate into their own hands. Each of these women in the Women’s Incubation Services for Entrepreneurs (WISE) program, has worked hours upon hours to develop a business plan, apply for business loans, and even travel the world to make their businesses all the more functional and successful. When these women started traversing the globe, attending international conferences, and networking with businesspeople from nearly every continent, they quickly realized the necessity of being able to communicate through English. Knowing enough English to be a local businesswoman in Nablus isn’t enough for the dreams of these women and I’m flattered to have the chance to help those dreams be realized through my daily English classes with them! Because interpersonal communication is key when running a local or global business, we’ve agreed that the time we spend now preparing each other to professionally and casually speak on any topic - from persuading the class about the existence of Big Foot to preparing an oral critique of a global marketing strategy - will be time well spent.
The women in my class have accepted my challenge to convince us all of something we can hardly believe to be true in the next class period. I’ll be armed with a video camera, ready to record these women so we can pick apart each other’s persuasive speech skills. And as we all know, there’s nothing like the threat of watching yourself on camera that inspires you to put your best foot forward. I’m excited for what these women will come equipped with to class on Sunday evening, but I’m even more excited to see where these entrepreneurial women end up in the next 10 years as members of the global market. I’ve only known them for a week, but I know it will be worth sticking around to see!
-Emily
Emily is a Spring 2013 intern at TYO in Nablus.