Tarek is a Syrian mechanical engineering student living in Homs. He is also a student in the Paper Airplanes English program and is completing the upper intermediate level. Most recently, Tarek has added another title to his impressive resume: global ambassador and Arabic event host for Duolingo!
Prior to joining Paper Airplanes’ English program, Tarek had a functional knowledge of the English language. With the support of his tutor, he has been able to strengthen not only his knowledge of English, but also his conversational skills. He mentioned how Paper Airplanes has also strengthened his self-confidence, breaking communication barriers.
One of his tutors recommended using Duolingo Events, which is a platform for online conversation groups facilitated through Duolingo. Upon looking at the platform, Tarek found that there were few Arabic conversation groups and knew he could fill that need. Tarek sent in his application, and after some back and forth communication with the Duolingo team, his application was successful!
As a Duolingo global ambassador and events manager, Tarek has found himself immersed in a new community of passionate language-learners. Tarek now regularly hosts an event called “Arabic as a Lifestyle”, which features conversations on music, culture, food, proverbs, and more, engaging Arabic language-learners on a wide variety of topics! Using his new and improved English language skills through his journey with Paper Airplanes, Tarek is working to make Arabic language education more accessible through his own conversational groups that bring together learners from all over the world.
Tarek is passionate about language education and hopes to continue to study with Paper Airplanes, which he considers a launching point for his career in education—an unexpected but happy turn of events! He continues to work with his tutor and in conversation groups to better his English skills, especially his conversational skills. He says, “You can never close the doors to learning!”
Tarek recommends that students develop a strong personality and sense of perseverance in order to overcome the initial barriers of working with a tutor online. Overcoming these challenges can create a sense of resilience and will support language education beyond measure!
Tarek has big plans for the future! He hopes to continue to make education, especially English language programs, more accessible, especially to women.