Student profiles and drugs in Palestine

Grade 9 had a great time preparing profiles.  We practiced vocabulary and had them discuss personality traits in pairs - at the end some pairs came and told the rest of the class about their partners.  They then wrote about their hopes and dreams as well as hobbies so Acland Burghley students will know more about their twinning partners.  The lesson flew by so fast that we didn't get a chance to take profile photographs but we will be doing them next week!

With Grade 11 we discussed the issue of drugs in Palestine and how the occupation is encouraging Palestinians to take drugs.  The students read the following article about drugs in Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood in Jerusalem under threat of demolition to build the City of David Park:
http://weareallhanashalabi.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/all-they-want-our-children-to-do-is-take-drugs-and-throw-stones-drugs-israel-and-silwan/
We discussed the main points of the article; the reasons for people to take and sell drugs and their opinions on it; whether the problem can be found all across the West Bank and 48 or is Silwan a rare case; what they think the future will bring.  Interestingly, despite understanding people's reasons for selling drugs, many felt that dealers were being selfish as they put themselves before the Palestinian community and the struggle against the occupation.  They predicted that the problem will get worse in the future, with more drug-related deaths and suggest educating people about the detrimental effect of the drugs is one way to combat it.  The session gave us, and the students, lots of food for thought.

Next week is our last week here.  We can't believe how quickly the time has gone!  We will be posting all the work done here after then; it'll be something for the Acland Burghley students to look forward to in the new year!

On the third of December I went to Acland Burghley School to do an Arabic lesson with the students.
Four students came ,three of them had some knowledge of Arabic and one was a beginner.
I divided them into two groups: with the first I did conversation and making sentences. With the beginner I did very simple conversation in how to introduce yourself to other people ,also the numbers system. I tried to divide my time between the two groups. It worked very well and me the student had lots of fun.

Following on from the 11th grade's discussions of teenage social problems in the last couple of weeks, this week the 11th grade have completed group presentations. These presentations focused on the polices and campaigns that the students would introduce, if they were in government, in order to reduce the number of young people that smoke in Palestine.

The class was split into four groups and here are their views on the policies and campaigns that they would introduce to reduce the number of young Palestinian smokers:

Group 1's Views

Group 2's Views

Group 3's Views

 Group 4's Views

Puppets Lunch Time

We did achieve some puppets, the children were happy for that and we had a conversation asking them to prepare for the last show to write a story or play.

Acland Burghley lunch-club :)

Invitation for Arabic classes

Ehab is teaching ( how we start an Arabic conversation)

Students from different levels are interested to learn Arabic conversation 

With 15 students we've just started our Arabic classes by Ehab Bader, A student at Al-Quds University.

How 9th Grade Students in The Arab Institute Celebrated Eid

Over the last couple of weeks the 9^th grade at The Arab Institute have been working on a paragraph to send to students at Acland Burghley describing how they celebrated the Eid holiday at the end of October. The students got up to a variety of activities including praying at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and visiting their relatives in various cities and towns across the West Bank. Here are a couple of examples below:

My name is Murad Waleed.  I am 14 years old and I am from Jerusalem . I go to school at the Arab Institute.

On the first day of eid , I woke up then went to pray . After that I visited my family and my neighbours.

On the second day my family and I started picking the olive trees .We have 16 olive trees so it took us three days to finish picking them.

My name is Mo'ayad Srour, I am 14 years old, and I am in the 9^th  grade. I am from eastern Jerusalem in a town called Sawaherha. I study in the Arab Institute school. On the Eid holiday I did so many interesting things. First I woke up early, second I wore my Eid's clothes, then I went to the Eid prayers. After that I got back to home, I played with my cousins and friends, and we sacrificed a sheep which is a ritual action in Islam to get closer to Allah. The Eid was very beautiful and I did very interesting things during it.

Mo'ayad Ameen Mohammad Srour.   

We are sending the rest to Ehab, who is a CADFA volunteer at The Arab Institute, so that the 9^th grade’s work can be shared with students at Acland Burghley school.

