Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world and is the official language of 22 countries. This makes it an incredibly valuable language to master: bolstering employability, enriching travel experiences, accessing historic and religious texts and poetry, not to mention the wealth of health benefits that come with learning something new and keeping the brain active.

Through dardasha, a colloquial expression in Arabic for “informal chat”, we want to offer the opportunity of pairing somebody who wants to learn Arabic with a Palestinian speaker.

We will connect you to a safety checked and quality-controlled language teacher, enabling you to take one-on-one language lessons over your screen at your convenience. Whether it’s a session on your phone during your lunch break or at home from the sofa on a Sunday evening.

HOWEVER at the moment we are still getting our other projects off the ground. So in the meantime, if you want to learn Arabic, here are three suggestions of where we recommend you start out:

• We champion the mission of London Learning Co-operative. They are a radically inclusive, internationalist and anti-imperialist tuition agency, connecting students with tutors in formerly and currently colonised societies like Palestine (Arabic) and Pakistan (Urdu). After years spent developing an international network of tutors, they have a presence in London, Hyderabad, Pakistan, Gaza and Bethlehem.

• Cafe Palestina runs Saturday and Sunday Arabic classes, specifically teaching conversational Levantine Arabic (typically Palestinian/Jordanian/Syrian Arabic) in friendly group sessions.

• Finally, The Palestinian School, London founded by our very own Rajab Shamallakh offers high level classes to children in Modern Standard Arabic on Sundays from 10 till 3:30, combined with lessons in Palestinian and Arab culture.