Teachers Archive
  • 2003
    		•
  • 2004
    		•
  • 2005
    		•
  • 2006
    		•
  • 2007
    		•
  • 2008
    		•

    2007

    A team of teachers specialists in various fields, along with several senior counselors, led a fun and thematically integrated program.

    Khaled Sayed : Arabic

    Khaled, an Egyptian, has a degree in Spanish literature from Cairo University and a Master of Arts in Spanish/literature from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Columbia. Since moving to Philadelphia, he has been a foreign language instructor, with experience teaching Spanish and Arabic at secondary school and college levels. He currently teaches Spanish at Temple University, Arabic and Spanish at Community College of Philadelphia, and Arabic at University of Pennsylvania; and prior to that was instructor of Spanish in the Philadelphia School District for four years. While in Cairo, Khaled worked for several years as a Spanish-speaking tour guide for Cairošs historic sites, museums and cultural traditions.

    Leila Buck : Storytelling/Drama

    Leila, a Lebanese-American, is a storyteller, performer and teaching artist based in New York City. She is the Artistic Director of Nisaa Arab American Womenšs Collective, member/former Education Director of Nibras Arab American Theater Collective, an artist with NY Theatre Workshop and a writer and performer for the NY Arab-American Comedy Festival. She has performed her award-winning show, ISite, and her recent show, In the Crossing, at various universities, high schools and cultural centers in the US and abroad. Leila has a B.A. in Theater from Wesleyan University and is completing her Masteršs in Drama for Education about the Arab World at NYU. Leila was a teaching artist with Creative Arts Team for five years in NYC, where she also led workshops and summer programs at several Arab American community centers. In Spring '07, Leila taught Al-Bustanšs dramatic storytelling weekend workshops.

    Joseph Tayoun: Music

    Joseph, a Lebanese-American, is a music teacher, an accomplished Middle Eastern percussionist, and a certified elementary education teacher in New Jersey. He has taught music at a number of secondary schools in Philadelphia and New Jersey. He recently formed The MidEast Ensemble, offering a series of educational and performance programs for schools, universities and cultural centers. He has participated in several residencies with Zakir Hussain and with Simon Shaheen at Swarthmore University and The Painted Bride Art Center. He collaborates with various Philadelphia musicians, incorporating a wide range of styles and techniques of Middle Eastern music. Over the past ten years he has played in the U.S. and abroad at ŒConcerts for Peaceš with the Arabic/Jewish ensemble Atzilut.     This is his sixth year at Al-Bustan Camp.

    Adeeb Samaan Refela: Music

    Adeeb, an Egyptian, is an accomplished musician, a self-taught player of the oud, guitar and violin. For over 10 years, he was a full-time performer playing the oud with the National Arabic Music Orchestra at the Cairo Opera House, under the direction of renowned conductor Salim Sehab. He has also traveled in Europe and within the US playing the oud with various musical groups. For many years he has tutored adults and children in the oud and guitar. He participates in workshops on Middle Eastern music at various Philadelphia schools. This is his fourth year at Al-Bustan Camp, demonstrating melody on the oud and violin.

    Rachel Bliss: Art

    Rachel is a visual artist whose work has been exhibited in twelve solo shows and numerous group shows in galleries and museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Society of Illustratorsš Museum in New York, Rider University, Coombs Contemporary Gallery in London, and Alternative Museum in New York. Her work has been reproduced in publications such as The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Village Voice, and Penguin Books. Rachel has taught/lectured at the Philadelphia College of the Arts, Moore College of Art and Design, and Village of Arts and Humanities, Over the past three years she has been an artist-in-residence at Greenfield Elementary Public School, working with students in grades K-8. In fall '06 she co-taught Al-Bustan's art and story writing workshops in which students made a series of collages and drawings imagining the 14th-century traveler Ibn Battuta as he travels into the future of the present day.
    Michele Tayoun: Dance

    Michelle, a Lebanese-American, is experienced in the traditional, folklore dances of the Arab region and has conducted numerous dance workshops with children and adults. She also sings in Arabic and has had vocal instruction with Simon Shaheen. This is her sixth year at Al-Bustan Camp.