We are now helping each of the students to write about their home town which includes places like Abu Dis, Azaria and Sheikh Sar. The students have already been working hard on writing about their home town so that students can learn a little bit more about the towns that students at The Arab Institute come from and they are hoping to be able to send them over to you soon. 

Over the last couple of weeks the English conversation lessons that we have been having with the 11^th grade have focused on the reasons why young people may smoke, drink or take drugs in the UK and Palestine. The discussions have been very interesting and the students in the 11^th grade have given diverse responses to why they think that young people may smoke, drink or take drugs in the UK and Palestine.

In the pictures above the answers written in black highlight the students’ opinions on why young people in Palestine may smoke, drink or take drugs. The answers written in red highlight the students’ opinions on why young people in the UK may smoke drink or take drugs.

 To students involved in the Palestine club at Acland Burghley, do you agree with the opinions shared by the 11^th grade students at The Arab Institute? 

Here is a very powerful image painted by one of the teachers at The Arab Institute. We thought that it would be nice to share with you at Acland Burghley so that you can have an insight into the sort of art work that is being produced at the school.

This week we have been working with the 9^th and 11^th grades in The Arab Institute. With the 9^th grade we have been giving them more information about the twinning project. We also found out a bit more about how they celebrated their Eid weekend.

We are working with them this week so that each student in the 9^th grade can write a paragraph to the students of Acland Burghley telling them how they celebrated Eid. Look out for that.

With the 11^th grade, we have had two lessons where we have talked about voting systems and elections in the UK and Palestine. 

11th Grade in The Arab Institute

We introduced them to two types of voting systems and asked them which one they preferred:

-         First passed the post (FPTP) which is used in the general elections

-         The Alternative Voting System (AV) which is used in the local elections

We discussed also discussed two types of elections with them:

-         Local elections

-         National elections

After these discussions the 11^th grade were split into two groups and had a class debate about the advantages and disadvantages of voting in Palestine. They came up with some interesting arguments:

Voting	Not Voting
Helps people say what the government should do	All of the parties want to be in power and do not care about what the people really want
Voting is good and fair to everyone	No parties can make changes because of the occupation
Lets parties show their ideas	There is internal division in Palestine (Hamas in Gaza and Fateh in West Bank) so first the parties need to unite before voting
Parties have chance to explain their policies so people can vote for the one they agree with the most	Voting should be carried out at the same time all over Palestine
Improves social life	Voting should be counted properly with no corruption or cheating
Coalitions can be formed which is good when more than one party is popular	Even though 1.5 million people can vote, only 500,000 registered to vote but only 250,000 actually voted so the results do not show popular opinion
The party that the majority vote for is in power

Do the students at Acland Burghley think that the same arguments can be made about voting in England?

Hello from the Arab Institute

Starting from this Monday two CADFA volunteers will be working at The Arab Institute on Mondays and Wednesdays running English clubs in an attempt to strengthen the link between the Arab Institute and Acland Burghley.  We really hope to create a strong link between the students at these schools where they can share conversations, photos and ideas.

Here is a photo of the school and we look forward to hearing from you all soon.

A meeting with Rob a teacher at Acland Burghley School and some of his student where we talked about the kind of class that we will be giving at the school in the launch time , we have decided that Noor will be giving presentation about the history of Palestine ,and Ehab will be giving  agriculture and Arabic teaching class.

ACLAND BURGHALEY SCHOOL

A very lovely welcoming by Rob the science teacher and his awesome students. We started our talk about the voluntary work that we are launching at  '' CAFDA association'',  we exchanged Ideas, methods and techniques.
So first of all what the students needs to know about Palestine we've agreed about making agriculture classes with Ehab and teaching Arabic, Noor to give history presentations about Palestine and teaching cooking :)

Strengthening the links

Over the past few lessons, I have aimed to familiarise the students with Acland Burghley School as much as I can.

Following on from the last lesson where we looked at the school's prospectus, I asked them refresher questions to see what they had remembered and thankfully, they had done their work. I put the boys in the computer room and let them look at the school's website and asked them to give me one interesting fact about the school. Many were basic, some more interesting. But in the process, the kids are hopefully beginning to see and appreciate the values of the link.

