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Tag Archives: nablus
Fresh Perspectives on Education
As they conclude the last week of classes for the summer session here at TYO, Mary-Jo, Hannah, and Mitch compare and contrast their experience with education in Palestine with perspective that they have gained from news articles concerning women’s education in Afghanistan, post-conflict education, and the future of education. In his most recent blog post for Al Jazeera on July 13, Qaiz Azimy reported on the current education situation for females in the rural Pashtun Zarghun district of Herat province in Afghanistan. Much to his amazement, more girls are attending schools than ever before in the district’s history; despite the Continue reading…
Meetings, Trips and Installations
The Youth Action Local Leadership Alliance (YALLA) is a youth-led civic engagement program for youth ages 12-21. YALLA activities are designed to empower youth to build and develop the community. YALLA also aims to engage university-aged youth in their society. This past Thursday, we held our weekly meeting with the Youth Leadership Committee (YLC), YALLA winners and TYO staff members. This weekly meeting provides a chance to update the group on the status of the initiatives, what’s been done in the previous week, what the next steps are, discussing challenges and difficulties, and giving advice along the way. In reviewing the work Continue reading…
Gender Mixing
As American interns, many things were new to us about education in Palestine. For example, students in first to third grade never repeat a year. Regardless of whether or not they pass a class, a student cannot in that age-range cannot be held behind. Another major difference between here and education in the United States is the all important Tawjihi examination, taken at the end of twelfth grade, which determines both whether a student is able to go to university, and what they can study there. Tawjihi scores were just announced last week which lead to celebrations late into the night for those fortunate 62% who obtained a passing mark this year. The difference that has affected Continue reading…
Whatcha know about me?
This week, Hannah, Mary Jo, and Mitch reflect on the top three misconceptions Palestinians have about Americans, as well as the top three misconceptions Americans have about Palestinians and Arab World more broadly, as they have discovered through their work at TYO. It is important to address this topic because lack of communication simply fuels a lack of understanding on both sides. Palestinian Misconceptions of Americans 1) American Women Dress Immodestly From the words of one of Hannah’s students, Selwa, “Women in America only wear short skirts and tight shirts, just like the women on MTV no matter how cold it Continue reading…
YALLA! Let’s Set Goals
The Youth Action Local Leadership Alliance (YALLA) is a youth-led civic engagement program for youth ages 12-21. YALLA activities are designed to empower youth to build and develop the community. YALLA also aims to engage university-aged youth in their society, acting as role models for the youth participants. Last week YALLA winners began planning their budgets for their initiatives. With the help of the Youth Leadership Committee (YLC) and TYO staff, the youth were able to develop strong initiatives, each for $3,000 USD. As we wait for the budgets to be approved, the YALLA winners and the YLC began creating work plans Continue reading…
A Recipe for Cultural Exchange
In addition to teaching, one of the most important parts of any intern’s work at TYO is in the field of cultural diplomacy. The US State Department, which partially funds TYO international internships, calls cultural diplomacy “the linchpin of public diplomacy” and argues that it “can enhance our national security in subtle, wide-ranging, and sustainable ways.” Sometimes, cultural exchange is part of our formal work. During our classes at An-Najah University, we spend plenty of time talking about our country and our culture in the context of teaching students how to apply to jobs and schools in the U.S. Similarly, Continue reading…
What’s in a Name?
Most of us interns struggled with Arabic names when we first arrived at TYO. To further confuse things, some names are so common that they are shared by three or four students in a single class. Though we don’t always think about it, many of these common Arab names are heavily stereotyped in the U.S. (For more on this, check out this article). TYO has given us the opportunity to overcome these cultural stereotypes by getting to know the unique personalities behind even the most common names. After spending time with many Nours, Ala’as and Muhammads, it would be impossible Continue reading…
3 Steps to Becoming a Leader
“I want to be a leader.” We’re always hearing this phrase from youth all over the world. But how can we, as young people, become strong leaders in our community? What are the steps we should take towards being active citizens? Sometimes, a great program may come along, like YALLA, and youth are given the training, tools and support to succeed and become change-makers in their community. But not everyone has the chance to participate in such a program. So if you’re finding yourself at a loss. And you know you want to be a leader and you’re ready to Continue reading…
Changing the Arab Approach to Education
Hannah Wherever I go around the TYO building, I see volunteers—mostly university-aged students from Najah or Al-Quds Open University—working in the classrooms with the core teachers or with my fellow interns. For many Americans, this scene would not seem out-of-place; volunteering and contributing to our communities is seen as a civic duty, or even more simply, as the right thing to do. However, across the Middle East and the Arab world, this concept of volunteering one’s time for free is not widespread. In my Professional Competency class at Najah, I have had many conversations with my students about internships and Continue reading…
Teaching Outside the Box
Sarah Art is a difficult word to define- it means different things to different people. Many of the students here come into my class afraid of art, because they imagine that only realistic figure drawings count as “real” art. One of the main goals of my class is to convince the students (and the volunteers) that anyone can make art. To that end, I have been doing lots of projects focused on surreal and abstract art. Telling the kids that their art doesn’t have to look like anything specific, frees them up to get creative and enjoy the process. The Continue reading…