HELLO AND GOODBYE TO ABU DIS BOYS SCHOOL

Today was the last day for me at Abu Dis Boys School. For the past three months I have really enjoyed working with the students here who are full of ideas and have been so welcoming. I would have liked to have had more sessions with them, but due a combination of the teachers strike, clashes and storm Alexa last week, I have not been there for a while. Now the school must catch up on work that has been missed and prepare for exams now until the end of January. Instead we will try to organise extra classes in Darasadaqa.

Whilst saying "goodbye" to Abu Dis Boys, it was also a time to say "hello" to the new volunteers in Abu Dis. I'm sure that Lawson and Robert will do great work at this school and be welcomed too.

PALESTINIAN MENU

Today the Boys made menus for a Palestinian restaurant. First they thought of a name for their restaurant and then they chose food they wanted to serve at the restaurant. They restaurant had choice between a starter, main course and a desert, followed by a selection of drinks. They also put the price of the food. 

LONDON

Today the boys from grade 7 were asked what they knew about London. Some of them thought that London had 6,000 people, so they were very surprised to find that London is a big city of over 8,000,000 people. That is more than the whole population of Palestine in one city! The boys had heard of Big Ben and knew about the Olympics. During the 2012 Games they watched swimming, javelin, running, basketball and tennis. When I showed them a picture of 'my house' they were very surprised at how big it is. This is because in actual fact I showed them a picture of Buckingham Palace. I told them that if I ever become King they will all be invited to stay there. Then the bell rang and it was the end of class. Their homework is to look at this blog... lets see if they remember.

Maybe the classes in London can tell us what they think about Palestine?

Today the Boys from Abu Dis boys school made postcards for the students at Hamstead. You will have to wait for Wa'ad to arrive to receive them! The boys thought the uniform that Hamstead wear is very amusing because it looks like the students are going to work! As you can see in the pictures, the students at Abu Dis Boys School wear blue t-shirts and black trousers.

Grade 7 making postcards for the students at Hamstead

Grade 8 using their artistic skills

Making stronger the lunchtime club ....

Me (Safia) and Tarek , after the meeting with Rafeef, help-teacher in Hampstead School, start to work in the idea how to make more stronger the twinning betweem the lunchtime in Hampstead School, and in Abu Dis !

The first idea is to start to teach some arabic work, to allowed students to make a skype conversation.
But, we have to distribute leaflets, and try to get a how is possible to talk in the next Assembly.

About the School,  It's a very equipped school, with more than three building ....

The students have to wear an black uniform, 
The Hampstead School motto is  'Learning Together Achieving Together', they provide the right support enabling students to develop confidence and encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, and  develop morally, spiritually, culturally and socially....

Another day in Hampstead School

Today, Tarek and Safia went to Hampstead School, and they met Rafeef, and they discussed some ideas about how to attracive the students to join us to do our projects, then we went to the Women Center and, Safia distributed some leaflets to tell them about our projects and about the Organization, then we went back to the office to talk with Nandita, and to do the blogs.

FIRST DAY AT ABU DIS BOYS SCHOOL

Today small groups from grade 7,8 & 9 at Abu Dis Boys School met with the CADFA volunteers for the first time. The boys were excited about the opportunity to be involved in the twinning project and to learn about life in the UK from children their own age. Some of them had been involved in CADFA projects before and most had been to Dar Assadaqa (Friendship House) to have fun, make friends and practice their English.

The boys had many questions they wanted to ask the students at Hamstead …

·      What are your names?
·       How old are you?
·       Where is the school and what does it look like?
·       What are your teachers like?
·       Where is your favourite place in London?
·       How many brothers and sisters do you have?
·       What is the weather like in London?
·       What subjects do you study?
·       What football team do you support?

All the boys had interesting stories to tell about their school and life in Palestine. Abu-Dis boys school has 600 boys coming to the school every day and the classes have up to 40 students. The boys love playing football and basketball. Some of them support Barcelona and some support Real Madrid!

They also wanted to say that the Israeli occupation is very disruptive to their studies. Sometimes the school has to be closed because tear gas is thrown into the school. Can you imagine that! They also say that some of their friends have been taken by soldiers, which means their friends cannot learn at school. They cannot enter their capital city, Jerusalem, because of the occupation wall, which makes them feel sad.

Next week is Eid, a Muslim holiday, which means the boys get next week off school, so next time they will tell Hamstead about their holiday. The boys look forward to meeting the students at Hamstead and understanding more about their lives! 

FIRST SCHOOL SKYPE MEETING BETWEEN LONDON AND ABU-DIS

Today children from Abu-Dis Boys School met with children from Hampstead School, Camden for the first time using Skype. Although the meeting was short, it was a great opportunity for the children to introduce themselves and meet their twinning partners from London and Palestine. As it was the first ever CADFA School Skype meeting there were a few technical problems, which will be fixed for next time. The kids had many questions and stories to ask and tell each other, but did not have enough time today, however they were excited and enthusiastic to speak more next time. The children in Dar Assadaqa left a video message for the kids in London full of good wishes for future meetings. Everyone at Dar Assadaqa is looking forward to building on this opportunity and to share more projects in the near future. 

