A Discussion with Lyounes Amour, Student, Jesuit Refugee Service, Higher Education Center, Amman, Jordan
With: Lyounes Amour Berkley Center Profile
June 5, 2016
Background: As a part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2016 undergraduate student Jonathan Thrall interviewed Lyounes Amour, a student learning English at the elementary level, 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, Amour discusses living alone apart from his family, the cultural diversity of the student body at the center, and the sense of community that JRS fosters among students.
Could you please introduce yourself? Feel free to talk about your educational and professional background.
I am Lyounes Amour. I am from Syria. I am 23 years old; I am unmarried. I was studying law at university in Damascus city, just one year. A law degree is five years, but because of the conflict in Syria I had to go to Jordan. I am looking to be [a] lawyer. I have been in Jordan for four years; I arrived in 2012. I’m here alone. My family is in Sweden. I [couldn’t] go because I am above the age of majority. My father or mother had to send me an invitation after they arrived. I interviewed with the Embassy of Sweden. I hope next year—I don’t know exactly until the embassy responds. I have experience in carpentry, and I also have two certificates in software and hardware for phones. I took them in Syria, but I can’t use them in Jordan.
What were your experiences when you first arrived in Amman? How is life in Amman today?
In general, it’s different from Syria. Generally, it’s good. But maybe, I don’t know...it’s good, very good, but there’s something, homesick[ness]. And the life alone, maybe. It’s hard or difficult to cook and to wash and to dry!
How did you find out about JRS and JC:HEM?
Save the Children. They told me about JC:HEM last year.
What are your impressions of the program?
I think they make us [gain] confidence. They give us more experience and to grow with each other. And my English was not very good, was bad. And this month, this course, my English is improving. I wish to move to another level. I am in the elementary course; I hope to finish it. Last month I finished the pre-intermediate, but because the level is very hard, I went back down to redo it. I have to study hard.
How do you prepare for class, for homework? Do you study extra English by yourself?
Oh, yes, a lot. I study [using] YouTube, with English teachers from England. And learning English [using a] listening headset on repeat again and again and again in the home. And I watch a lot of English, American, and Australian movies and try to understand what they say.
How is the dynamic, the atmosphere in class?
Good, it’s very good. There’s a lot of challenge, a lot of grammar, to learning, to learn it. Maybe there’s different levels, different cultures, different backgrounds, and maybe we must interact with each other like this.
So you think that the fact that the students in a same class are all from different backgrounds in the same class helps?
I think that it's interesting to know another culture. Maybe we [aren’t] used to it, but we can enjoy, to try something different. [It’s] very good, positive, diversity in cultures and backgrounds.
Is there anything you would do to improve the JRS experience?
I think one thing—enlarge the place, to invite more students. Just that! But in general, it’s very good. I would upgrade the center and the place, just that.
What does learning English mean to you? What does pursuing this program mean to you?
My English language, I think it’s very important language because [it’s] the first language in the world. If you would [like] to do something in internet and anything, you have to use the English language. And I like the English language, maybe more than Swedish language and French language, Russian. But my French is not very good. My Russian is not very good. I just like English! I need more practice.
But are you going to learn Swedish then, when you join your family in Sweden?
No, no, no! Eighty percent from Swedish people speak English—80 percent. Maybe a little bit. We will see!
What’s your greatest source of motivation in pursuing your studies at JRS?
Maybe improv[ing] my English. And we have a small community here. It’s a very good community here, with my friends. And know more culture, know other people, meet a lot of people! I like the environment here, and conversation with people.
With other students outside of class do you sometimes hang around to speak?
Yeah, a lot. And we had a lot of trips [To the] park of King Hussein and Sports City to play football! Often with JRS and sometimes by ourselves. We chat sometimes in English, but if we don’t understand we can translate in Arabic.
How do you hope to use what you’ve learned here at JRS?
I can maybe share it with my family and my friends, and the English language I can use with my dream to be a lawyer in Europe or in Australia or in America, anyway.
What does “social justice” mean to you?
No separation between the religions, and backgrounds: no "you are from America," "you are from Europe," like this. And I think maybe to [be] equal with each other from any nationality and any background, equal between the woman and man, feminism, with something for improv[ing] our community or our world.
Do you think that social justice plays a role in your studies at JRS, or at the JRS center?
Yeah, in JRS, there’s a lot of fairness or justice between any nationality. There’s not difference between nationalities and backgrounds. But like any country we have some people, individuals, who don’t want to accept the refugees and residents. But it’s individual cases. And the government prevents them from creating problems.
And at JRS you don’t find that?
No, I don’t find that!
Is there anything you would like to add that we haven’t discussed?
