Our Story
This is Not an Ulpan was founded in 2012 following Israel’s 2011 social protests. Inspired by these protests, a group of educator-activists (teachers and students) who had been frustrated by their own Ulpan experiences, decided to create a community of Hebrew and Arabic learners that are able to critically engage with society.
As the story goes, in their first meeting they struggled to find a name. As they couldn't decide what to call the project, they came up with the temporary name "This is Not an Ulpan" (TINAU). The name has stuck to this day and has since become synonymous with the alternative and radical approaches to community education This is Not an Ulpan offers in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
We are incredibly proud of everything that TINAU has achieved since its inception in 2012. The adult language learning scene for Hebrew and Arabic in Israel-Palestine has truly been disrupted, and this has paved the way for other organisations to also challenge the often alienating methods used in traditional language schools.
Today, TINAU stands out as one of the only language schools in Israel that teaches both Hebrew and Arabic and is run by Jews, Palestinians, locals and newcomers together. It's a nonprofit teachers' cooperative- which allows teachers, organisers, students and volunteers to have an equal voice in the organization's decision-making and shape TINAU's future.
What we do and why we do it
Language has the ability to open minds, create empathy, and empower someone to be an autonomous and caring member of society. Our society faces two pressing issues in the language learning realm:
Firstly, most Hebrew language-immersion courses (Ulpans) teach language removed from the real world; digging into grammar and sentence structure and repeating words that will never come up in daily life. Each year, over 50,000 people come to Israel as immigrants, students, or professionals; with the majority of them receiving this type of Hebrew learning.
Secondly, most Jewish Israelis do not speak or understand Arabic. 20% of Israel’s population is Arab-Israeli, for whom Arabic is a first language. Only 2.5% of the Jewish-Israeli population speaks fluent Arabic, creating a language and culture barrier between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs. Added to this, the Arabic language education that exists today in public or private schools also suffers from the same issues as traditional Ulpans.
TINAU's aim is to address these issues and offer an alternative to Hebrew and Arabic learning in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to help create a better and fairer society for all.
Meet our team!
is a Palestinian and grew up in Sakhnin. She is currently living in Jerusalem and has been teaching Arabic for more than 4 years. She's a feminist and an activist for human rights and conflict resolutions. She LOVES languages and traveling all over the world... and of course, Fayrouz is her favorite singer.
is the Meta'em Ulpan [Ulpan Coordinator], an educator and a creative-type. He's an American-born Israeli, a 3rd generation Tel-Avivian on both sides, a proud bicycle owner, is married to the lovely Einati and a happy new father to Ellie Dina. He started teaching Hebrew over 10 years ago, when the first wave of asylum-seekers crossed the border from Egypt and hasn't stopped since. He is currently getting his MA in Second Language Acquisition at the world famous Middlebury College in Vermont.
teaches and is our Rakezet Chinuch in JLM. Tal learns and teaches history through languages and languages through history, and wants to transform society and get rid of all borders... starting in the classroom. More specifically, Tal studied History and now speaks Arabic, is a qualified English teacher who has been teaching Hebrew for 10 years, and is now undertaking a Teudat Horaa (Teaching qualification). Inspired by TINAU, Tal co-founded the project "Babel's Blessing".
is a full-time Hebrew teacher who combines multi-disciplinary topics in his classes. Shay has lived in Tel Aviv for the past 10 years, and is always happy to share his love for the city, its buildings (he studied architecture at Tel Aviv University!) and people.
is a studying for her BA in Middle East studies and Islam, has been learning Arabic for the last 3 years and acts in an Israeli-Palestinian theatre group. She has taught Hebrew to new immigrants, African refugees, Palestinian women and is now teaching classes in TINAU JLM.
