By Yasmeen Fadila, YES 2015-2016, Israel (Arab Communities), hosted by PAX in Berkeley Springs, WV

When I came back home to Israel last month (June 2016), I realized that after my year on the YES program, I am now good enough at English to be able to teach the language to kids. I decided to put the skills I learned on program to use by volunteering at the bilingual pre-school where my mom works. I spent my three weeks of school holiday going to Q Pre-School five days a week and working with 23 young kids to help them learn English.

Each day, I read English stories to them, taught them English songs, and simply talked to them in English. My hope was not only to help the students learn English from a young age, but to also teach them the value of volunteering. My parents are proud of me for using my holiday to try to improve my community, and they see this shift towards volunteerism as a positive impact that my time in the U.S. had on me. Personally, I really enjoyed working with the students and seeing the progress they made in the short time I tutored them! I definitely advise other YES alumni to volunteer and teach English, because I felt a great sense of accomplishment when the three weeks ended!