Maybe about the education in Jordan. In Arab countries it’s very expensive, and the job we need—when we [are] looking for work we can’t find it easily because there is little opportunity for work. Because of that I am looking forward for travel and returning [to] visit Jordan. But I think [I] have to learn cooking and to learn washing!
I am Lyounes Amour. I am from Syria. I am 23 years old; I am unmarried. I was studying law at university in Damascus city, just one year. A law degree is five years, but because of the conflict in Syria I had to go to Jordan. I am looking to be [a] lawyer. I have been in Jordan for four years; I arrived in 2012. I’m here alone. My family is in Sweden. I [couldn’t] go because I am above the age of majority. My father or mother had to send me an invitation after they arrived. I interviewed with the Embassy of Sweden. I hope next year—I don’t know exactly until the embassy responds. I have experience in carpentry, and I also have two certificates in software and hardware for phones. I took them in Syria, but I can’t use them in Jordan.
What were your experiences when you first arrived in Amman? How is life in Amman today?
In general, it’s different from Syria. Generally, it’s good. But maybe, I don’t know...it’s good, very good, but there’s something, homesick[ness]. And the life alone, maybe. It’s hard or difficult to cook and to wash and to dry!
How did you find out about JRS and JC:HEM?
Save the Children. They told me about JC:HEM last year.
What are your impressions of the program?
I think they make us [gain] confidence. They give us more experience and to grow with each other. And my English was not very good, was bad. And this month, this course, my English is improving. I wish to move to another level. I am in the elementary course; I hope to finish it. Last month I finished the pre-intermediate, but because the level is very hard, I went back down to redo it. I have to study hard.
How do you prepare for class, for homework? Do you study extra English by yourself?
Oh, yes, a lot. I study [using] YouTube, with English teachers from England. And learning English [using a] listening headset on repeat again and again and again in the home. And I watch a lot of English, American, and Australian movies and try to understand what they say.
How is the dynamic, the atmosphere in class?
Good, it’s very good. There’s a lot of challenge, a lot of grammar, to learning, to learn it. Maybe there’s different levels, different cultures, different backgrounds, and maybe we must interact with each other like this.
So you think that the fact that the students in a same class are all from different backgrounds in the same class helps?
I think that it's interesting to know another culture. Maybe we [aren’t] used to it, but we can enjoy, to try something different. [It’s] very good, positive, diversity in cultures and backgrounds.
Is there anything you would do to improve the JRS experience?
I think one thing—enlarge the place, to invite more students. Just that! But in general, it’s very good. I would upgrade the center and the place, just that.
What does learning English mean to you? What does pursuing this program mean to you?
My English language, I think it’s very important language because [it’s] the first language in the world. If you would [like] to do something in internet and anything, you have to use the English language. And I like the English language, maybe more than Swedish language and French language, Russian. But my French is not very good. My Russian is not very good. I just like English! I need more practice.
But are you going to learn Swedish then, when you join your family in Sweden?
No, no, no! Eighty percent from Swedish people speak English—80 percent. Maybe a little bit. We will see!
What’s your greatest source of motivation in pursuing your studies at JRS?
Maybe improv[ing] my English. And we have a small community here. It’s a very good community here, with my friends. And know more culture, know other people, meet a lot of people! I like the environment here, and conversation with people.
With other students outside of class do you sometimes hang around to speak?
Yeah, a lot. And we had a lot of trips [To the] park of King Hussein and Sports City to play football! Often with JRS and sometimes by ourselves. We chat sometimes in English, but if we don’t understand we can translate in Arabic.
How do you hope to use what you’ve learned here at JRS?
I can maybe share it with my family and my friends, and the English language I can use with my dream to be a lawyer in Europe or in Australia or in America, anyway.
What does “social justice” mean to you?
No separation between the religions, and backgrounds: no "you are from America," "you are from Europe," like this. And I think maybe to [be] equal with each other from any nationality and any background, equal between the woman and man, feminism, with something for improv[ing] our community or our world.
Do you think that social justice plays a role in your studies at JRS, or at the JRS center?
Yeah, in JRS, there’s a lot of fairness or justice between any nationality. There’s not difference between nationalities and backgrounds. But like any country we have some people, individuals, who don’t want to accept the refugees and residents. But it’s individual cases. And the government prevents them from creating problems.
And at JRS you don’t find that?
No, I don’t find that!
Is there anything you would like to add that we haven’t discussed?
Maybe about the education in Jordan. In Arab countries it’s very expensive, and the job we need—when we [are] looking for work we can’t find it easily because there is little opportunity for work. Because of that I am looking forward for travel and returning [to] visit Jordan. But I think [I] have to learn cooking and to learn washing!
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