Teaches Arabic in TINAU TLV though she's originally a Palestinian from East Jerusalem. Currently she is studying Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern studies at TAU. She really enjoys reading Balzac and talking about nuclear weapons and Judaism.
was born and raised on a Kibbutz, but for the last 10 years has been living in Tel Aviv and cycling whenever and wherever he can. He has a BA in communications and besides pizza, the greatest passion of his life is music, from Bach to Techno, and from Avantgarde Jazz to Pop.
is a California-native who migrated to Jerusalem. After participating in 'Achvat Amim-Solidarity of Nations' she joined the team as our Outreach Coordinator aka Rosh Tishkoret aka Head of Communications. She is an adamant activist and currently teaches a Storytelling in English class in the South Hebron Hills. In her not-so-free free-time she likes to hike, sing, eat, and drink lots of coffee.
is a long time political educator. He leads workshops in the ACRI on freedom of speech, and teacher trainings on education against racism. Roi is also the Programs Director of the School for Peace, an NGO focused on organizing encounter meetings between Jews and Palestinians. In the last three years Roi is the co-facilitator of a youth group organized at the Tel-Aviv Cinemateque which are making short films on issues close to them as Tel-Avivian youth.
moved to Tel Aviv from the Negev nine years ago and for the past four, she's been living in Yaffo with her partner, Amir, their dog, Lucas and teaching Hebrew. She has a BA in History and Sociology from TAU and loves meeting people, eating, travelling and getting to know new places. She's very interested in Israeli society, social struggles, and anything having to do with building a more just and equal society.
lives in Taybeh and works as an Arabic teacher in a junior high school in Herzliya. She has BAs in Arab Literature and Organizational Consulting from TAU. She likes teaching, hiking and of course- food! Her dream is to visit every place in the world, specifically Arab countries. She is a people person and is interested in meeting more and more cultures all over the world.
was born and raised in the old city of Jerusalem, his family immigrated from Bukhara to the old city of Jerusalem to establish a sufi center to teach Sufism in the holy land. With his spiritual background and passion for cooking Izzeldin created "Sacred Cuisine," a pop up kitchen and catering company dedicated vegetarian cuisine. Izzeldin combines food, culture, and history to tell a story of the city.
is a co-founder, organizer and learner in This Is Not An Ulpan. He grew up in Toronto in the Hashomer Hatzair movement, where developed critical education and facilitation skills. After living communally and completing an MA in New York, which focused on Education Community and Social Change, Daniel lives in Israel where he continues his work in critical education and journalism.
has been teaching our more physical and experiential classes for the past five years. She's a trained dance-theatre artist, and as such, she is constantly on the move. She loves people, nature & games, is married to Shmulik and is the mother of Alma. She has BA in education, an MA in Visual Literacy, and is a big believer in the power of the group.
is our German teacher (in exile). She's a native Berliner, but was born in Istanbul and is currently pursuing a master's degree in International Development at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Anyone who studied with her can testify that she's a hopeless optimist who loves to bring people together.
is a kibbutznik from the desert,now living in Jerusalem. Facilitates dialoge between Israelies and Palestinians. Loves teaching Hebrew and English and always up for a good political conversation.
was born and raised in Jerusalem. Nagham is the project coordinator for a program called, Medebrot Ivrit. The program teaches women in her community Hebrew. It is very important to Nagham to contribute to society. She is currently in her last year studying linguistics and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University. She loves music, traveling and exploring new cultures.
is a human rights lawyer. She has represented hundreds of Palestinian victims of crimes committed by Israeli security personnel, litigated constitutional challenges to harmful Israeli policies in the Israeli Supreme Court, and provided legal counsel to numerous human rights organizations. Prior to founding a new NGO that represents Palestinian victims of human rights violations in foreign courts and international tribunals, Emily served as Acting Director of the Michael Sfard Law Office.
is Rosh Rakezim/ot [Head of Facilitators] a native Chicagoan who enjoys baking, making playlists and bringing down the man.
was born and raised in Israel, currently living in Beer Sheva. Working on a PhD in Jewish History at the Ben Gurion institute for Israeli Studies. Enjoys teaching, cooking and raising his dog.
born and raised in Haifa city, is a BA student of Communications, English Literature and American Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is the Vice President of the Student Union and managed leadership and mentorship programs on Campus like SAWA and Wahad-Al-Ehad. He most recently finished an internship at Congress in Washington, D.C. through a joint Israeli-Palestinian leadership program. Currently, he works at the Ministry of Tourism at Ben Gurion Airport.
is an investigative journalist and filmmaker. He is currently a correspondent for “Zman Emet”, Israel public television’s leading leading current affairs program, in his previous position he worked as a journalist for “Uvda” with Ilana Dayan. Matan studied cinema and screenwriting at Sam Spiegel film school and won “best film” at the 48 Hours Festival, twice. He is studying Arabic for six years, and an enthusiastic Computer Science student at the Open University.