Susan , Samah & Lamyaa

Lamyaa Says ,

I am Lamya Tamimi, an English teacher in Hebron, Palestine. 🇵🇸 ,I have been with HUP since 2017, and I have witnessed a great impact on the lives of my students. However, this is my story with a wonderful friend, Susan Piper.

I first came to know Susan through the Hands Up Project's Facebook Live storytelling sessions. From the very beginning, I was captivated by her enchanting way of telling the story of "Ahmad and the goul," using rhymes, puppets, and a gentle yet powerful voice. Her storytelling had a special magic that drew me in completely.

Later, I met her in a storytelling course led by David Heathfield, and from that point on, we became the best of friends. Susan generously volunteered her time to help my students improve their English skills. Through engaging stories and inspiring activities, she sparked joy and curiosity in their learning. We worked hand in hand to support their language development, and together, the students created incredible videos that reflected their growth and creativity.

Susan even had the opportunity to visit my school and meet the students in person. She shared stories with them, and together, we wove many unforgettable memories. Her kindness, patience, and unwavering friendship have made a lasting impression—not only on me, but on every child she reached with her wonderful stories and creative rhymes.

Susan is more than a storyteller or teacher; she is a true friend and my source of inspiration.I am very happy to have her in my life ❤️.

Susan Says,

I first met Lamya at a storytelling course run by David Heathfield during Covid in 2020. I’d just joined HUP and was looking to connect with a teacher to try out my new skills! Lamya’s class at Qortoba school in Hebron provided me with the perfect introduction to classroom link ups and we’ve been working together ever since! We’ve shared many stories over the years and our sessions have always been focused on having fun and using the language as well as trying to enrich the coursebook as much as possible with stories.

One of our favourite activities is using chants to bring stories alive. All of Lamya’s classes love stories and that’s a testament to her teaching and creativity in the classroom. After telling a story to the class, lamya’s students would often make a video of themselves retelling the story and these would be sent to me. I loved listening to their retelling and own interpretations of the story we’d done in class. One of Lamya’s skills is in making videos and this is something that combines well with practicing and using the language spoken in our sessions. 

For example one of the units in the coursebook is about Towns and Cities so we worked on the story of the Town mouse and Country mouse as well as making up our own repetitive story entitled ‘Walking thought the city…” We often co wrote  stories based around simple rhymes. We found that these types of sessions really helped the students access the language of the story. 

Our latest story was ‘Lemon and Mint’ and for this I used simple pictures to bring the story alive. I love to see the students trying to work out what the pictures are about. Once again they didn’t disappoint and made some beautiful videos to accompany the story!

I love working with Lamya, she is not only a wonderful teacher who cares deeply about her students, she is always looking for new, creative ways to enhance their learning. I am very happy to be a part of that process!

I first met Samah about a year ago when we started to link up for storytelling with her grade 6 class. Although we couldn’t link up in the classroom we didn’t let that stop ius from organising sessions on Zoom after class. 

The main focus for this class was simply enjoying stories together and the first story I told was my favourite- Pete the Cat! The children loved the rhymes and the song in the story so I continued with the sequel- ‘Pete’s  Buttons’ and other stories that were repetitive and rhyming. 

Samah sometimes told me what they had been learning in class from the coursebook so i would try  find some stories to fit in with that. I think it’s harder sometimes to work on zoom than in the class mainly because the girls join from their own homes and often with the camera off! However they gradually became more confident to switch their cameras on for some parts of the sessions.

I have really enjoyed working with Samah’s class because the girls are so enthusiastic and keen to listen and join in with the stories. They are a credit to Samah’s hard work and dedication as a teacher. Our last story was called “Once upon a time …”

In this, the girls made up their own story using various pictures and sentences. They also enjoyed drawing simple characters from the stories over the course of our link ups and would show me these in the session or the week after. One of their favourite characters to draw was of course Pete the Cat!

Samah Says,

Over the past several weeks, my class (6th graders) had the wonderful opportunity to work with a dedicated volunteer who conducted online storytelling sessions in English. The goal was to expose the children to spoken English in an engaging and interactive way, helping them develop their listening and comprehension skills in a natural context.

Suzan  held weekly sessions, reading age-appropriate English stories with clear pronunciation, expression, and occasional use of visuals to aid understanding. From the first session, the children were captivated by the stories. They listened attentively, eagerly tried to repeat new words, and often discussed the stories afterward in their own words.

I noticed a clear improvement in their vocabulary and confidence in using simple English phrases. Some students began to greet me in English or name objects around them using the words they heard in the stories. Their listening comprehension improved, and they started predicting parts of the story based on context—something they had struggled with previously. They also used to tell the story and discuss it in front of the class next day! They  sometimes drew pictures Suzan showed to them.
Most importantly, the children looked forward to each session. They showed enthusiasm, they were shy at the beginning but over time they became more confident to open their cameras and raised their hands to participate, and smiled throughout the readings. It was clear that the sessions were not only educational but also joyful.

This collaboration had a significant impact—not just on language development, but also in building a love for reading and learning English in a relaxed and fun environment. I’m deeply grateful for Suzan’s time, patience, and ability to connect with the children across a screen and a language barrier.
Moving forward, I hope to continue incorporating storytelling as a tool in language learning, inspired by the success of these sessions for the next year!