From Our Teachers

Iraqi Narratives in Video

July 2009

On some level, it makes complete sense. The Palestinian American teenager in our video class this summer at Al-Bustan Camp volunteered to play the part. The group had decided as part of their video to reenact a young Iraqi girl’s experience of American troops invading her home at night. There was something in that story, and that lived experience, that our teenage actress could relate to intuitively, even though she was growing up in Philadelphia. She knew these kinds of stories.

Katherine (in center) with teen campers during discussion with Iraqi guest (at far left)

By the end of the three-week video class, we all knew these stories. Focusing on the multifaceted history of Iraq this summer, we discussed poetry by Iraqi poets like Dunya Mikhail and Saadi Youssef; interviews with Iraqi refugees; film clips; and Arab American hip hop. It became clear that the American occupation of Iraq was a theme the teens really wanted to explore – along with its rich history and heritage. Maybe this has to do with the teenage flare for the dramatic – but I think it has to do with their sensitivity and need to really engage with the difficult issues of their society.

We found that listening to two of Al-Bustan’s counselors’ stories about life in Iraq, before recently coming here as refugees, sank in much more than any historical essay or BBC report could have. A picture emerged in the process of making this video that came out of a place deeper than that semi-conscious rumbling of headlines and statistics we ingest about Iraq from the TV and radio. It came out of a place of personal engagement and empathy.

I know that for me, the personal engagement with these stories this summer at times could be hard to bear. Still, the spirit of the people we met and the poetry we read from Iraq, was anything but depressing- despite the political situation there now. But, in order for the future to be better, the difficulties of the past and the present have to be confronted. Confronted, and transformed.

Making and re-making these stories with their own hands, the teens depicted their thoughts on Iraq in a way much more meaningful than the depressing vision of Iraq blasted over the news daily. The stories became alive in their minds in a new way.

I hope that this ability to visualize and empathize will carry and guide these bright teens in their need to understand and act in a world that will be theirs.

- Katherine Toukhy, Video Facilitator

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Hazami Sayed | Also posted in Camp | Tagged al-bustan, Camp, Iraq, video, youth | Comments (0)

Teaching Arabic at Camp

Brahim teaches Arabic to teenagers at Al-Bustan Camp.

July 2009

Teaching at Al-Bustan Camp was a transformative and instructive experience for me this summer. It was amazing to work with these multi-national children and youth whose parents are from all four corners of the world. Every one of them came with his/her cultural traditions and linguistic background; but they all had one thing in common, their American identity. They shared their American citizenship. They also shared English language as their daily language of communication with variant degrees of use of their parents’ mother tongues. As I was working with them, I wondered how my own future children would be, of how they would relate to their parent’s American and Moroccan identities.

As for my students, I believe that the camp was an opportunity for them to open their minds and accept the other. Christian, Jewish and Muslim youth being together for three weeks in an Arab environment is unique and happens very few times in a person’s life. They learned how to love, accept,, and communicate with each other. These youth might go to the same independent or public school but they are unlikely to experience anywhere else the kind of environment fostered by Al-Bustan.

The camp was a transformative experienProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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for me because I learned a lot about the importance of art, drama and music in shaping young people’s culture and identity. It was very interesting to see the children sing Arabic songs, dance to Egyptian and Iraqi music, and play out Ibn Al-Haytham’s life story. Most of all, they related deeply to what they were doing. I learned that the arts are one of the best keys to enter people’s hearts and minds and teach them softly about Arab culture.

The camp was an instructive experience for me because it is different from all the environments in which I have worked throughout my ten years as a teacher. At certain times, I was wishing that all the schools were summer camps like Al-Bustan’s where kids could have the freedom to learn in a different way. Chasing Ibn Al-Haytham and trying to retrace his life and reconstruct its fragments so that all the campers could vicariously travel from Iraq to Egypt in a different period of time was challenging but very motivating to find ways to make the campers comfortable and eager to learn more.

I see parallels in Al-Bustan Camp bringing light to all our lives as Ibn Al-Haytham brought light to the world. In the same way Ibn Al-Haytham found out the way light reflects into our eyes and we can see, I can say that the light Al-Bustan Camp brought to the lives of these youth and their parents is the light of knowing the other. The real light Ibn Al-Haytham brought to our life is the light of seeing the beauty of difference in the campers’ eyes. It is amazing that a man who developed light theory died in Egypt long ago but his legacy continues to shed light on us here in America, a thousand years after his death.

Overall, I think that this experience would not have been as transformative, enriching, nor instructive without the great team of teachers and counselors that Al-Bustan hired for the camp. It was a unique collective experience in which I feel that everyone put a little piece of their heart.

