What made Hanan world's best teacher

Dubai - Kids need to have fun while learning, she says

For her students, secondary school teacher and Palestinian national Hanan Al Hroub is not an easy person to miss. She dresses up in a bright coloured clown wig, a red nose, and enters her classroom with her trusty sidekick 'a hand puppet monkey', capturing the attention of all those present.
"All my classes start with a song," said Hanan, as she broke into an Arabic nursery rhyme encouraging the participants of her class to sing along.
Presenting a masterclass on the first day of the Global Education and Skills Summit 2016, Hanan's class was interactive, enjoyable, for adults and children alike.
The winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2016, Hanan embraces the slogan 'No to Violence' and uses a specialist approach she developed herself, detailed in her book We Play and Learn.
A teacher of Samiha Khalil Secondary School in Al Bireh, Palestine; Hanan is also a former refugee who grew up in refugee camp in Bethlehem. As a child she was regularly exposed to acts of violence. She went into primary education after her children were left deeply traumatised by a shooting incident they witnessed on their way home from school.
"Most of my students come from very violent backgrounds.They've seen some terrible things and I've had cases where there have been students who hit and bite other children in the classroom at least 4-5 times a day," Hanan told Khaleej Times after her masterclass.
"However, after my intervention the violence cut down to one case of violence in two days and it eventually came down to zero instances of violence after a month."
Simple methodology
Hanan begins her class by throwing a giant balloon with a number printed on it into the hands of her students.
"For example, if the balloon has the number 9, the students have to say two digits that add up to number 9, and then pass the balloon to other students," she said.
Kids need to have fun while learning, said Hanan, adding that "such exercises take their minds away from the problems that they face in real life and gives them something to look forward to."
Hanan's methodology is simple, yet affective. She groups the students in her classroom into smaller groups of four or five each. Each group is given a task or a puzzle that they must complete in a given period of time. "All the teaching aids I use are recycled by me at home," Hanan said, giving example of one of her classes.
Hanan uses several fun game-format teaching aids in her classroom, making the learning experience a lot of fun.
However, she says she has several shortcomings in her classroom.
"We have over populated classrooms in Palestine with over 35 children in one class. Some of the classes have very poor infrastructure as well," she added.
Hanan hopes to change all that with her colourful victory.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com