    Kelly Hassell: Nature

    Kelly attended Syracuse University for Speech Communication and graduated from Chestnut Hill College with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Environmental Biology. She spent several years as a research scientist in Berkeley, California and in the Philadelphia area. Kelly earned her M.Ed. in Multicultural Education from Eastern University in 2004. She is currently a middle school science teacher at Germantown Friends School where she teaches 6th grade life science, and 7th grade physical science, while coaching the girls' middle school soccer and lacrosse teams.

    Dahna Abourahme: Video

    Dahna, a Palestinian-American, is a New York based filmmaker who grew up in Abu Dhabi and Amman. She received her MA in Media Studies at the New School of Social Research in New York. She teaches video to youth and has been involved in several community art projects. Her credits include sound recording for 500 Dunam on the Moon and like twenty impossibles. Her first feature documentary, until when... which follows four Palestinian families living in a refugee camp near Bethlehem, Palestine, has been shown at several film festivals in the US and abroad. She is returning for the third year this summer working with Al-Bustan Camp teenagers, teaching video-making skills and using video as a medium to explore culture and identity.
    Carla Shalaby : Camp Manager

    Carla, an Egyptian-American, is a doctoral student in Culture, Communities and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  She is interested in social and cultural justice, the politics of difference and identity in public schools, and the everyday ways in which children and teachers make meaning of difference in their classrooms.  She earned an English degree and a Masters in Elementary Education from Rutgers, and before returning to life as a student, was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in a public school in her New Jersey hometown.  She has a passion for words and language, travel, and the brilliance of children and their families.
    Thea Abu El-Haj: Education Research & Evaluation/Video

    Thea, a Palestinian-American, is an educational researcher and teacher educator, and currently a faculty member at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. She grew up in Iran and Lebanon, lived in Egypt and has spent extensive time with her family in Palestine. She began her career in the field of education developing cross-cultural curriculum and then working as an elementary school teacher for many years. Since receiving her doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania in the anthropology of education, she has been researching, writing and teaching about socio-cultural processes and education. She has a particular interest in conducting collaborative research with educators to document and evaluate programs. She is returning for the second year this summer co-teaching with Dahna Abourahme, exploring aspects of teenagers' culture and identity through the medium of video.

    Hazami Sayed: Camp Director/Architecture

    Hazami, an Arab-American and graduate of the Master of Architecture program at Columbia University, has worked in the fields of architecture and urban development in Philadelphia and New York City. Her recent area of research is affordable urban housing in which she was a consultant and taught a seminar at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a photographer and has exhibited her work in Philadelphia. She is the founder and President/Executive Director of Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture.

     

    Senior Counselors:

    Nahid Ibrahim, a Sudanese-American, will be a senior at Temple University.  She is studying Theater with a concentration in community arts and is establishing the major of social justice theater arts.  She has been a member of Amnesty International since third grade and is a passionate social activist currently advocating for peace in Darfur, Sudan. She was a participant for five years at New World Theater Companies “Project 2050” youth retreat held in Amherst, MA, during which she developed her skills in theater/performing arts, combined with her passion for social justice. This is her first year working at Al-Bustan Camp.

    Nashwa Elgadi , a Sudanese-American, will be a senior at Temple University, majoring in Political Science, with a minor in History, and a concentration in Modern Standard Arabic.  During the academic year, she works as a tutor for Philadelphia’s Achieving Independence Center where she assists students with schoolwork on various subjects and provides college counseling.  She is highly committed to working with youth, and looks forward to her first year working at Al-Bustan Camp.

    Nadia Elokdah , an Egyptian-American, will be a junior studying architecture at Temple University, Tyler School of Art. She has traveled a number of times to visit family in Egypt, where she engulfed herself in the Egyptian culture and architecture, from souks to masjids. Her interests include art, design, community service, and assistant-student teaching. She has worked with elementary schools in her school district as a foreign language, math, reading, and writing tutor for over four years. This is her third year at Al-Bustan Camp.