In January 2016 international activists gathered in Berlin to offer free educational, cultural and integration projects for refugees. Until 2018 we were able to develop into a small unconventional and award-winning intercultural think-tank.
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Empowerment, Inspiration and Real Participation
In order to use synergy effects and to minimize the administrative effort, we realized our diverse project in cooperation with other initiatives, foundations, associations and government agencies.
In the true spirit of an academy we offered a broad curriculum including many different subjects: language teaching using theatrical acting techniques, STEM subjects, German history, politics, and current affairs as well as media literacy.
Math Classes in Arabic
Since its inception, the Refugee Academy was committed to multilingual teaching. In the spring of 2017, through our networks across Berlin, we came across Jalal Abu Alenen, a former mathematics lecturer at the University of Damascus. He was urgently in search for rooms for his two-month preparatory course “Mathematics in Arabic”.
We were able to offer him the rooms of our long term partner, the magnificent ESBZ school in the centre of Berlin.
Babelfish
“Berlin Babelfish” was a free offer with an effective and simple approach to language learning. Lasting for 4 up to 5 weeks our volunteer teachers would offer an unusual, daily language training. The concept was created in 2017 and has been continuously developed ever since. Our learning concept focuses on the specific learning needs of the participants.
By incorporating all five senses our students would learn more easily and were motivated to acquire German or English as new language.
Theatre projects
Theater work is a wonderful art and a great way to bring people together on equal terms. We look forward to welcoming you to our theater educational workshop for amateurs or professional productions.
In September 2017 “Multi-Uni-Sono – A We of many Mes” received its premiere at Uferstudios Berlin . Thorsten Kreissig, the founder of the RA, developed a biographical piece of music theater for the choir “Berliner Begegnungschor” . This choir united which many newcomers and native Berliners sharing songs from their various cultural backgrounds. The piece dealt with their diverse migration stories from different generations: this way we told stories of Syrian and Afghan refugees as well as of East Germans , who escaped the German Democartic Republic before the wall collappsed in 1989.