Violet in Palestine: Deir al Hatab, Week One

My three classes of about 50 students got off to a great start this week. The highest class is already reading and acting out dramas, learning new grammar skills (such as when to use a or an), and expanding their vocabularies. Most impressively of all though, they have mastered the first part to Queen's "We Will Rock You" complete with the rhythmic hand clapping and table slapping.

The two lower classes enjoyed singing "Head and Shoulders," learning what their body parts were called in English. We worked on reviewing numbers, the alphabet, colors, and shapes, playing games such as Alphabet Go-Fish and a special Numbers Ball Toss. We started to do a bit of writing, and everybody can already answer simple questions like, "Do you have a brother?" I am certainly impressed with how good the students are, how quickly they are learning, and how eager they are to know more English.

The word has spread in the village and we have had to close off registration as not a single student more could fit in the room. Although I am sad that not every student who wanted to come to the classes can, it is good to know that there is so much interest that the program can grow in following years if we can find the resources. I can tell already that this is going to be an amazing semester in Deir al Hatab!