Every morning, students at mixed Bedouin-Arab school GalileeRas Ali flocks to the gate of his school to hug his English teacher, Lena Novins-Montague.
“Every morning when Leena comes in, all the students run to the gate and hug her. You can hear them shouting ‘good morning’ and ‘I love you,'” a local school teacher recalled Novines-Montague’s last day at school on Wednesday.
Novines-Montague, 23, of Colorado, and her co-teacher, Toronto native Cole Shiner, are literally ending an unforgettable year of bonding with kids from a different world they were used to. Ras Ali School, located outside Haifa, brings together children from the Bedouin village of Khawaled, population 710, and the Arab village of Ras Ali, population 643.
“I specifically asked to be put in an Arab school. I’ve been to Israel before and I’m an American Jew, so I’ve had a very specific feel and experience. I wanted to live in a different environment and another culture. wanted to learn about,” Novins-Montague said.
He said that after finishing college, he decided to go abroad to teach English. Initially, she wanted to teach in Spain or Japan, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, Israel proved to be a unique opportunity and one that was readily available.
Before coming to Ras Ali, he had never heard Arabic dialect in his life. Through teaching and speaking with students, his Arabic improved, as did his relationships with students.
“I feel incredibly grateful. I think we have had a really unique experience and have been welcomed into this community,” Novins-Montague described. “I learned a lot this year and got really close to a lot of my students. This year I also learned that I want to be a teacher. Now I know that’s what I want to do with my life. “
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“Obviously there’s a language barrier but I just feel so welcome that I forget about it. The way students communicate, even if I don’t understand every single word, I know I can’t help them.” I understand the way it feels,” Shiner said.
Two English mavens came to the school through the Massa Israel Teaching Fellows (MITF) program, a joint project of Masa and the Ministry of Education. This program is run by Israel Experience in Haifa, Rishon Legion and Bat Yam.
He worked closely with the school’s regular English teacher, Kholud Swaid, who has conducted an English program there for three years.
“The most important part of being Lena and Cole is that the students have to speak in English because no one is going to translate,” said the Swede. “When I talk in English in class, sometimes they don’t understand, and I can translate. But with Lena and Cole they have to use their memory and understand it. It’s challenging, But it’s a good way to learn. Good challenges. And we have lots of success stories with our students who are so advanced in English because of it.”
Amos Herman, CEO of Israel Experience, emphasized the importance of involving teachers in communities and schools.
“It’s amazing that we have hundreds of Jewish teachers, mainly from North America, who are so integrated into elementary schools to teach English. It’s important that they integrate into children’s lives, whether after school Or getting to know their family and social environment, while everything is in spoken English,” Hermann said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
The teachers also focused on trying to tell the students about their lives at home, and in turn, learned about the student’s life in Ras Ali.
“They’re so curious about our lives at home. We show them pictures of our dogs, our homes, I’ve had a lot of students ask me what my parents’ names are because they’re like that. Don’t listen. It’s been really fun to share it with them, and I think in return, we love hearing about their lives,” Novins-Montague said. He emphasized the importance of such cultural exchange for both the students and their understanding of the world.
Such cultural exchange could face challenges when fighting broke out between Israel and Gaza in May. However, the teachers described how the community came together within and around the school.
“We have no politics here. Politics is out. This area is a safe zone, and we want to be together and be together. We believe in peace,” said school principal Maisoon Kabia. He described that when violence was taking place across the country, people from neighboring Jewish villages came to the school to show their support and bring the community together.
The students also appreciated the program. In an interview conducted entirely in English by The Post with thirteen- and fourteen-year-old students, he explained the program, emphasizing how being around native speakers helped him improve his English.
Amina Somare said, “If we want to speak English as well as Americans, we must have teachers who speak only English.”
Often, Novins-Montague and Shiner held one-on-one sessions outside of the classroom with students who were particularly motivated or interested in learning more English. The coronavirus provided unique opportunities for this, as students could easily zoom in with teachers outside the classroom.
“We talk one-on-one on Zoom for two hours once a week. Every week Lena and I talked about a different topic: friendship, school, what I want to be in the future, country, fashion, a lot of things. I loved doing it,” said student Ayesha Khavleed.
Another English novice Jolan Khaldi summarized her experience with Novins-Montague and Shiner: “It was nice to talk to them because they’re young like us. They’re like friends, not like other teachers. We really love them.” Will miss you a lot.”