Al-Bustan Camp was definitely one the greatest multi-cultural events of my life and I feel honored to have been a part of this year’s camp.

- Brahim El Gabli, Arabic Teacher

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Hazami Sayed | Also posted in Camp | Tagged al-bustan, Camp, Ibn al-haytham, youth | Comments (0)

Musical Nostalgia

July 2009

Layal singing Toba to music by violinist Hanna Khoury and accompaniment of campers

Arabic music reminds me of summer. Ever since I was little, I can remember my mother putting on her favorite cassettes in the car while she drove me to summer camp. I become nostalgic for summers in Lebanon when I would lie on the beach, toes in the soft sand, while music wafted to my ears from a sound system. People talk about having a comfort food that they eat to remind them of home and beautiful memories. For me, Arabic music is my comfort that I listen to cheer me up or if I find myself longing for the warm summers …which is basically all the time. The music is romantic with a soft side in it but also has a joy and vivacity that makes you get up and dance.

In my first year as a counselor at Al-Bustan Camp, I was introduced to singing classical Arabic music. My first shot at a legitimate classical Arabic piece was Um Koulthum’s Alf Layla Wa Layla…hefty shoes to fill. Her songs are complicated simply because her voice is so powerful that a singer with any less force would simply not be able make the song come to life. Um Koulthum made everything she sang drip with such life and emotion that it was intimidating to perform her song in a foreign language to native listeners.

This year I learned to sing Abdel Halim Hafez’s Toba for Al-Bustan’s music performance. This was more of a challenge because I had to learn the lyrics and be able to sing them to the song’s fast tempo. I only had a week to practice Toba and again I was imitating a singer who was famous for being the “Elvis of the Middle East”. When I first practiced the song, my voice was too operatic, too smooth, and too thin. I had to sing from my chest and give the song gusto. I learned to let go of the smooth legato soprano that I was so used to.

For a week I listened to Abdel Halim repeatedly, taking note of his intonation, the tenderness in his voice, and how he seemed to meld each lyric into the melody. With the campers and music teachers, I practiced the song over and over till it came time for the performance.

It’s funny how even if you don’t understand the language, Arabic music is so unique and expressive that it becomes easy to understand the song’s message. The melodies are so intricate, with effervescent beats that can completely alter the mood of a song and uplift you with each riff of the voice or change of tempo. Um Koulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez had such powerful, expressive voices that I wanted to bring out the beauty and emotions of the music just as much as they had. Although I’m not fluent in Arabic, I could not only hear the music but truly feel it. I could let myself become entangled within the music’s striking harmonies and addicting beats. And so I hoped to do the songs justice and sing them in a way in which the audience could feel the same love as I did for the music.

After the music performance last week a parent came up to me and told me about how hearing Toba brought him back to his childhood. The song reminded him of how he and his friends would get together to watch Abdel Halim’s films and listen to the songs. When he said this, I knew that I had achieved my goal and that the music had reached the audience.

Al-Bustan has exposed me to classical Arabic music and given me the opportunity to expand my repertoire beyond Western classical and contemporary. But not only that, the Camp taught me so much about the Arab world. Most importantly, it helped me establish a tighter bond with my culture through music.

- Layal Brown, Camp Counselor

Posted on August 2, 2009 by Hazami Sayed | Also posted in Camp | Tagged Camp, Iraq, Music Instruction | Comments (0)

Arabic Calligraphy in the Classroom

June 2009

Practicing Arabic Calligraphy

Every time I watch Aishah put a pen to paper, I hold my breath. Her reed pen moves deliberately across the smooth sheet of paper, and I find myself spellbound by the way the pen parts with the ink, leaving a story of movement behind it. Midway through a demonstration, I realize that I am waiting for her to make a mistake, to scratch the paper or cross out her work. She never does: even her practice sheets become beautiful works of art, with each letter standing on its own, and each connecting letter more beautiful than its predecessor. She is always the one to declare that she has made a mistake, saying that her proportions are wrong or her ink dried too early; when she says this I can never see the mistake, only the beauty.

This time, I’m not the only one who is rendered mute by the quiet fluidity of the pen in her hand. It’s early June, just a week before school lets out for the summer, and Al-Bustan has worked all spring with the School District of Philadelphia to bring Elinor Aishah Holland here. Based in New York, Aishah is here to demonstrate calligraphy to students enrolled in Arabic language classes. As she passes out pens and paper and prepares for her demonstration, I know that she will make an impact.