Hello all at Hampstead School and Abu Dis Boys' School,

TAREK - This is a picture of our new volunteer from Palestine in his first days in London.

Welcome to the new school year! 

The Hampstead-Abu Dis Schools friendship link can begin with our first meeting this academic year on Wednesday the 2nd of October at 1.30pm UK time (3.30pm Palestinian time).

Is there any chance of some students from each school speaking to each other via Skype at this time?

Khalil

This is one of the Abu Dis Boys School students who came to Britain on a CADFA visit in August: Khalil.

We had a prize for the best diary of the visit: Khalil and one other boy (not from Abu Dis) won the prize.

Here is the blog of that visit: 2013commonground.blogspot.co.uk

Update on the kids' visit from Palestine

Update on the kids' visit from Palestine

Following the Israelis’ holding the head teacher from Abu Dis Boys' School at the border to Jordan, our 16 Palestinian visitors including 12 children did not manage to get to their flight on Sunday. They had been planning to join us for five days in Devon followed by a week in London.

It’s hard to describe how disappointing this is. The very best we cando now is to bring the whole group to Britain NEXT SUNDAY. This means that the days in Devon cannot happen, this time, and the programme will need to be reorganised completely.

We are taking up the case of Mazen Salahaldin, the Headteacher who has not been allowed to travel. We would be grateful if you would help by asking your MP about it and by getting press attention for this if you can.

Amer

Hampstead School

information about Palestine 

Hampstead tree

Working with Abu Dis Boys

Teaching both 8^th and 9^th grade classes we realized there was not much difference in their level of English and so we decided to do the same activities with both grades. In our first week we attempted to develop the concept of twinning by brainstorming their knowledge of London, England and the meaning of twinning. Although this was rather difficult the boys do understand that they are twinning with Hampstead School in London and understand the importance of this twinning relationship.

In many of our lessons we tried activities that would enhance the boy’s English vocabulary and teach them grammar in a fun and productive way. The 1^st activity consisted of making an English Facebook page on a worksheets that encouraged the boys to talk about themselves and their own lives (things they like etc). This would be a great development if they boys were to ever be in contact with their fellow English pupils, especially if the buddy idea, which we have recently thought of, goes ahead.

Some of the grammar activities involved the revision and use of verbs. This consisted mainly of board work, but in one lesson we asked the boys if they could draw a picture of a person they admire and then write 5 sentences of why they respect this person, e.g ‘He fights for freedom.’ As you can see this includes the use of verbs.

Grammar lessons can become quite boring and difficult for the boys so we tried to make them as fun and practical as possible. One idea we came up with was to ask the boys to write their names vertically in graffiti writing and to think of an adjective beginning with each letter of their name. Combining both and grammar and art together proved successful and with a little help the boys managed to accomplish the task.

 

Some of the students from grade 8. 

Introducing Twinning

To introduce twinning with the young boys at Abu Dis Boys we decided to spent the first half of the lesson playing some warm up games to get comfortable with speaking English. The second half the lesson we focused on a twinning activity which included big sheets of paper and pens. We asked the boys to get into pairs and draw about what they knew about twinning, England and Cadfa. Most of the boys drew big ben and had some knowledge of twinning already. It was definitely a wild and energetic lesson! We think it's going be quite a challenge with Abu Dis boys but we are ready for it!!

English quizz for Palestinians' kids

Palestine Quizz

1.     What continent is Palestine in?
2.     What language do people speak in Palestine?
3.     What is the capital of Palestine?
4.     Another famous city in Palestine?
5.     Name one sea that is next to Palestine?
6.     Name one sort of Palestinian food?
7.     A famous Palestinian?
8.     What religions do people have in Palestine?
9.     One thing that Palestine is famous for?
10.                       One problem that people have in Palestine?

We gave this Palestine questionnaire to the students and they did it by pairs. The answers were heterogeneous so, it was funny.

Newsletters, blogs and kids' visit

We started with a name game and after we looked at the newsletters and showed them the blog of one of the kids' visit. We talked about it and asked them if they wanted to become "buddy" for the kids' visit. It was a good session with 8 pupils. Hopefully the other sessions will be good like today. 

Football Tournament!

We've been running a football tournament in our last few lessons with the grade 8s and 9s at Abu Dis Boys in an attempt to channel their endless energy and enthusiasm. We hoped they would find football fun and interesting and we were thrilled at the results. We spent the first lesson letting the boys choose teams from a selection of forty player cards, and going through football-related vocabulary. Today was match day!

The students and teachers were all suitably impressed by our AMAZING football pitch:

Our football pitch with two teams of player cards- if you land on a red squares you draw a 'Chance' card

We started with the grade 9s, who were initially skeptical, especially when they realized our homemade effort was more about luck than skill, but soon they were yelling in frustration and throwing their hands up like real football players when the 'goal card' they drew said the goal keeper had saved the ball, and doing celebrations worthy of Amfield or Old Traford when they scored a goal!

The Grade 9s getting competitive!

