I am excited to start another Arabic adventure with you. During the summer students were involved in several different Arabic activities. One student did Startalk and is planning to take Arabic classes at BYU. Also, four students went to Palestine/Israel for an intensive language experience and to meet Palestinians and stay in their homes. They also made the Palestinian Ma'an newspaper. (Posted below)
MAAN NEWS AGENCY
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"This is what diplomacy should be;" Utah teens come to the West Bank
Date: 24 / 07 / 2008 Time: 15:53
Bethlehem – Ma'an – "This is what my job should be about," said Alistair Baskey, head of Cultural and Education Exchanges for the US consular office in Jerusalem, "not answering e-mails and phone calls."
This week Baskey has been overseeing a group of four American teenagers from Utah and more than fifty Palestinian youth from Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and Jenin, as they connect in a language and cultural exchange. "This is real diplomacy," he said watching a basketball match between the teens.
The group is all part of a program funded by the US State Department that connects American youth with their peers in places as far away Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Palestine. The ongoing and primarily web-based events are organized by the Global Connections and Exchange Program in cooperation with Relief International Schools On-Line (RISOL). The program is multifaceted, and includes IT training for participants, cultural information exchange, and online Arabic lessons.
Majd Iwidat, a 17-year-old Hebronite, learned how to use several different software programs as he and his peers at a local community center put together an instructional video on basic Arabic for a high school class in Utah. His participation in the program has earned him more than just IT experience, however.
As a RISOL student Majd traveled to the United States, visiting Washington DC, Los Angeles and Seattle, where he met his peers from Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the United States.
Kathlene Ornano, a 16-year-old American from Provo, Utah, was one of four Americans taking part in the program's organized visit to the West Bank. Kathlene started learning Arabic when she was 12, after she discovered that it was the language spoken in Egypt, where she hopes to some day explore the ancient pyramids.
It was Majd's video tutorials that helped Kathlene learn Arabic in her high school class of 13 students, under the direction of teacher Audry Bastian. Ms Bastian has brought the tools from RISOL into her language classrooms, to help her students learn what life is like in the countries where Arabic is spoken, and expose the students to the language in a real and interactive way.
While Majd joined the program out of his interest in computer technology, hoping some day to study computer science at Harvard, Kathlene isn't sure what she wants to do with her knowledge of Arabic. "Right now I really just want to know more," she said.
This is the first group of youth under 18 that the US consul has brought into the West Bank since 2001. "Security concerns" are preventing the group from visiting Majd in Hebron, and the young man will not be able to join the group during their tour of the Haram Ash-Sharif since he was not among the ten participants selected to receive special permission to enter Jerusalem.
Indeed, the reality of the situation – the group is followed closely by at least four security guards, has restricted access to Palestinian cities, and faces the restricted access of Palestinians to Jerusalem – is going to be part of the experience for the visiting Americans.
For the moment, however, the students do not seem too concerned about the political ramifications of their meeting.
Majd says that despite the impact that the United States has on his country, he is happy to meet good people from the area. Kathlene is enthralled with the ancient architecture of the old cities of East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. She was amazed to discover, upon entering some of the old buildings that "everything is new and modern." She said that the trip has shown her "there is a different view on the inside," of the homes, at least.
This week Baskey has been overseeing a group of four American teenagers from Utah and more than fifty Palestinian youth from Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and Jenin, as they connect in a language and cultural exchange. "This is real diplomacy," he said watching a basketball match between the teens.
The group is all part of a program funded by the US State Department that connects American youth with their peers in places as far away Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Palestine. The ongoing and primarily web-based events are organized by the Global Connections and Exchange Program in cooperation with Relief International Schools On-Line (RISOL). The program is multifaceted, and includes IT training for participants, cultural information exchange, and online Arabic lessons.
Majd Iwidat, a 17-year-old Hebronite, learned how to use several different software programs as he and his peers at a local community center put together an instructional video on basic Arabic for a high school class in Utah. His participation in the program has earned him more than just IT experience, however.
As a RISOL student Majd traveled to the United States, visiting Washington DC, Los Angeles and Seattle, where he met his peers from Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the United States.
Kathlene Ornano, a 16-year-old American from Provo, Utah, was one of four Americans taking part in the program's organized visit to the West Bank. Kathlene started learning Arabic when she was 12, after she discovered that it was the language spoken in Egypt, where she hopes to some day explore the ancient pyramids.
It was Majd's video tutorials that helped Kathlene learn Arabic in her high school class of 13 students, under the direction of teacher Audry Bastian. Ms Bastian has brought the tools from RISOL into her language classrooms, to help her students learn what life is like in the countries where Arabic is spoken, and expose the students to the language in a real and interactive way.
While Majd joined the program out of his interest in computer technology, hoping some day to study computer science at Harvard, Kathlene isn't sure what she wants to do with her knowledge of Arabic. "Right now I really just want to know more," she said.
This is the first group of youth under 18 that the US consul has brought into the West Bank since 2001. "Security concerns" are preventing the group from visiting Majd in Hebron, and the young man will not be able to join the group during their tour of the Haram Ash-Sharif since he was not among the ten participants selected to receive special permission to enter Jerusalem.
Indeed, the reality of the situation – the group is followed closely by at least four security guards, has restricted access to Palestinian cities, and faces the restricted access of Palestinians to Jerusalem – is going to be part of the experience for the visiting Americans.
For the moment, however, the students do not seem too concerned about the political ramifications of their meeting.
Majd says that despite the impact that the United States has on his country, he is happy to meet good people from the area. Kathlene is enthralled with the ancient architecture of the old cities of East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. She was amazed to discover, upon entering some of the old buildings that "everything is new and modern." She said that the trip has shown her "there is a different view on the inside," of the homes, at least.
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