Berkley Center

Background: As a part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2016 undergraduate student Jonathan Thrall interviewed Asala bani Mustafa, an English instructor teaching various levels of English following a curriculum designed and implemented at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Jordan in partnership with Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM). In this interview, conducted at the JRS Higher Education Center in Amman, Mustafa discusses how her teaching at the center goes beyond just English in order to build community, and how the experience of her students at JRS, as refugees of diverse backgrounds, differs from that of students she has taught in the past.

Could you please introduce yourself?

My name is Asala bani Mustafa. I joined JRS Higher Education in August 2015 as an elementary English teacher, and now I teach both the elementary level and the pre-intermediate level.

Could you tell me a bit about your background in teaching before coming here?

Yes, of course. Well, first of all, I majored in English language and literature at the University of Jordan here in Amman. During my time at university, I started tutoring English to children. I also volunteered as an English teacher in two developmental projects with the Jordan River Foundation—it’s a very well known NGO here in Jordan. The first project was teaching English to children, and the second one was teaching English to youth from 18 to 22 [years old].

Could you tell me a little bit about how teaching here at JC:HEM compares to those previous teaching experiences?

There are actually several differences. One of the differences is the unique intercultural atmosphere here. For example, before I join[ed] here, as I said, I was at Jordan River Foundation. All my students were Jordanian. They were of the same age, of the same background, let’s say. But the students I teach here come from different backgrounds, different nationalities, different ages. So yeah, this is one of the differences. Another difference is that back at Jordan River Foundation, the only thing I focused on was English and English skills. Here, I feel I need to teach my students more than just English. In each class I try to highlight things related to human rights, for example, equality. Things like that.

Could you talk more about that—what’s beyond just your English teaching?

Yes, of course. For example, if I want my students to, let’s say, work in pairs, or work in groups. I usually ask them to have more than one nationality in each group. My motivation behind this is my own beliefs, first of all, and also what the people here at JRS Higher Education believe in. We believe that all people are the same; all people are equal. We should give the chance to everybody to learn. And also, I always think about my students—that one day they will be moving to another place, so it is really important for them to know how to accept people from different backgrounds and different cultures and know how to integrate. It’s also important for them to have that sense of community here at the center. And we try here to make them feel as comfortable as possible. And we try to make the center feel like a home to them.

What are some challenges in negotiating a classroom with such a diversity of students?

One thing I can think of is sometimes when I have students from, let’s say, above 40 or above 50, they can’t learn English as fast as people from other ages, like teenagers or youth. This is one of the challenges. So I feel I need to work more with these people.

Would it be preferable to focus on older and younger students separately, rather than mixing them, or is that something that you enjoy having, the different ages?

It adds to the class, of course! This diversity adds to the class. But I think when you are talking about second language acquisition, it’s better to have students of older ages alone, because they need more practice and focus. Another thing we can do is just keep them together with the younger students, in the same class, and have tutoring sessions.

So, extra time or extra attention?

Yes, exactly.

Especially for speaking?

Yes.

In terms of the diversity of backgrounds of nationalities, or cultures or anything, are there challenges or tensions that arise in the first few weeks?

Not really, not really. Because I think when we present those ideas [central to the center’s ethos] to the students, they’re all happy, because they feel welcome regardless of their, as I said, nationality, gender, color. So it makes them feel more comfortable, in fact.

How would you describe the curriculum that you teach?

The curriculum we have is actually really good, in fact—I’m talking about language. Many people have worked on this curriculum, and it’s been adapted to the center here. But regarding, let’s say, social education—I think we need to work more on that. Because most of the things...most of the exercises I try to give my students are not included in the curriculum.

So that’s work that you bring yourself?

Yes, because of what I believe in and because of JRS Higher Education’s code of conduct. Yes.

So it would be more beneficial that everything were better mixed together, the English and the social education, as you say?

Yes, exactly. Yes.

What is the curriculum itself?

New cutting edge. This is for the elementary level. And for the pre-intermediate and intermediate we have New Total English. We have adapted [them to the needs of the center] ourselves.

Could you talk about your teaching style or practices?

Well, as I said before, I try as much as possible to highlight ideas like human rights. I also talk a lot in class about women’s role in society. I try to, for example, discuss stereotypes with my students. For example, last week we had a lesson, an elementary class. It was about jobs, and I raised a question, "What do you think if a woman worked as mechanic, for example? Do you think this is possible?" So as I said, I try to highlight that women can do, just like men in society, they can do whatever they believe in, choose their path.

What helps you prepare for class?

