English and Arabic With a Gazan

  • Help a Gazan improve their English

  • Pay a Gazan to help you learn Arabic

Help a Gazan improve their English

TO ENGLISH SPEAKERS:

Volunteer for Gaza? We need conversational English speakers for learners in Gaza. Anyone who speaks English can be a tutor with us
Help reduce a Gazan’s isolation, learn a few Arabic words and do what you do best- speak English with them. We use WhatsApp and also Zoom, Google Meets, Facetime and Messenger to give Gazans free 1-1 video sessions in improving their conversational English. If you can give just 30 minutes a week for six weeks, please email us at info@twingaza.com. The aim is ultimately to help Gazans earn money online- doing translation, website design, graphics- in fact anything that can be done on the internet- even business accounts. Download the flyer promoting our programme here

This is only possible because, right now Gaza is surviving  thanks to its tech ‘Digital lifeline’ – Gaza tech workers give glimpse of possible future – BBC News

So- if you want to sign up- then you- as a tutor- need to commit to just 30 minutes a week (more if you can!). You will find that:

  • Learners in Gaza are motivated and grateful
  • You make a real difference in their lives
  • We have a flexible & informal setup; you can use your imagination – use any materials that work best – or use ours.

There are teaching materials below, that tutors may want to use to follow a structured programme approach, if the student wishes that.

TO GAZANS:

To sign up to this programme, please email info@twingaza.com explaining your situation, providing your phone number (the courses we run are on WhatsApp) and say a little bit about yourself: your age, your work, etc. and how much English you know already.

And if you want to study inside or outside Gaza, please look at https://www.twingaza.com/edina-gaza-twinning-association/#Palestinian-students 

  إلى أهل غزة – للتسجيل في هذا البرنامج، يرجى إرسال بريد إلكتروني إلى info@twingaza.com تشرحون فيه وضعكم، وتوضحون رقم هاتفكم (الدورات على واتساب)، وتحدثون قليلاً عن أنفسكم: عمركم، عملكم، إلخ، وكم تعرفون من اللغة الإنجليزية بالفعل. وإذا كنتم ترغبون في الدراسة خارج غزة، يرجى الاطلاع على https://www.twingaza.com/edina-gaza-twinning-association/#Palestinian-students .

Note that if you want to pass the IELTS programme, you should also go to https://www.cambly.com/courses?lang=en with whom you might also like to enroll, because unlike ourselves, CAMBLY cover the IELTS programme, that UK universities expect students to achieve in order to gain entrance. CAMBLY is, like ourselves, free.

You can practise for the test at  IELTS 1v1 | IELTS Online Tests | IELTS Online Tests

After six weeks the two of you (tutor and Gazan student) can have a review and decide if you want to do a further six weeks, and then another six weeks, and so on.

TEACHING MATERIALS

 

ELEMENTARY LEVEL IN ENGLISH

Face2Face Starter Workbook https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Face2Face-Starter-Workbook.pdf

 

Face2Face Student Book https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Face2Face-Starter-Students-Book.pdf

 

The three audio files to go with this book can be downloaded here: CD1 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CD1-for-Elementary-Level-Face-to-Face.mp3   CD2 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CD2-for-Elementary-Level-Face-to-Face.mp3 CD3 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CD3-for-Elementary-Level-Face-to-Face.mp3

Face2Face Teachers Book https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Face2Face-Starter-Teachers-Book.pdf

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL IN ENGLISH

Workbook TBA

The three audio files to go with this book can be downloaded here: CD1 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CD1-Intermediate-Audio.mp3

UPPER INTERMEDIATE IN ENGLISH

Workbook TBA

The three audio files to go with this book can be downloaded here: CD1 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CAMBRIDGE_2007_face2face_Upper-Intermediate_CD1.mp3   CD2 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CAMBRIDGE_2007_face2face_Upper-Intermediate_CD2.mp3  CD3 https://www.twingaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CAMBRIDGE_2007_face2face_Upper-Intermediate_CD3.mp3

ADVANCED IN ENGLISH

TBA

GROUP TEACHING

Sometimes we do group sessions too. Here is an example of our work with the JREAS Hub in Gaza, where our TEFL tutor Mike Hauxwell is sitting in his living room at home in Edinburgh, whilst working online with 12 Gazans in Gaza at once, using either Zoom or Google Meets. Sameh Jreas, the Executive Director of Jreas Hub, posted this video on Linked-In showing a class in progress:

We can set up free group teaching projects with other Gazan hubs on request- please send an email to info@twingaza.com

