Who we are

I’ve been teaching English and Dutch for 20 years. I teach adults in EPFC, a school for adult education in Brussels, Belgium. I love the creative part of my work and try to use interactive teach in g methods such as games and stories. In 2016 I started volunteering for the Hands Up project doing weekly internet sessions with a group of Palestinian school girls and their teacher.

I teach English to children and teenagers at Follow Me to English, a private school of English, in Krasnodar, Russia. I’ve been teaching for 10 years and particularly enjoy working with stories and role-plays in my classes. Through the Hands Up Project I do a weekly session with groups of girls at Beit Hanoun elem co_ed “A” school, Gaza. I enormously value the experience of working with the enthusiastic teacher Sahar and the incredibly cheerful girls.

I recently completed my CELTA course and teach general english classes at International House, London. As an International Development graduate, I strongly hold the belief that education is the key to empowering individuals, which aligns with the values of The Hand Up Project. Through teaching weekly sessions with a mixed group class in Rafah, I’m developing my teaching career and also thoroughly enjoying the experience.

I teach English to teenagers at Ayb middle school in Armenia. I am also a senior teacher-trainer at British Council Armenia. I’ve been teaching English for about 6 years and spent 2 years of my career in Lebanon with IH Beirut.  I enjoys spicing up each lesson with games and activities to motivate the students even more. Through the Hands Up Project I do a weekly session with a group of 5th grade girls and boys in Gaza and enjoy storytelling and cultural exchange with the kids.

I teach English to children, teenagers and adults in São Paulo, Brazil. I’ve been teaching for 5 years and particularly like working with cross-cultural matters and stories based on folklore in my classes. Through the Hands Up Project I do a weekly session with a group of girls in Kufur Trulth Secondary Girls’ School, Nablus and I really enjoy the experience.

I work as an English teacher at Instituto Federal Sul-Rio-Grandense – Câmpus Charqueadas, Brazil. I’ve taught English for more than 20 years now, and I particularly enjoy working with groups of teenagers. Through the Hands Up Project I do a weekly session with a group of about 15 boys and girls in Rafah, Gaza I and really value the experience.

At 82, and after a TEFL career that took me to five countries, ending up and resident in Germany, I now allow myself not to do any regular teaching – except  Zooming to Hebron once a week to help 13-year-old Lina with her English. Her mother and her older brother and younger sister regularly join in too.

Divya Madhavan has been an English teacher for 18 years and is currently Head of EMI Training at CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay. She degrees from the Universities of Warwick, London and Exeter in various aspects of language education and is a Life Fellow of the RSA. In her day job, she does language development for scientists and engineers and experiments with various pedagogical activities that bring science and language education closer together. She is also currently a part-time student on the UC Berkeley Extension Program where she’s studying Grammar, Mechanics and Usage and not always finding it easy to get her homework done!  She feels very privileged to start her every week with her wonderful teaching partner Eman Salam Hammad in Gaza and a gorgeous group of ten year old girls. And she is very proud to be a volunteer for the Hands Up Project.

I work as an Arabic language teacher at Sharek Centre London. In the past 3 years I’ve been teaching also English, Italian and French languages to adults and children in the UK. For the Hands Up Project I’m teaching a class of 11 girls at Qurtuba School in Hebron. I like picture-based activities and to incorporate drama and storytelling into my lessons.

I started working with the Hands Up Project in 2018 and have loved working with the creative students and dedicated teachers in Gaza. It’s a great cross-cultural learning experience for all involved. Aside from my weekly class with Hands Up, I am Director of Studies and teacher trainer at International House Buenos Aires – Belgrano.

I’m a teacher trainer, EFL teacher and Drama/EAL workshop leader currently working in London, Coventry and Oxford. I have over 20 years experience teaching English as a Foreign language to adults and young learners and 11 years experience directing and producing international theatre projects with Perpetual Motion Theatre. I’m a creative writing mentor for Freedom from Torture and a published theatre journalist. I am currently working with Rafah Elite girls and I’m amazed by their motivation and focus.

I teach all those who are eager to learn. I’ve been teaching for 5 years in Queen Victoria Education & Translations, Belgrade, and I’m constantly seeking new ways to make learning a more enjoyable experience. English has changed my life for the better and now, through the Hands Up Project, I’d like to give something back.

I teach at International House Bydgoszcz, Poland where I’ve been teaching students of all ages for 3 years. Before this I worked with teenagers and children running drama and active learning workshops in Austria. I meet the enthusiastic girls of Khan Younis, Gaza every Wednesday for stories and fun, which is the highlight of my week!

I work with an entertainment agency in Devon, England. I love storytelling and theatre improvisation, and the Hands Up Project has made me very curious about exploring techniques of storytelling via a computer screen. With the Gaza school kids I’ve seen more talent, enthusiasm and hunger to learn than ever before and this has been truly inspiring.

I’m a senior lecturer working in teacher-training and English language teaching at The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the UK. I’ve been working in teaching since 2001. At the moment, I’m enjoying doing a weekly session with a class in Rafa, Gaza. Teaching the group gives me a chance to work with younger learners, try out storytelling and story making materials  and develop my online educator skills.  The girls and the teachers in Gaza are so warm and enthusiastic and motivated – it’s a real pleasure to work with the Hands Up Project!

I teach general studies at a public university in the United Arab Emirates. I’ve been teaching for 25 years and have worked all over the world. For the Hands up Project I work with high school students in Palestine, working with storytelling. In smaller groups the children there also get to know my own school age kids through shared activities.

