Palestinian lunch club- from Acland Burghley and Haverstock to Arab Institute.

Schools in London

Hello from Camille and Ibaa, CADFA volunteers in London. We have been working on the twinings and links between schools in London and schools in Abu Dis a few weeks ago. We are happy to hear about your activities with the kids in the Arab institute and would like to update this blog with pictures and information about activities we have been doing with kids, in Acland Burghley and Haverstock, whose ages between 13 and 15 years old from 7th and 8th grades mostly.

As for Acland Burghley school ..

Acland Burghley school is one of our favourite schools in London for many reasons. First, it is a very collaborative school where everybody earns respect and shows respect to all. Second, our contact teacher there Mr. Stainsby is so nice, helpful and welcoming. He has been to Abu Dis before and visited different schools there. Finally, the kids in the school are creative kids who love learning and embrace challenge. They are keen to learn about Palestine and be in touch with their twinning school in Abu Dis.

Haverstock School

At Haverstock, we enjoy our time with having two amazing contact teachers who support us during the lunch club. Miss Nadia and Miss Sabah are very keen to help to enhance the links between their school and schools in Palestine. That's why they encourage students to join the Palestinian lunch club each Wednesday.

The work in both schools is mainly about sticking to a plan and a couple of rules that has been provided by Our work person Cristina and our director Nandita. Both the volunteers and the kids in schools are happy working on this plan that contains various activities and things to do.

In the few sessions we had with the kids at the Palestinian lunch club in both Acland Burghley and Haverstock, we introduced ourselves and clarified our roles through some simple ways like using an icebreaker or a game. Then we showed the newsletters and blogs, discussed them with the kids, observed them online and talked about their twinned school in Palestine.

For a kid who lives in London, it might be a little bit hard to know how Palestinian kids live in Palestine. In the process of preparing the kids here for the Palestinian kids visit, we discussed the differences between the lives of people here in London and there in Palestine. For that purpose, we urged the kids to expect the differences which were mainly talking about the culture, food, weather, safety, education system and life under occupation.

Another thing, we answered a questionnare that contains 10 questions about Palestine. The aim of it was to let kids discover things about Plaestine and to see how much we all know, so we work on the gaps. In fact, the kids did very well. They answered many questions correctly. Meanwhile, they wanted to ask kids in Palestine many questions about London to let them know how London is before they come.

We together looked at different pictures of sights in London such as London Tower Bridge, Big Ben and London Eye as well as some places in Palestine next to a checkpoint or the seperation wall.

Peaceful nights in London ..

Meanwhile in Palestine ..

Finally, we wanted to tell the Palestinian kids who are coming in a couple of weeks that people in London are so excited to meet them.

Cheers,

Camille and Ibaa :)