I also introduced Rob, our contact at Acland Burghley and the Friday afternoon Palestine club. The children were interested that such a club existed but are excited about hopefully speaking to the students face to face one day: something we will certainly try make a reality.

I sent the boys away with some homework; we eventually want to create letters to scan and email to the Palestine club. Rather than just send a normal letter, I asked them to bring in a picture or poem which 'defines' them or means something to them to form the introduction of the letter. Some suggestsions were pictures of the wall or Al-Aqsa mosque, some were poems by the famous Palestinian Poet, Mahmoud Darwish.

Next lesson, it will be interesting to see what they bring and hopefully we can begin with writing our letters!

From Arab Institute to Acland Burghley with Love

A video made by year 9 (year 10 UK) in one of our english clubs to give a message to Acland Burghley.

Introducing Acland Burghley

Today, I introduced the grade 7s and Grade 9s to their special twinning with Acland Burghley.

First, we started by looking at a prospectus of the school and identifiying the similarities and differences the two schools had. The children were all very enthusiastic about how to proceed with the twinning and we began to formulate ideas on writing opening letters to scan and send to the students of Acland Burghley. In this, we plan to introduce ourselves, thank the students for the twinning and maybe talk about the student experiences. The older students are also going to think off interesting ways to introduce the letter such as an Acrostic poem.

Grade 7 hard at work deciding what to put in their letters

For homework, the aim is to bring in a picture that captures the most important thing to them. Let's see what happens next lesson when we type up the letters!

Arab Institute Head-teacher Meets Volunteers

 Here are some artworks which are at the school too!!

Video profiles

The last two days in the Arab Institute have seen the students write information about themselves, their likes and dislikes, their favourite subject in school and a bit about how the Israeli occupation affects them. Then we filmed them in the library (where we have English classes) and now hopefully you can watch them in Camden from dropbox!

Our box for Abu Dis boys

Hello, my name is Silas and i am a member of friends of palestine.
this is the reply to your last update.
in our box we will be sending:

• oyster card


• strawberry lances


• mini eggs


• School planner


• school bulletin


• local newspapers


• photos of classes in school


• exercise book

We will probably add more things as we think of them.

We hope you are all well and look forward to your reply.

Hello everyone!

Hello everyone my name is Eliot and as you may have guessed I go to Acland Burghley school. I'm just writing to say hello to everyone. The club has decided to collect a group of objects that we think represent Camden. We are going to send the objects to you so that you can get an idea of how our lives are like. We hope you like the objects when we send them to you. In answer to your question about what I would take to a desert island it would be a huge tank of water as water is the most important thing to keep you alive. From Eliot Edmonds year 8.

Hello from Acland Burghley

Hello to everyone at the Arab Institute. I am Mr Rob Stainsby and I am a teacher at Acland Burghley. I came to visit last April and had a lovely time. I am in charge of our 'Friends of Palestine' group and our students will be posting stuff on this blog very soon.

Yours, Rob

Using this blog

If you are a CADFA volunteer or a teacher at the Arab Institute, Acland Burghley or Haverstock schools, you are welcome to post to this blog. Please send an email to us at contact@camdenabudis.net and we'll send you the password. All best wishes

Last week we played 2 games to get to know the boys at the Arab Institute a little better. It Would be interesting to see how the game would work in Acland Burghley school.
First of all we asked the boys "if you were stuck on a desert island for the rest of your life what 1 object would you bring with you"
After a first round of answers that were almost exclusively items like 'a boat'  or 'a helicopter' to get off the island, we felt the boys somewhat missed the point of the game. When we triend for the second time we got some fantastic answers.