Different things, actually. One of the things I rely on is the teacher’s book [for the curricula]. It has a lot of activities and creative ways to deliver the lessons. The second thing is sometimes I view websites on the internet and try to see what is the best way to present, for example, a grammar lesson, take ideas, or games. And also my previous experience helps me in determining which way is best to deliver a certain class. For example, this is my third time teaching elementary English [at JRS]. And it’s not like the first time. The first time is just like experimenting. And the next time is like, “Okay, let me try this instead of that.” So each time you add things, you eliminate things, you take things out...so you improve.

How do you think the experience of your students here compares to the experience of the students that you’ve taught in the past?

Well, as I said before, the students I taught before joining JRS, they were all Jordanian, so they had their families here, and most of them worked—I’m talking about the youth project I volunteered in. But the students here face many difficulties because they cannot work. And because they are refugees, they have left their homes. They have left their families; some of them might have lost some family members. So I think the difference is that these students need more psychological support. And also when you don’t have a job, you cannot support yourself. It makes things a lot harder for you. I remember one of my students in the last round of courses, he came to me and he said, “I really want to study. I’m really interested in learning English, but the problem is I cannot concentrate because I have too many problems. I’m not working. I used to be with the army, and I have a family, and I’ve left my home, and everything.” So I think they need more psychological support, yes.

Which is hard to offer as a teacher?

Yes, with the time limit also. We only have four months [for a course]; I can’t do a lot. We also have a psychosocial case management class [through JC:HEM]. But also the number is very, very limited. That’s why we can’t help everybody.

What’s your greatest source of motivation for teaching here at JRS?

Actually, since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to—I’ve always liked work that deals with humanitarian issues. I never wanted to work in an institution or at a firm that is only concerned with money. And also my sense of, let’s say, community and social responsibility. I always feel that it is my responsibility to make other people’s lives better and plant hope, whatever I can.

What does “social justice” mean to you?

Well, as a teacher, here at the center, I think social justice means to treat everyone equally. And try to always listen to our students and make them feel that we are more like a family than just teachers and students. There’s no desk separating us from our students. One thing also, I think social justice—as I’ve said before, how important it is to highlight how we are all equal—the equality between men and women, females and males inside the classroom. How there are no barriers separating people from different ethnicities and religions.

So you do think that social justice plays a role in your teaching here?

Yes, of course! Of course. It’s a core issue in our teaching.

What are the greatest challenges in teaching here at JRS?

I can’t think of any at this moment, to be honest. But really, I don’t think that there are any challenges! I like being here. Everyone here is appreciative and helpful, and I like it here. Sometimes we have trouble with transportation. We always have issues with transportation, and because, as you know, we provide free education, so we can’t give the students a perfect transportation service.

Is there anything still that you would do to improve the JRS/JC:HEM experience?

Yes, I think one of the things that we can do is add to our curriculum to teach our students about community service. This is something I highlight usually to my students. Especially because most of them do not work at the moment, I tell them about my experience before I graduated, how I started as a volunteer and, without my experience as a volunteer, I wouldn’t have been teaching here at JRS Higher Education. So I always encourage them to try and do things—make use of their time here in Jordan, try to volunteer and build their skills, and yeah, help the community.

Any other improvements you can think of?

Transportation has always been a point of—let’s say, it always makes a problem for the students. So I’ve already talked to Matthew [Stevens, the JRS country director for Jordan], about this. Maybe in the future we will be able to, as a center, to have our own buses and provide the students with better transportation services.

And how about the space itself?

Well, unfortunately we only have two classrooms here at the center. Usually, we have more than 300 people taking the placement test, and we can only take around 75. So this is a huge problem. It makes me feel bad that I can’t give—I know that there are so many people out there very interested in attending these classes, but we can’t accept everyone. So I wish we could have more space, maybe expand in the future, to give opportunities to more people.

Is there anything that you’ve learned from your students?

Yes, of course! Many things, actually! One of the fun things, in fact, I learned variations of Arabic! Iraqi students teach me Iraqi Arabic, and since I’m an English teacher I’m also very interested in linguistics. This is really interesting for me, to learn the new words and new sounds, of different forms of Arabic. Second thing is resilience. When I think about...sometimes I have hard days, but when I go into the class and see my students and think about their situation and how they smile and laugh and try to have fun during my class, it makes me forget all about my problems. In fact, it also makes me feel more appreciative, let’s say, to all the opportunities [I have]. And also, yes, resilience, strength. And also, how they can feel happy with, let’s say, the least? Yes. And [how they] try to move on.