Community Centres, School visits, and fun!

The teachers are on their 7th day here in London are overhwhelemed with the great visits to schools and community centres. Today, the teachers are working on drafting a plan for twinning associations and raising awareness about the human rights issue in Palestinian schools and academic frames. The teachers are meeting new people and enjoying their new friends and connections|

Women's afternoon at the Calthorpe Project

Rudaina, tell us what you were making??

Film made by La Sainte Union School pupil

This short film was made by a sixteen year old pupil, Sophie, after she had come to one meeting of the school Palestine Twinning club. She was so inspired by the discussions, led by the volunteers, Nour and Wadee, that she went home, did some research, and within a few days had put this film into YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZfYlsgdnGk

The whole group together again + EVENTS!!

Looking forward to seeing everyone together again after what sounds like an interesting time in Liverpool/ Pendle/ Northampton/Llanidloes/ Tower Hamlets... and Camden of course. Tomorrow the group will meet at a workshop in Camden and we'll hear about the school twinning plans that everyone has been working on.

This is to REMIND and INVITE everyone else to a public event, a conference, a celebration, all this weekend. Come and meet the teachers!!

Please see links here for info on THREE GREAT EVENTS

Friday Hackney event

Saturday Conference on school twinning with Palestine at NUT

SUNDAY LUNCH WITH CADFA!!!

Comments from two days in Camden schools (not finished)

Samih has spent the past two days at Gospel Oak Primary School in Camden. He visited all the classes in the school - nursery, reception, years 1-6. He says that it is a great school. He noticed that the curriculum in some ways seems easier than in Palestine. In Palestine, children are asked to learn about a lot more things (quantity of teaching). But here a simple idea or piece of knowledge can have a lot of different aspects (quality of teaching). Some of the subjects he saw in London are not taught (or not taught in the same way) in Palestine. Music, for example, is part of the curriculum in the UK but it is extra-curriculum in Palestine - Children can do dabkeh or music after school if they want to.

This led to an energetic discussion about some of the different things people had seen in Camden schools.

Nibal pointed out that music, philosophy, design and technology (DT) and dancing are all extra-curricular in Palestine but part of the curriculum here.

"In Palestine, we do the same things as teachers here", says Rudaina - "But we are on our own with 40 students. Here, teachers have more help and enough resources for all the students. Students do a lot of research as part of their education here. In Palestine, children take educational  materials to schools with them - if they need wood or cardboard etc, it has to be taken to school with them. Here in the UK, it is provided."

Moein says that lessons are longer here - some of them can be double lessons and they go on for an hour and a half.

"I've noticed that they often don't have text-books," said Ghadeer. "They have worksheets which they fill and put in their folder. If they don't finish their worksheet or their homework, they can come back to it."

UK students have light bags - In Palestine, children take heavy bags to school full of books.

Here, the student is in the middle of the education process. He or she can contribute, ask questions, do things during the class, work in a group (there is a lot of group work). Students have the chance to move around the school and the classroom. 

In Palestine, students have to stay in their class and the teachers move around it.

In both countries, there are students who behave and students who don't. Students are students. ("Though I saw a big difference between Knighton and London", said Ghadeer).  In Palestine we have social workers in schools to help. 

Here, teachers work very hard, they have a plan for every lesson. It is computerised - everything about the lesson and the children's behaviour goes on the computer every class.

Nibal describes something she saw when a teacher was revising material with students. She gave out questionnaires - 'What do you know?'  Students had to mark things they were not confident about so they decided themselves the things they needed to revise. They had an image about their understanding of the material.  Then she gave them a challenge (a game). People who answered this could do the next challenge. At the end of the class, Nibal could see that even the weak students had improved their understanding.

In Palestine, the whole class has to learn from one subject book, and there isn't the same concentration on differentiation that there is in the UK.

The students in the UK nurseries don't have a fixed curriculum - everyone chooses what they want to do.

In UK primary schools, they concentrate on literacy and mathematics - In Palestine some students struggle with reading all the way through school.