While working alongside Aishah is a wonderful experience, the most powerful moment of my time in the classroom comes not from her, but when I circulate among the students. Many of them have notebooks and papers covered with graffiti, artistic writing, or doodles, but for almost all of the students, these workshops are the first time they hold fountain pens. Twisting the tool to the right and left, they begin to copy the letters on the worksheets they have been given, making their lines thin and thick, depending on the direction of their pen’s nib.

Once they get used to their pens, students began to copy more complicated phrases in calligraphy. I ask one young woman why she chose her particular piece, a circular pattern with sword-like forms of the letter ‘alif piercing through the pattern. She replied: “Because my pen makes the letters look so strong.” There’s a lesson here, because in only half an hour, this artist was able to transform a student’s understanding of ‘alif from nothing more than a letter into a source of strength.

-Chloe Tucker, Program Coordinator

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For more information on Elinor Aishah Holland and Arabic calligraphy, click here to visit a great new website dedicated to the art and rich history of Arabic calligraphy

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Chloe Tucker | Also posted in School Programs | Tagged Arabic, calligraphy, Camp | Comments (0)

My Sudan Trip – Planting the Seed

May 2009

My adventure began at 5 am on a chilly Philly March morning, as I dragged my suitcase down the stairs of 30th Street Station to board the train to Massachusetts. After spending a weekend with my parents in Northampton, we had planned for my father to drive me and my mother to JFK airport for our direct flight to Cairo, then Sudan. After checking our luggage, which were stuffed with presents, we waited for our flight next to the duty free shopping area.

Nahid with her "seedlings" at Feltonville School of Arts & Sciences.

With tea in hand, my father and I began discussing our tree planting project for Sudan. We had spoken about this project for a while, but it was finally happening! Starting with family and friends, we compiled a list of names, people we would ask to participate in the project. We planned to ask each person to plant one tree and document where/when it was planted in hopes of creating greener neighborhoods, especially in the slums of Sudan. When our plane landed in Sudan the first thing I noticed was how much greener and cleaner the country looked than it had during our last visit, which made me even more excited about spreading the idea of planting a seed.

After settling in, drinking some tea, unpacking and greeting all our neighbors, friends and families, I noticed that my uncle brought a small mango tree as a welcome home gift. We planted it in the back yard and my family became the first group to implement our project.

Whether I find myself planting and tending the seedlings of understanding a culture and language through the arts at Al-Bustan or spreading the seed of human rights through activism, I do this work again and again. This project mirrors so much of what I feel my life work is about–planting a seed is such an integral part of my work and life. The importance of giving something as small as a seed and watching it grow has become amplified into one image, a tree, which represents all parts of life.

Now, four weeks later, I am back in Philly, and I am so excited to spread the seed of Sudanese folk dance to high school students at Leeds Military Academy. It will be a joy to see how these trees grow with what I can give them.

May 21st, here we come!

- Nahid Elgadi, Drama/Dance Teacher

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Chloe Tucker | Comments (0)

The List

April 2009

It is only 10:00 am and I am already incredibly behind! The day’s list is long and tiring. Interview a new camp counselor, write an email to remind parents of discount deadline, change the schedule for a third time, view the website of new teaching artist, find new grant opportunities, edit the write-up about this year’s main character…. the list goes on and on. No matter how many hours I spend at the Al-Bustan office, it seems that the to-do list is ever-growing. The preparations for camp seem endless, and sometimes, in the midst of the madness, it seems hard to remember what this is all for.

I take a moment, lean back, close my eyes and let images from the many years I have been involved in camp come to me. Singing Umm Kulthum songs with students on stage, playing with puppets and creating skits, watching their eyes widen as I tell them a story, watching them learn the intricate details of the complicated debke dance, eating beans from three corners of the Middle East together, watching students respond to the poetry of Naomi Shihab-Nye, hearing their poems and being moved by their stories – the list of wonderful moments can go on and on. A slight smile finds itself on my already tired face.

Other thoughts come to mind as well – the “not-so-wonderful” moments find their way to my memory. All the work that needs to happen before camp even begins to make it all seem seamless and flowing is daunting. The scheduling of everything to best fit the needs of teachers and students. The curricular planning and teacher training that we need to do to ensure that teachers feel confident in teaching the year’s theme. The teacher and counselor training on the developmental needs of a class full of students from different grades, age groups and backgrounds. The physical preparation of the camp site needed to transform it from a private girl’s school to a corner of the Arab world. After all of that is done, I must be ready to deal with all the many issues that come up once camp begins. Students who do not always see eye-to-eye, teachers who are having scheduling issues, teachers and counselors who do not always see eye-to-eye, making sure that all the campers are safe, healthy and enjoying themselves, making sure teachers have all the support they need to teach creatively – and on the list goes. By now my smile has faded and my brow is furrowed.

