When I graduated from university, I wanted to work in Dubai with my brother. I went, but I wasn’t able to stay because I didn’t have good English speaking skills. So now, I work with my father in his restaurant during the week and with an electricity company on the weekends. I am studying English at TYO because I want to try to go abroad again. I love my city and my country, but I need my brother’s help.
Read More“Salut! Vous êtes là pour le cours?” asked me my language teacher in my first French course at the university ten years ago. I must admit, I froze up and looked at her with shy and timorous eyes, while searching deep in my mind and childhood memories for an appropriate answer. I was lost in one of those rare moments when you don't know what to respond or even how to react. Just like me at that time, the incursion into the world of bilingualism for plenty of new language learners may not be a very pleasant experience.
Read MoreI hope to become a writer. I love writing. I started when I was 10 years old by writing about what happened in my day, then about what I was thinking--what I loved. Now, I love to write poetry. When I write poetry, I don't have to think. I just write, and the words become poetic.
Read MoreIt’s another day of English class for the STEP! II students at Tomorrow’s Youth Organization. Four weeks into classes, the atmosphere now is different from that of the first day: less jittery and excited to be sure, but much more comfortable, and therefore even more productive. The past month has been a whirlwind of learning: for four hours, every Monday through Thursday, students of all levels have been engaging with English.
Read MoreI love working with the kids at TYO because they have so much respect for the rules. I want to put these rules in every school in Palestine. For example, the kids only eat healthy foods, and they always clean their hands before and after eating. We have an expression in Arabic that says that teaching little kids is like carving into a stone, because once they learn the rules, they never forget them.
Read MoreWaed Bsharat is from a village called Tammun. She recently graduated with a degree in business administration from Al Quds Open University in Tubas. She heard about Tomorrow’s Youth Organization from a friend, who said that TYO was a fun and interesting place to volunteer. Waed always volunteered at the university because it was required, but had never volunteered because she wanted to do something for herself.
Read MoreLanguage is powerful. We use language to tell a story, make a point, entertain, argue, and express ourselves. Here at Tomorrow’s Youth Organization (TYO), we use language to build a bridge. A two-way bridge with people coming and going on both sides.
Learning a new language can be challenging on a number of levels. For me, the most difficult part of this process is the feeling that you cannot truly express yourself in a language that is not your own.
Read MoreThis past week, my students performed skits acting out different community events. Students came to the front of the class and implored a parent to let them take a job in Jordan, confronted a neighbor about noise issues, or even groaned loudly from an illness the doctor could not treat. The goal was not only to see community events in action, but for students to feel the different emotions that these events bring about--to get them to express what another person is feeling.
Read MoreI thought it (the class) would be playing games, only this. But no, I see that we learn a lot of things: reading, writing, listening. But it’s not difficult because the teacher helps us very much and we understand through her. Already in the first two weeks, I have improved in the way of talking. And when I watch television, I don’t always need to look at the translation.
Read MoreAdham Badran is from a village near Nablus called Asira Al Qibliya. He recently finished high school in village and is now in his first year of studying English language and literature at Al Quds Open University. heard about Tomorrow’s Youth Organization from his older brother, who has been a volunteer and local intern at the Center. Adham was waiting to finish high school and start university to join TYO as either a volunteer or as a student in the STEP! II EFL program to study English.
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