My Experience Volunteering

My group was placed in an absorption center in Mevaseret Tzion. I had never been to an absorption center of any kind, so I didn't know what to expect. The building was smaller than I thought it would be, and when we got there, the girls had just finished a morning prayer session and were about to begin a Hebrew lesson. The first day was a little hard for me because my Hebrew is not good, so I had some trouble understanding the teacher as well a connecting with the girls. The day got better as it went on because we spent the first day just having conversations with the girls about their family, their lives, and things they like to do. We practiced asking questions and giving responses in English.

From then on, or group of 4 volunteers from ENP spent our time at the center working with the same group of 3-6 girls. Since the classrooms were already being used by other groups, we moved our lessons to a picnic table outside. We kept our activities short, so that the girls wouldn't get bored. We played a lot of games with the girls that helped improve their English vocabulary such as charades, pictionary, and other word matching activities. From working with the girls, I realized that they are so smart and that they have so much to teach us. They have only lived in Israel for a few years yet their Hebrew is very good. Not only that, but a lot of them do know basic English, and a few of them can even write and spell in English. I was very impressed with this, and I have a feeling that their English will greatly improve throughout the rest of the summer. I really enjoyed working with the girls and I wish we had more time with them.

-- Abby