These Included

A picture of my family

A prayer rug

My Donkey

A Koran

A telephone to speak to my friends and family

My best friend

A horse

Fresh Water

Food (specifically a giant maqluba)

A treehouse

We also asked them to come up with a box, with items inside that represented Palestine that could be sent to Acland Burghley school that would help them understand Palestine and the lives of the boys 

Again the boys came up with a great collection of things. Between the groups of Boys that undertook the exercise they said they would send
A picture of Al Aqsa mosque- To show the importance of religion to Palestinians http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/1x4630650/Al_Aqsa_Mosque_and_Dome_of_the_Rock_at_Temple_700-00429409.jpg

A photocopy of an ID card- To show that they live under occupation http://holylandshots.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/blog33.jpg

A film of the checkpoints. To show what they must to to move around their country http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86mgmJwg-PI

Traditional folklore songs- To tell the histroy of palestine and its people

Palestinian traditional dress- To show traditional culture and customs of Palestine http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkda3sWMMY1qid06to1_500.jpg

Palestinian glass and pottery from Hebron- To show the skill of Palestinian craftsmen http://vicbethlehem.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/famous-hebron-glass-and-ceramics-001.jpg

Palestinian Olive Oil- Because Olive oil is very important to the diet and economy of Palestine http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Lifeandhealth/Pix/pictures/2009/2/23/1235406894179/Palestinian-olives-for-ol-001.jpg

A broken Leaf from an Olive Tree- To represent how many olive trees have been destroyed or stolen by the occupation http://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/July5-fire-pic2-r.jpg

Videos of Dabkeh (traditional Palestinian Dance)- Because it is part of their identity as Palestinians http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfgwxIzC_4

Degree Transcript- To show how well educated people in Palestine are, despite not having any work

A postcard from the Dead Sea- To show the unique beauty and nature that can be found in Palestine https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirH7eZQtKOJQ5RwO1k4EyheKvu9LcI9H_6hnc9LPlBPlg_zB5Vvq-JDDEbD-zpzlYRsBWVg9XPgRC7TUFc-DjGKOnwM4nxaLkD7M1CDTDiEI6ccVFBQDMTL62M5KxEpUoQgekz_PcJgA/s1600/Dead+Sea+%2528Israel%252C+Jordan%252C+Palestine%2529.jpg

Maqluba- Traditional Palestinian dish, to show what Palestinians eat http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Maqluba.jpg

What would the students at Acland Burghley send to Palestine?

Postcards to London

English club at the Arab Institute - W/C 12.02.2012

We started with a warm activity. We played a word game where you have to get to 25 words, in English, with each consecutive word beginning with the last letter of the previous word. It was a game that worked well because it made the kids think about words they knew but encouraged them to concentrate on spelling. The competition aspect of the game by started with a shared starter word ensured it kept the students' attention and focused them.

After this we asked them to write some postcards for the students of Acland Burghley school. They have written draft paragraphs and we corrected the English and then got them to copy it onto the postcard template. They also drew a picture for the stamp as well as designing an image or a landscape for the front of the postcard.

Al Aqsa mosque and the wall features prominently as the pictures on the front of the postcards! For many of the students here in Palestine this is the what they think about the most. I will scan in some of the postcards very soon.

The following shows an insight into what many of the students would like to communicate to London about Palestine. This is from Tareq's postcard who asked if his could be used as an example (he is very committed to improving his English and particularly enthusiastic about :

"My name is Tareq Siag, I am a Palestinian from Jerusalem. I am 14 years old, and I have one brother and two sisters. I am in the 9th grade at the Arab Institute High School. My favourite subjects are math and science. I have heard a lot about England and that interests me to know about the Royal Family and the historical places in London especially Big Ben Clock. 

Part of Palestine was occupied by the Israelis before 1948 when Palestine was under British rule, and the West Bank and Jerusalem were occupied in 1967 after the six day war between the Israelis and the Jordanians. 

This occupation is making the Palestinians life so difficult. We cannot move freely within Palestine. In order to travel from place to place Palestinians have to cross many solider checkpoints. And some areas you cannot pass without special permission by the Israeli government, on the other hand Israelis can move freely without any permission. Imagine that for me to come to school I have to pass the checkpoint and that takes so much time, we have to be under the mercy of the soldiers in order to pass. 

Many other difficulties face the Palestinians, particularly Palestinians that live in Jerusalem. Palestinians are not allowed to build houses within the city without the permission by the Israelis, and if they allow, the procedure to issue the permission takes many years. And the number of permissions issued is not sufficient for the natural population increase which forces the Palestinians in the city to live outside the city zone. When Palestinians leave Jerusalem, the Israelis consider these Palestinians not residents and take away their residency benefits like health insurance and other benefits."