I’m a teacher and a teacher trainer, who works in a number of different countries around the world supporting teachers in their continuing professional development. I’m enjoying working with a class of Grade 5 students at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan and I like to teach the girls songs, chants and to act out stories together.

I am currently studying for my Masters in Management and English language teaching. I’ve been exceptionally fortunate to have had the chance to teach English in Chile, Colombia and Italy, as well as working for summer camps in England. While studying I’m teaching English online for Chinese students. I was inspired by Nick’s talk at our University last semester and the work that the Hands Up! project does, I really wanted to become involved and have loved it since I started.

I teach English at Red Balloon in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I’ve been teaching for 2 years and wholeheartedly enjoy working with kids & teens. I think teaching goes beyond academic content and it’s more about having someone to rely on and exchange experiences. Only then it’s possible to truly learn. Through The Hands Up Project I follows this ideology by telling stories and playing games weekly in a session with a mixed group in Gaza.

I am an Australian primary school teacher currently working towards a Masters in International Development. I have been a teacher for 4 years having worked in Fiji and Cambodia.  In my teaching career I developed a love of story telling and the messages that can be learnt by children. Through the Hands Up Project, I have had the great pleasure of working with a wonderful teacher and her class in Palestine. Each week we play drama games and role-play. Seeing the girls’ confidence grow during our time together has been an incredible highlight. The reflective relationship that I have developed with the teacher and the enthusiasm showed by the students makes each lesson an incredibly valuable experience.

I am currently working as Head Teacher at SLS Montessori and High School Primary Campus in Pakistan. On a weekly basis, I connect my students in Pakistan with students in Palestine. The most interesting part about this work is that my students belong to two different cultures and speak different languages. This allows me to engage them in many activities where they get to learn a lot about each other and of course learn English too!

I worked teaching English for around 20 years in Spain, Poland and the UK. Now working through HUP wth a boys’ class in Rafah once a week from my home in Devon in the South West of England, I enjoy using stories and discussing the messages they can teach us.

I am 14 and currently undertaking my first year of GCSE’s. I started volunteering for the Hands Up Project at the end of 2019 as part of my silver Duke of Edinburgh award. I love helping out here and talk to a group of girls my age at a school in Palestine once a week. It is fascinating, and I love learning about the differences between their lives and school and mine. 

I’m a teacher, a teacher trainer, and an author of books for language teachers. I have an MA in Drama in Education from the University of Central England and 25 years experience in the field of teaching English as a foreign language. I do at least one session a week with HUP and am consistently blown away by the enthusiasm, the energy and the drive to reach out by Palestinian and Syrian children.

I live in Oxford, UK, where I write English coursebooks and methodology books for National Geographic Learning. I’m interested in how images and stories can help make learning more memorable. For Hands up project, I have weekly classes with groups in Gaza City and Beit Hanoun. In 30 years of teaching, they’re probably the most enjoyable and rewarding classes I’ve ever had.

I’m a photographer based in Birmingham, UK.  For many years I taught English to children and adults  in France, Germany and Luxembourg before joining the teaching team at Brasshouse Language Centre in Birmingham.  I’ve recently started to work with a large group of girls in Hebron and I’m looking forward to sharing stories, photographs and experiences. I enjoy using photos, songs and games in class.

My name is Polly and I live in the South of England. I have been teaching for nearly 30 years and love it. I have been lucky enough to travel to over 50% of the countries in the world, so am now trying to make 75%. I haven’t been to Palestine but its definitely on my list. In my spare time I walk my dogs on the beach or nearby hills. I also love jigsaws, reading, cooking and hanging out with friends.

I am Belgian-British, an English teacher, teacher trainer and storyteller. I tell stories to children and adults in English, Spanish and French wherever the wind takes me. My passion is to look into people’s eyes, and travel with them through stories. I tell stories in schools, prisons, theatres and online with the wonderful, motivated and motivating students of Gaza who have also told me their own stories. Storytelling is a form of communication that goes way beyond words; it is a heart to heart interaction, and that is why I love it!

I’m a History and Philosophy teacher to teenagers in Palermo (Italy). I’m passionate about the English language and storytelling.   Through the Hands Up Project, I do a weekly Sunday session with teacher Abrahim and a group of 12 boys, at Library Al Bahrain, in Gaza. It is a real honour to be part of HUP and  I have a lot of fun doing it.

I am a teacher, trainer and CELTA tutor based in Liverpool in the UK. Much of my teaching experience over the last twelve years has been in the Middle East and North Africa, although this is the first time I’ve taught in Palestine. Zooming in to a library in Gaza every week adds a special dimension to my work. I honestly don’t know who is learning more – me, or the super-enthusiastic girls and boys in my Jabalya after-school storytelling club.

I’ve been teaching English to teens and adults since 2009, always looking for new, fun and interesting ways to approach a second language. This work is very important to me especially knowing that in developing countries such as mine a second language improves the chances of my students to have better future. I’ve learned that the easiest way to learn is through storytelling. This is what brought me to The hands up project where I have had a great opportunity to tell stories, enjoy teaching and share moments with wonderful kids and teachers .

I’m an English teacher working with children, teens & adults in Palma de Mallorca. I’m thrilled to work alongside teachers in Palestine whose resourcefulness and tenacity never ceases to amaze me. Their students bring a smile to my face every week with their willingness to participate!

I’ve been teaching English for many years in a variety of countries, starting with primary school children in France and most recently adults in Istanbul where I’ve lived for the last seven years. I’m currently travelling in Greece on an extended trip, and happily connecting with a group of girls and their teacher in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on a weekly basis. The students are great and it feels good to be able to make this connection and to adapt to new ways of doing things. Thumbs up to Hands up.