We only managed one match before the lesson ended, although our students almost refused to leave! Team A scored 2 goals against Team B. In the next lesson Team C will play Team D and then the winners will play each other for the cup- I mean, teapot of sweets.

The grade 8s managed to play an entire tournament. Team A suffered a crushing defeat against Team B owing to an unfortunate tendency to draw cards telling them they had injured the other player in a tackle and given the other team a penalty, failed to score, and lost the ball...

The Grade 8s watching Team A play Team B

A snippet of the Team A vs Team B match 

Team C and D played a more balanced game, but Team D won and went on to play an exciting final game against Team B. For most of the game it looked like Team B were going to be our trophy winners but Team D snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the last few minutes of the game in a nail-biting finale which resulted in a 2-1 scoreline.

In the lesson after the tournament we will brainstorm words about great footballers and great teams. We will then ask them to write something about a favorite player or a team they support.

Poems

Some of the Grade 8's from Abu Dis boys school have been coming to Dar Assadaqa on Saturdays  to attend our morning English club, especially when there has been teacher strikes and they have been unable to attend school.

Last week some of them wrote poems relating to their situations and how they feel:


It's up to you,
One song can spark a moment
One tree can start a forest
One smile begins a friendship
One touch can show you care
One step must start a journey
One candle wipes out darkness
One life can make the difference
You see, it's up to you.

            ---

I can't go everywhere
If I want go to Jerusalem
I can't...
If I want to think about the future
I can't...
If I want healthcare
I can't...
But...
In the end I have
good parents
good friends
good English teachers
good brothers
and I don't have to worry about life because
Inshallah
I will be in heaven

Maps of Abu Dis

Last week we showed our classes maps and explained how they can be useful for finding out about a place. They looked at a map of London and also a map of Camden. We pointed out where Hampstead school is and other places of interest, they particularly wanted to know where the football stadiums are.

In the second class they produced their own maps of Abu Dis, including what is important/prominent to them in their town. They included shops, houses, schools, the university, Dar Assadaqa (a.k.a. Camden) and mosques. Noticeably they also included the Separation wall, the military camp and the watch tower, which reminds us that Abu Dis is an occupied town.

Here is some of their work:

Grade 8 map of Abu Dis

Grade 9 map of Abu Dis

Abu Dis Boys say hello!

We (Charlotte and Claudia – Group 6) have now spent our first two weeks at Abu Dis Boys School. We have been made very welcome by the staff at the school and are happy to be working with two classes of boys (8th Grade and 9th Grade). Whilst there are still ongoing teacher strikes at the school, due to teacher's wages being withheld, we are fortunate that so far our time with them has not been too disrupted.

Here are photographs of the students in our classes

Grade 8 Class

Grade 9 Class

Last week we showed them the letter written by some of the students from Hampstead School. They were happy to receive it and give thanks, see the video of Grade 8's above. We have been helping them to write sentences in English about 'a day in Abu Dis' in response to the letter.

Here are some of their sentences about Abu Dis:

My Day in Abu Dis

I eat my breakfast and get ready for school.
I go to school. I learn English.
I play football with my friends.
I go home.
I talk to my friends on Facebook. 
I read the Quran.
I do my homework.
I play computer games.
I go to my bedroom and go to sleep. 

Cake Sale & Farewell party

By the end of this project we managed to have the cake sale for raising money for a visit by children who are coming from Abu Dis next June. The kids were enthusiastic in volunteering and taking part, helping to run the stall. We handed out certificates to those who attended.

A speech was presented by Noor to thank the kids for their interest and regular attendance, we celebrated the day with cake and biscuits at lunch time.

 

Peparation

Prepartion for the cake sale each one of the students were happy to take over one kind of the cake,
they were so nice and want to help the students visit J

Games :)

A selection of games has been prepared to energise the students, basically the games has a paralleled side of the Palestinian daily life, inside the Ballons there are some papers such as (air, sun, land, ocean, people…) so they should keep the balloons up but if it goes down the one who lost this chance should imagine how life will be without it) after that one we talked about the Palestinian people how do they really suffer from being in prison and they are prevented of seeing sun for a while. So they felt the difference by hearing the stories and thinking of this game as imagination but in Palestine it’s the reality.

Palestine Global villiage

A presentations were made by the students in which they presented cities in Palestine and they illustrated more about the historical places and cultural side there.
at the end each of the students were asked to write one word on how the are finding the Palestinian club so far.

Hampstead school letter for Abu-Dis boys school

Thursday 13^th December 2012

Letter to our friends in Abu Dis Boys School.

Good afternoon from Hampstead. How are you?

What’s it like in Palestine? What do you do in Palestine?

In these sessions we've been learning about the good things in Palestine, like the farming olives and what they sell like ice cream in Ramallah and making glass. I find Palestine interesting because it’s different to England. In England we have ice cream in ice cream vans and packets but in Palestine they scoop it out.

We've been learning about what’s going on in Palestine. In addition we've seen what kind of life you have lived. We also learned about the keys in Palestine for refugees.

  

Fadumo

Eman

Aisyah