[etni] Congratulations to Suzanne and Isabelle

Congratulations to Suzanne Sapir and Isabelle Achtenberg for winning the German 
International Chamber of Commerce  "Student Building Bridges Worldwide" 
Competition. 
Suzanne started the  program at Boyar School and then moved the program with 
her to the Music Academy. Her partner school is the Schmidt's Girls College in 
East Jerusalem. The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, November, 26th 
2008. 
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Read Suzanne Sapir's description of the Book Club 
The Jerusalem English Book Club has been my dream for quite a few years. I 
thought it would be  a great idea to bring together teens from East and West 
Jerusalem; kids who live in the same city but never get an opportunity to meet 
each other. So, I mentioned the idea to my friend/colleague, Mai Abdo, an 
English teacher at the Al Ukhwah School in Jabel Mukaber. Unfortunately, her 
students could not read books in English so she recommended contacting the 
director of the Schmidt School, a private school in East Jerusalem, where the 
girls study English from Kindergarten. The director, Mr.Kircher, was thrilled 
with the idea of partnering with the Boyar School in West Jerusalem. After my 
meeting with Mr. Kircher, I wrote a letter to  the Jerusalem Foundation for 
funding, with the idea of naming the Book Club after Teddy Kolleck. However, I 
never got a response. That summer, while I was in Philadelphia visiting my 
family, my sister Arlene offered to buy the first two sets of books for me, 
since she knew how  very important  it was for kids to read good books.
With the success of the first two book discussions, Isabelle Achtenberg, an 
English teacher at the Schmidt School, wrote a proposal for funding and got 
2000 Euro from the Konrad Adenauer Center. This joint intiative was the 
beginning of the Jerusalem Book Club, in 2006, between girls from the Schmidt 
School and the Boyar School.

This year, our third year of partnership, there are 7 girls from the Schmidt 
School and 4 girls and 3 boys from the Academy of Music and Dance. We have 
already read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and  Reading Lolita in Tehran by 
Azar Nafisi.  We plan on reading Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Someone to Run 
With and Once in a Promised Land by June.
On December 4th there will be a "Getting to  Know You" meeting at my home, 
where the activities will be prepared by the kids.
Sari Nusseibeh, the author of Once Upon a Country, has accepted our invitation 
to come to a Book Club meeting to discuss writing a Memoir. We plan on inviting 
David Grossman to discuss his book, which we will read in March.

For the  teachers involved, it is just wonderful to see how nicely our students 
get along with each other, understand one another through book discussions, 
work with each other to lead discussions and plan activities. 

These children, Moslems, Jews and Christians, are the future of this troubled 
land.
I believe they will build a better tomorrow because of their positive 
experiences as members of the Jerusalem Book Club, where they learn how much 
they have in common; where they build bridges of understanding through reading.

Suzanne Sapir     sksapir@xxxxxxxxx
English Teacher
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You can see a description of some of the activities  on the Boyar School 
English site  www.schooly.co.il/boyer_english
Click on Special Events and then Book Club
This link may get you straight there 
http://www.schooly.co.il/MySchool/main_page_c.asp?SchoolIdB7&topicid650&page=1
Jack Pillemer

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