Meet Emma Arbanas from the USA

By The Excellence Center In Europe / In Volunteer in Germany

Teach English, Study Arabic in Germany program: “Overall, I had an incredible experience with the Excellence Center and their “Teach English, Study Arabic” program. Between my time spent at the Center, the cultural immersion with my host family, and traveling throughout Germany, I cannot recommend this program enough. It’s kinda long so skip around, but here’s my experience and some practical things to consider:

The Center – Incredibly welcoming and supportive. We have family breakfast every morning and spend the day teaching, learning, and meeting new people. The Arabic classes with my teacher, Muaz, were all customized to my language level. I’ve studied written Arabic (MSA) for a few years, but I have no experience with the spoken dialect (Ammiya). He found the right balance for my learning that focused on real life scenarios – by the end of my three weeks, I felt confident starting conversations in dialect. The teaching hours are also flexible to accommodate what you want from the program, whether that is to teach more or have extra time to explore Germany. You won’t be short on resources for studying Arabic/German or learning new teaching methods. And if for some reason you are? Just ask Rafat and he’ll give you more.

Knowing German – Halle is a great place to practice German at any language level! If you don’t have experience with German yet, that’s all good – a few weeks before you come though, I would recommend learning a little on Duolingo or a similar app just to get down a few basics. Most people in Halle speak a little English but aren’t fluent, so they’ll usually be patient as you try to speak broken German before switching to English. There’s never a shortage of people to help you navigate though, I often went with people from the Excellence Center to try new food places or explore around.

Staying with a host family – Definitely one of the most rewarding parts of my time in Germany! I stayed in an apartment with my host family and three of their kids. I absolutely loved the family style meals (with incredible home-cooked Arabic food) and social events when their friends would come over. Also, you can converse in English but it’s great to get extra language practice – I spoke mostly German and a little Arabic with my host family.

Living in Halle – Halle is a smaller city, connected by train to the a lot of different areas. I visited Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart during my three weeks. It’s a great place to live and spend the week, then on the weekends there’s lots of time to explore Germany.

Length of program – The Excellence Center lets you do 1-12 weeks, but I’d definitely say aim for longer if you have the time. I did three weeks, but wish I had more (1-2 months would have been ideal for me) because it flew by. This might also depend on your language abilities – more experienced learners may be content with a few weeks of travel, but if you’re a newer learner, it might be more valuable to do a longer visit so you have time to learn and then practice your language skills.

Time of year to do the program – I visited during my college’s winter break, from mid December to mid January. Because I volunteered during the holidays, there weren’t as many people (both volunteers and students) at the Center which is something to consider. However, Germany’s holiday season is truly beautiful, all of the Weihnachtsmärke were up (including one in Halle’s city center) which made for a unique and fun experience!

Traveling during COVID – I was actually pretty surprised what I could do given the restrictions across the country. At this time, Germany was a red zone, but exploring the country was still very easy because everything is connected by train (Just need mask and vaccine card/negative test for most things). One consideration though, if you’re thinking of volunteering for 1-2 weeks, I would try to see if you can do 3 weeks (or even just spend a week traveling around Germany, then go volunteer). That way, if you end up getting quarantined for COVID, it only affects part of your trip.”