I open my eyes and quickly turn to my laptop. Clearly these thoughts are not going to get me anywhere. I check the Al-Bustan website for updates, and am taken aback by something I seldom take the time to notice – process and product. As I browse through the pictures of the students, they all seem to be of children in the process of creating something, or of them holding on to their creative products and showing them to whoever is willing to look long enough. Students working on illustrating a poem, others drumming to their hearts content, others holding a puppet they created at a workshop, others listening to Simon Shaheen explaining the subtle differences between half notes and quarter notes, others acting, directing and editing videos they created, and yet others smiling at a camera with their poet and the source their inspiration sitting behind them. The pictures depict children who seem to be in a constant cycle of process and product. They learn and create, create and learn over and over again. The pictures show more than smiling, happy children. They depict children who are empowered to find their own voice and to make it heard – loud and clear. My brow loosens up, and my eyes look off into the distance.

In my mind’s eye, I am imagining this summer. The voices and faces of students come to mind. The once quiet and still summer hallways and rooms of Springside will be transformed into a vibrant, boisterous learning community. The students will find new joys in the details of this year’s character and how yet another Arab persona has affected the world in such key ways. They will find delight in the adventures they will be going on in the outdoors as they learn about this relatively unknown scientist who changed the field of Science in real and lasting ways. They will love acting out his story of traveling, failure, fear, bondage, inspiration, exploration and success. They will find themes in his life reflected in their own and new ways to document and express these themes. They will find new ways of expressing themselves musically through listening, singing, dancing, and playing. Once again, the students will go through their cycle of learning and creating.

Indeed the role of camp manager has its joys and challenges. It is one of the most challenging and also one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever done. But at the end of the day, I know it is all worth it. The smile has found its way onto my face again, and I have a feeling it will be there for a while.

- Sally Bonet, Camp Manager

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Chloe Tucker | Tagged teachers, workshop | Comments (0)

Opening Our Doors for Camp

March 2009

Learning the alphabet

She is a quiet child made mute by the sights and sounds of a new place, an 11-year-old who instinctually reached for her mother’s hand, and when that was withdrawn, her hem for reassurance. Looking around the cafeteria and auditorium at Springside School, Aaliyah’s eyes widened as boisterous children and counselors greeted one another after months of separation.

We met at the Open House for Al-Bustan’s summer camp. Al-Bustan Camp is gearing up for its eighth summer, and it unites a diverse body of children in a fun, supportive environment where everyone learns about Arab culture together. Aaliyah and her mother were exactly who our Open House was geared towards: a new family who showed up to see if Al-Bustan Camp would be a good fit for their family this summer.

I spoke with her mother, while Aaliyah stayed a little hidden, taking in every word of our exchange. Finally, I asked her if she would like to learn how to write her name in Arabic. A quiet nod, and we were off to a table full of markers and scraps of paper. We had a quick Arabic language primer, which broke the ice. . . “it’s read and written right-to-left…each letter makes one sound…your name begins with the very first and tallest letter, Alif!”

Slowly, we wrote her name on a sheet of scrap paper, practiced it a few more times, and finally set it down on a notecard that she took home with her. She would answer my questions with a quiet shake or nod of her head, but she said very little while we worked together. But still, this teaching process reaffirmed what I like the most about my job: the opportunity to provide avenues for genuine, positive cultural learning that crosses the boundaries of race, ethnicity, and age. Although neither of us are Arab, we both walked away from the Open House with a greater appreciation for the intricate beauty of Arab culture and the Arabic language.

After our activity, Aaliyah showed her mother the new way of writing her name, and stayed for a little while longer. I got distracted, speaking to parents and my co-workers about our exciting plans for this July, and I had practically forgotten to look for Aaliyah until I felt a small tug on the hem of my shirt. Large, sheepish eyes looked up at me, and Aaliyah’s voice softly said “I’m going now.” We hugged good-bye, and later that week, we received her registration for Camp.

- Chloe Tucker, Program Assistant

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Chloe Tucker | Comments (0)

Reflections on Naomi Shihab Nye’s Visit

February 2009

I didn’t expect her to sound like that.

It was her voice that made me feel that I was truly in the presence of an artist. Of course I had read her poetry, and I had seen her headshots on the dust jackets of all her books, but meeting her made her real in a way that her poems could not. She is a petite woman, maybe 5’2” at the most, with her long hair pulled back into a braid at the nape of her neck, and I was alarmed to hear a deep voice booming out of her frame.

