As an intern, my initial fears revolved around whether I could provide the education these children deserved. But as the days unfolded, those fears transformed into a deep bond with my students. It's hard to imagine not seeing their excited faces and sharing in their learning journey each day.
Read MoreIt was the Tuesday of my second week into teaching, and I was finally beginning to get the hang of it all… or so I thought. For today’s exercise, we were tackling a semester-long project I had invented and coined as the “Verb Monster” activity. Thinking myself quite clever, I’d designed the activity to teach my students simple sentence structure…
Read MoreWalking through the streets of Nablus, it is difficult not to notice all the children. There are children playing soccer and cycling in the streets, children selling watermelon and cucumbers in the Old City, and children laughing with friends on steps to pass the time.
Read MoreDuring my time at TYO I have learnt a lot; and I learnt the most during the craft activities in my classes. Teaching grade 1 during the summer camp meant I was able to dedicate lots of the time to simple activities that would help the children engage with the topics we were discussing.
Read MoreIntroducing our fall 2019 International Interns. Our interns Chambri and Laura have arrived to Nablus to support our programs for children, women, and youth. Learn more about them.
Read MoreEvery second grader hates to lose. Building a healthy relationship with defeat is not easy for adults, much less for 7-year-olds. At TYO’s summer program, youth learn critical socioemotional skills through play. This involves lots of engagement, excitement, and fun, but with games also comes the possibility of losing.
Read MoreThere are a lot of special memories I will bring home from my internship at TYO. Many of them are moments I shared with my students in the English Conversation Course.
When I started my internship, I was assigned as teacher for an English conversation course for beginners; two weekly classes, where local youths and volunteers could practice their English…
Read MoreThe olive tree is very important for Palestinians, both as a symbol and as part of the economy: olive trees make up two-thirds of all trees in Palestine. Olive harvest season typically begins in September, and TYO’s international staff was invited by Nahawat, a central TYO figure for five years, to join her and her family for a day of olive picking. I’ve always found Nahawat’s presence at TYO to be both uplifting and motivating – her love for TYO is evident in her welcoming smile and the hot cup of coffee or tea that she brings you when you need it most.
Read MoreThis session at TYO marked my first-time teaching 5th and 6th graders English, and with it the introduction to a huge group of students who seemed to have boundless enthusiasm and limitless amounts of energy. In the spirit of TYO, I looked for ways to redirect and focus this energy, rather than trying to suppress it and control it, and ended up introducing my favorite personal teaching style into the classroom: Competition.
Read MoreIt is easy for recollections of a place to fade almost as soon as your feet leave its soil. Indeed, as I adjusted back to life in mainland Europe, the problems and accuracy of past events begin to be dominated by new people, fresh adventures and daily quandaries. Unfortunately, my abysmal level of Arabic also returned to its original non-existent state.
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