As 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 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 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.
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 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 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 MoreThe atmosphere in the Zafer Masri building on first day of the summer session STEP II EFL classes could rightly be described as rife with anxious and excited energy: swarms of students huddled around the check-in table to discover their class assignments, before hurriedly making their way to classrooms throughout the building, all the while greeting new and familiar classmates and teachers.
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