For me, reading texts that I love is a highly personal experience, and reading Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry was no different. I find that when I become very familiar with any text—an interesting article, a novel, but most particularly poetry—I hear the words as though they were spoken by my own voice. To hear this author read her poems aloud brought her work alive in a way that I never could have imagined.

Moffet 5th graders listen to Ms. Nye

Her voice resonated across the auditorium of the North Philadelphia classroom where Al-Bustan does much of its programming, and it transfixed everyone in the audience, immediately focusing a room of third to fifth-graders who had been squirming in their seats just moments before she stood up. For an hour, Ms. Nye encouraged her young audience to write, holding up a small notebook and saying “this is all a writer needs to go to work.” She spoke to her young Hispanic and Arab audience about the wonderful aspects of living in a vibrant multicultural neighborhood such as theirs.

Ms. Nye’s visit to Philadelphia in February reaffirmed why I have entered Americorps for a second year: in my work, I get to bring high-caliber artists and their work to under-served communities. Artists such as Naomi Shihab Nye leave inspiration in their wake, and the sense of hope and celebration was tangible in the room as she left to a standing ovation.

- Chloe Tucker, Program Assistant

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Chloe Tucker | Comments (0)

A Wonderful Visit from Naomi Shihab Nye

February 2009

Nye assumes her position in the midst of her fans

On the morning of February 13th, I rushed through the auditorium doors of Moffet School, waved quickly to my students and started preparing for the kids’ presentation to the beloved poet. After catching my breath and settling in, I started to look for her. Could Naomi be back stage waiting for the program to begin to assume her position up there? My eyes darted to the stage, and I realized that there was no backstage! And out of the corner of my eyes I spotted a big person in the crowd of 4th and 5th grade students. Naomi Shihab Nye had assumed her position: right in the midst of her fans.

After the warm welcome by Ms. Fredericks, Moffet’s wonderful 5th grade English teacher, the students began their program as a gift of appreciation to Naomi. The first group of fifth graders performed an original group poem, set to background percussion music, and their 5th and 4th grade peers followed, performing individually. The students wove tapestries of their lives, their foods, their grandmothers. Inspired by Naomi’s work they taught us about the simple things that matter most. And the after-school poetry students closed the presentation, and welcomed Naomi on stage with a dramatic interpretation of her poem “Red Brocade.”

When Naomi made her way to the stage, she waved around a little notebook and told the kids that “it is the only tool for being good writers”—which she soon discovered that they already are.

The highlight of the presentation, for students, teachers, and Al-Bustan staff alike, was the song that Naomi offered the students. Picking a guitar from the school’s collection, she sang “Lullaby Raft,” a song so powerful that she has published a book with the song’s words illustrated by Vivienne Flesher. Ms. Ney left a very deep impression on the kids, and for days afterwards, they reminisced about the lullaby that Naomi sang.

- Nehad Khader, Teacher/Education Program Coordinator

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Nehad Khader | Tagged Author, Moffet, poetry, Reading, school, workshop | Comments (0)

Inspired by the creativity of my students

February 2009

poem-naz This school year I taught at two public schools in Philadelphia: John Moffet Elementary and Feltonville Intermediate. At the after-school program at Moffet, the students have been writing their own poetry by exploring the works of Naomi Shihab Nye. We’ve been using her poetry to understand poetic convention and structure, and to simply enjoy it. Her poems have been sources of creative activity for us, like making scenes and thinking of images to help us create our own poems.

Ms. Nye visited Moffet on February 13. She spoke to the students at an assembly after they presented their poetry to her. Then she led a writing workshop in which the students wrote several group poems. We were all so grateful for her generous and warm spirit.

At Feltonville I taught an in-school Arabic language and culture class for fourth-graders. My students were extremely enthusiastic about engaging with the language and culture of the Arab World. We played a variety of games to remember our lessons. The lessons covered geography, song, dance, and poetry. At the end of the 10 classes, the students were having basic conversations in Arabic, identifying countries, and writing their names.

Every teaching experience is unique—a different set of dynamics comes with every school and every different group of students. The students’ thoughtfulness and creativity teach me something new after every class. As a teacher I am inspired by the creative works of my students and their excitement to perform in front of their peers. My first mission as a teacher is to support the process of developing confidence and strength in the young folks I teach through self-expression.

- Nehad Khader, Teacher

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Nehad Khader | Tagged Moffet, poetry | Comments (0)

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