Pete Gregson, founder of the Edina-Gaza Twinning Project had this to say about the JREAS hub. “I have had the pleasure of working with Sameh Jreas through his JREAS Hub for some months now. He has done amazing work, building up this resource for his fellow Gazans at a time of war. He supports many others in their progress as developing IT professionals, whether that be in web development, coding applications, data management, design of human-computer interfaces and so on, by creating a teamworking space that encourages mutual learning and development. Most of our work with Gazans in our Gaza Twinning Project (see www.twingaza.com ) in the five years we have been running, is in providing a free service, using WhatsApp, arranging for English-speaking volunteers, to carry out 1-1 weekly training sessions in conversational English with a Gazan. At present we have about 40 tutors working with 40 Gazans, with everyone being volunteers and no money changing hands. What Sameh has facilitated now is a whole new way of online working, where we use Zoom or Teams to enable just one of our volunteers to work with up to 15 Gazans at the same time. This is how a classic TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) class operates. It is extremely effective because it allows Gazans to pair up and practise speaking English with one another, under the eye of the TEFL teacher; it creates a very active learning environment as humans who would normally speak Arabic to one another are now trying to communicate in English, before an audience of their peers. It is an immersive technique and is highly effective in improving English language skills for those who already have intermediate English. Sameh has provided the technical resources to make these weekly classes a reality and works very effectively with our volunteer TEFL teacher, Mike Hauxwell. Sameh has also made a very polished video showing the class at work, which viewers can check out by scrolling down our webpage at www.twingaza.com/english-and-arabic-with-a-gazan/ to the section headed “GROUP TEACHING”. This whole group teaching project represents a significant milestone in on-line learning and will, I believe, be a model for the other teamwork hubs in Gaza- especially when they see Sameh’s video, that I am circulating to them, in the hope of replicating this highly successful model. I can only praise Sameh for his imagination, commitment, organisational and technical skills in making this a reality, in pulling together a large group of young Gazan tech workers and setting up these classes, making his JREAS hub a very special learning establishment in Gaza indeed. It is an incredible feat, and Sameh is giving hope to many Gazans that a better world is possible, one that overcomes the siege that Israel has imposed on him and millions of Gazans. Sameh is giving many of his beleaguered brother and sister Gazans hope with a brighter, free, tech-based future, and especially one that helps them gain paid work.”

DONATION OPPORTUNITY Please donate to keeping Palestinians online, by clicking on this link- :  Gaza Training Center: Jreas Labs Coop | Raise the Voices

There are several hubs operating in Gaza, places where Gazans can get online.  The most basic might be a tent near the beach with solar panels and a router/whi-fi Hub. The ones we know of are https://rivahub.co/ , the Gaza Sky Geeks hubs, the Hope Hubs at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hopehub-eduhub-resilience-brilliance-gaza-hammam-elmasri-jbdaf/ 

And here is another picture of one of ouhttps://rivahub.co/r volunteers working with a youth group in Gaza, along with a video clip from a class:

 

 

 

Here are two girls practising English on a day out that we funded to the Gaza Zoo; we also paid for tee-shirts and a trip to the beach:

 

 

 

 

Pay a Gazan to help you learn Arabic

Arabic is spoken by around 422 million people, making it one of the five most-spoken languages in the world. Everywhere from Morocco to Oman you will find Muslims and others who will approach you in a far more positive way if you communicate with them in their native tongue.

 

And of course, Arabic, is the language of Palestine. For the next few years, it will be more important than ever to speak the language of the oppressed and here is a way to learn it that will help Gazans too.

 

 

Local dialects vary ( in Morocco, two is “juge” and in Palestine it is “itnine”) but most of the words are the same- Arabic is all based on the Koran, after all, so every Muslim, even to as far as Bangla Desh, knows some Arabic. The Palestinian Arabic is closer to Koranic Arabic than lands more distant from Mecca. And of course, Palestine holds the Al Aqsa Mosque in Al Quds, (or Jerusalem), the third most holy place in Islam (pictured on the teaching book cover that we use, below).

There are two books we recommend for learning Arabic: Yalla Nihki arabi and t3allam Libneni!

Yalla Nihki arabi has few pictures and is text-based, placing great emphasis on vocabulary and grammar:

 

 

 

This teaching book with CD is £50 from Café Palestina in London or from the Edina-Gaza Twinning Association.

t3allam Libneni! on the other hand, is picture-based and based around real, present-day scenarios. It teaches Lebanese Arabic which is almost exactly the same as Palestinian Arabic.

This teaching book is much cheaper, at £21 and also comes with audio in the shape of MP3s that you can download free; it is a much better book for beginners. Order it at Learn to Speak Lebanese Arabic for Beginners (Book)

If you go to https://www.imasterarabic.com/ you can see they also offer group courses or private lessons.

But you will also benefit from conversation classes. Our conversation classes are with communication expert Rozan Khazendar, who has recently been displaced from her home in Gaza City and speaks very good English.

 

Classes are £20/hr, on the free applications WhatsAp, Messenger or Zoom– sessions are 1-1, by arrangement, as often as you like. Zoom sessions are free up to 40 minutes, so if you wanted to use Zoom, you could do two 30-minute sessions, one after the other. Rozan holds a copy of the teaching book, so if you purchase the book from us, both of you hold a copy and it will make learning Arabic much easier for you.

 

Pay Rozan direct using Western Union or Shift or Paypal or bank transfer.

 

If you want to learn more, please email info@twingaza.com and Pete will arrange an introduction to Rozan.

 

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