A discussion about relative levels in UK and Palestine (not decided).

Al-Bireh Primary School Teacher Sireen in Northampton - First Day

On Tuesday, welcomed by the Head Teacher, Sireen observed Year 6 lessons in Spelling and Literacy.  Then there was a Question & Answer session with 'Dyson' Year 5 Class. 

In the afternoon there was a tour of the school conducted by the six 'Dyson' children who have got to know six children in Al-Bireh Basic School: Kate delivered letters to the Palestine children in October and Sireen gave the Simon de Senlis student letters which the Grade 4 Al-Bireh children had written - in excellent English!  The children have also previously 'met' via Skype.

The Northampton children were very excited about Sireen's visit.  They said they didn't too much mind missing their afternoon Science lesson!  We all enjoyed the afternoon.

انتهاء المرحلة الأولى من زيارة المعلمين الفلسطينيين الى بريطانيا

  زيارة المعلمين الى بريطانيا القسم الأول من الزيارة كان في مكان إقامة في شمال إنجلترا حيث قضى المعلمين من البلدين نهاية أسبوع معا في مكان إقامة في شمال انجلترا حيث التقى الطرفين وتعارفوا مساء يوم الجمعة قبل أن يبدأ العمل في اليوم الأول يوم السبت بعرض تفصيلي عن عمل جمعية صداقة كامدن أبوديس والتوأم الأخرى الشريكة تبعه استعراض لواقع عمل وحياة المعلمين في بريطانيا أساليب العمل وأنماطه المختلفة بين المعلمين العاملين في مدارس لندن والمعلمين القادمين من مدن وبلدات بريطانية مختلفة بهدف توفير أكبر قد ممكن من المعرفة للمعلين من فلسطين عن واقع حياتهم وعن سير العملية التعليمية في بريطانيا والصعوبات التي تواجه الطلاب والمعلمين فيها بالإضافة الى تجارب مدارسهم مع التوأمة مع فلسطين.

يوم الأحد اليوم الثاني في مكان الإقامة قدمت جمعية صداقة كامدن أبوديس رؤيتها حول عمل التوأمة الخاصة بالمدارس الهدف منها وكيفية الحفاظ على استمراريتها بالإضافة الى شرح حول أندية التوأمة الطلابية وعن الدعم الذي يمكن للجمعية تقديمه من مواد ومتطوعين ومشاريع تبادل بين البلدين للقطاع التعليمي، بعد هذا العرض بدأ المعلمين الفلسطينيين بطرح قضاياهم بمحاضرات عن واقع الحياة في فلسطين والانتهاكات التي يتعرضون لها وطلابهم جراء سياسات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وقد تطرق المعلمين من فلسطين الى نواحي مختلفة من الحياة في فلسطين وما يتسبب به الاحتلال من تأثير سلبي على كل مناحي الحياة حيث طرحت قضايا التنقل والجدار والاستيطان واللاجئين والحواجز العسكرية بالإضافة الى سير العملية التعليمية والمخاطر التي تواجه الطلاب والمعلمين على حد سواء.

في نهاية اليوم وقبل أن يغادر المعلمين الى مدن ومواقع بريطانية مختلفة عقد اجتماع تقييمي بمشاركة الجميع وقد توزع المعلمين من فلسطين على ثلاث مجموعات مختلفة ليزوروا بلدة نايتون على الحدود الولزية ومدينة تشستر في شمال انجلترا وضاحية هاكني في مدينة لندن حيث نظمت في هذه المواقع لقاءات عامة تحدث فيها المعلمين من فلسطين عن واقع الحياة واهم المستجدات في بلدهم.

يوم الاثنين زار المعلمين في هذه البلدات مدارس مختلفة وتحدثوا في الإذاعات المدرسية وقد تركوا انطباعات جيدة جداً عن الزيارة فيما أخذ معلمينا من فلسطين فكرة عن طبيعة المدارس ونظامها وكيفية عملها في مختلف المدن والبلدات.