“My name is Bobby Stevens and I am from New York in the United States. I graduated from St. Bonaventure University with a Bachelors degree in International Studies. Some of my hobbies include traveling, reading and playing football. I am currently finishing up my volunteer work in Hebron, Palestine with The Excellence Center.
Here at The Excellence Cente,r I am teaching English as well as learning Arabic. As an English teacher,r I have had many different types of classes. I have assisted Arabic teachers who are native to Palestine, I have taught in a one on one setting, and I have also had my own class of 7-9 students at the Intermediate level. My experience teaching at The Excellence Center has been nothing but wonderful. All of the teachers are very well qualified and always so helpful. I’m proud to call each one of the teachers here my close friend that I will never forget. Teaching English has been a very rewarding experience as I have really felt as though I am making a difference in my students lives.
Learning Arabic with the amazing Marwa Shantir has been an absolute blessing. Over these past 3 months, I went from knowing basic greetings to being able to participate in the conversation with native speakers. The full emersion experience is the best way to learn any language. Aside from having one on one lesions 3 times a week with a highly qualified teacher, I am surrounded by native speakers which forces me to practice at all times of the day. Although I do not have Arabic lessons every day, I am constantly practicing with everyone around me.
The city of Hebron is really eager to improve their tourism industry. For this reason, everybody is so generous and kind to all foreigners coming into the city. Every day I am invited to another dinner, lunch or café for a coffee. You really feel like you are home here at Hebron, not just as another tourist in another city. Family life and morals are such an important part of the culture here in Hebron. Reputation of one’s name is very important and because of this, I have felt so safe throughout my stay here. From all of the cities I have traveled to, I have never felt safer leaving my door unlocked at night.
I am very sad that my time here in Hebron is up, but I am excited to come back in April and work for a month. Hebron has really became my 2nd home and all of the people here my brothers and sisters. There is no city like the city of Hebron.”
