After classes let out on the last day of summer EFL classes at Tomorrow’s Youth Organization, I went back to sit in my classroom. For eight weeks I’d led a class of amazing, strong women and earlier in the day I’d watched as they recited poetry, did a powerful skit, and gave a speech on women’s rights. Afterward, we played Apples to Apples and said our goodbyes. And there I was again.
Read MoreOn the last day of class, I instructed my students to not only stand in a circle, but literally tie themselves together using a piece of light blue yarn. The yarn was short and didn’t quite reach all the way around all twelve of us while still leaving room between my students. Therefore, as each student wound the yarn through a button hole on their jacket or a shoelace, we were forced to renegotiate the distance and come closer together.
Read MoreHaneen Zitawi is from Jamma’in, a village outside of Nablus. She attended Al-Quds Open University and graduated in 2014 with a degree in English Teaching Methods. She learned of Tomorrow’s Youth Organization when she saw an ad on Facebook published by Al Quds Open University advertising volunteer opportunities working with children. Haneen plans to be a teacher in the future and wanted to know how to deal with students and children and learn how to solve problems in the classroom.
Read MoreAs one of the final assignments I gave to my elementary EFL class this session, I tasked my students with writing a poem in the form of a letter to one person who changed their life in some way. The only parameter to the assignment was that it outline the impact that this individual had made on their life trajectory— that is, that they clearly describe themselves both before and after the change had been made.
Read More9 weeks is a short time, and every successive week of this fellowship felt as if it went faster than the last. First and foremost, I am grateful to have been given the time and resources to live in and explore Palestine and the myriad issues facing its people with patience and tact. There is no doubt in my mind that I have just scraped the surface, but, again, 9 weeks is a short time.
Read MoreThe Step II EFL instructors at TYO use many methods to inspire and encourage their students’ English Language Learning. Language learning should be enjoyable, as well as academic. Therefore, the English Fellows at TYO incorporate various mediums in our classrooms, including music and movies. These alternative teaching tools enable our students to hear different native English speakers with varying accents and cadences, familiarize themselves with informal phrases and tones, and discuss various cultures. It also breaks up our day and brings more laughter into our classrooms
Read MoreTomorrow's Youth Organization is investing in the Palestinian leaders of the future, and I want to be part of that process. I want to make a lasting difference in the community by helping others. The real meaning of happiness is in helping those in need, and I am happy here at TYO because I was given the opportunity to collaborate with amazing youth to help children grow in a better environment.
Read MoreMy students love to laugh. Every day in class they will erupt into laughter multiple times over. Their laughter makes the classroom a comfortable and exciting space.
Students’ comfort in the classroom is one of the strongest tools to build as a teacher. The ability to push their levels of communication and creativity intensifies when they are at ease with the rest of the class, when they feel free to laugh and make jokes.
Read MoreI came back for a second class because I benefited so much from the first one. I am more experienced in the language now and the methods used at TYO are different than other places. At school we just read from the book, a very traditional way of teaching. At TYO, teaching is given in a fun way through activities. We learn vocabulary while playing- learning and playing at the same time.
Read MoreAcross the education field, a major shift in focus is taking place: while the teacher was once viewed as the sole purveyor of all knowledge, with learners sitting passively as empty vessels, we now consider students’ active participation in classroom activities to be of central importance to the learning process. As such, teachers are now increasingly viewed as facilitators of educational experiences, by which which students inquire, experiment, and, ultimately, discover new ideas for themselves.
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