Engage in Palestine was created as an expansion of The Excellence Center in Hebron, Palestine, which was originally founded in 2011.
Table of Contents
Our Beginning
In 2011, a group of dedicated Palestinian community servants in Hebron launched the Excellence Center, primarily to connect international volunteer English teachers with Palestinian students wanting to learn English.
In Hebron, Palestinian students in schools are taught English by Palestinian teachers and have little to no exposure to native or foreign English speakers unless they happen to meet them around the city. As Hebron is not a major tourist destination, many Palestinian students have never or rarely met English speakers from other countries. This is something that the Excellence Center endeavored to change.
Palestinian Students Learn English In School, However…
While Palestinian students learn English in school, the school curriculum in the West Bank has similarities with English curriculums worldwide in that it is often teacher- and grammar-focused with little or no time for speaking practice. In addition, class sizes, particularly in public schools, can have 40-50 students per class, making learning another language much more difficult.
This approach often leads Palestinian students and students all over the world to leave school and feel like they can’t speak or use English, even though they spent many years studying it. Since our founding, we have strived to bridge this gap, and we continue this important and innovative work today.
We Sought A Different Approach To Teaching English
The Excellence Center sought a different approach, wanting to teach English in a different way, using more practical and communicative methods and bringing native and fluent English speakers to Palestine.
Connecting Palestinian students inside the English classroom with international teachers gives Palestinian students much-needed practice and exposure to English. Not only that, it can also increase their confidence and present the perfect setting for cultural exchange and building multicultural relationships.
Our Success Led To Our Expansion
As the Excellence Center became more established and reputable within the local community in Hebron, we began to have more Palestinian students join us for our English courses. We also began to develop our intensive Arabic courses aimed at international students wishing to come to Palestine primarily to study Arabic, whether the local dialect or Fus’ha. True to our name, we continued providing excellent English and Arabic education to our international and Palestinian students to help them achieve excellence in their lives.
Furthermore, because we have continued to offer unique experiences, great value, and meaningful impact on our local Palestinian community in Hebron, we began to have more international volunteers, and our international reputation also grew. Our success with our English teaching programs led to our continued growth, which allowed us to create Engage in Palestine to expand into other important fields.
Community Development With Engage In Palestine
While the Excellence Center focuses primarily on teaching English to local Palestinian students and Arabic to international students, Engage in Palestine primarily focuses on community development. This includes working with Palestinian refugees, Palestinian children, and other members of the local Palestinian community. Engage in Palestine runs numerous programs and training services to develop our local community and create better career and economic opportunities and a better overall future.
Other Aims Of Engage In Palestine
Engage in Palestine also aims to educate and inform international participants about Palestine in several fields, including human rights, women’s rights, Palestinian culture, laws and legal practices, medicine, and healthcare. Today, Engage in Palestine offers volunteer programs and internships in various fields, including these and more, for international participants wishing to come to Palestine and engage with the local community.
This is very important work as there are many unfair misconceptions about Palestine and Palestinians in the international community, and this is an area where we can make a real difference. In addition, it is very difficult for Palestinians to travel abroad due to the restrictions imposed on them by the Occupation, which also limits the tourism industry within Palestine. So Engage in Palestine also provides an environment where Palestinians can engage with people worldwide.
Expanding To New Facilities
Due to our success and expansion, in 2017, we left our original building on Ein Sara Street and moved to new facilities just a few minutes away on foot. Our new facilities, where we are located today, are larger and have more than double the classrooms we had previously. This allows us to teach more English and Arabic classes and gives us a bigger space to host more international participants. Additionally, we now have more space to offer workshops, seminars, events and training sessions for internationals and our local community.
The Covid-19 Pandemic
While the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 certainly offered setbacks and challenges for most people around the world, including us, we have been busier than ever since 2022. Since 2022, we have hosted more international volunteers, interns, and students and provided more English classes.
The Future?
Our story is not yet finished as we continue to expand and grow internationally and within our local community. Our commitment to our values, local Palestinian community, and international participants has led to our enormous success and expansion since our humble beginning. We will continue to grow and develop our local community and our international participants from now until the future. If you wish to engage in Palestine with us, we would happily welcome you.
Contact Us
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at:
WhatsApp:+972 599 479 880
Website: https://ecpalestine.org/
EC Website: https://excellencenter.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/excellence.center
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ExcellenceCenter
