The character arc of Hanan Al Hroub

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born about 1973 in Bethlehem, and raised in the Dheisheh refugee camp. Between then and now sit a training in English she did not finish using, her children shot at on the way home from school in October 2000, a turn into teaching, a method built on play, a book called We Play and Learn, and the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize in March 2016. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Hanan Al Hroub?

She changed what she was for, and built a classroom on play.

She grew up in Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp near Bethlehem, where she experienced and saw violence. She was studying English, intending to become a translator. That was the plan and it was a good one.

In October 2000, during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, her children were shot at on their way home from school. Her twins were nine and her youngest son was six. They saw it. What the record says next is simple and is the whole line: she changed direction and trained as a teacher.

She built a way of teaching for children who have seen things like that. It is based on play, on trust, and on a slogan she uses with her classes: no to violence. She wrote it down in a book called We Play and Learn, so that other teachers could use it. In March 2016 the Varkey Foundation gave her the Global Teacher Prize, worth one million dollars, making her its second recipient, and Pope Francis marked the award with a video message. She has five children. Her line is worth reading because the worst thing in it is directly connected to the best, and she made that connection on purpose.

The moments

Hanan Al Hroub's timeline.

The 1980s

~1980

A childhood in Dheisheh

Setback, and it changed everything. The camp is where the line starts, and it is not a neutral place to start one.

The 1990s

~1995

She studied English

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A plan, and a profession, and not the one she ended up with.

The 2000s

Oct 2000

Her children were shot at

Setback, and it changed everything. Nine and six, on the way home from school. The page records that it happened and nothing more.

1 Jan 2001

Finish the translation training, or teach

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: go and teach, taken, or qualify as a translator. She built a play based method for children who have seen violence, wrote it down, and won the Global Teacher Prize in 2016.

~2002

She trained as a teacher

Milestone, and it changed everything. She stopped training for the job she wanted and trained for the one her children needed.

~2008

Teaching through play

Milestone, and it changed everything. Not a slogan on a wall. A method, with games in it, for children who have seen things.

The 2010s

~2012

We Play and Learn

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Written down, so it does not depend on her being in the room.

13 Mar 2016

The Global Teacher Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. One million dollars, the second one ever given, to a teacher from a refugee camp.

The story goes on, still in the classroom she chose over the translator's desk. What it has set moving is in other people's classrooms: a method written down and shared, so that a teacher who has never met her can use it tomorrow morning.

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Hanan Al Hroub: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Hanan Al Hroub's character arc?

A woman raised in a refugee camp who was training to be a translator, changed direction into teaching after her children were shot at on the way home from school in October 2000, and won the Global Teacher Prize in 2016.

What were the turning points in Hanan Al Hroub's life?

Growing up in the Dheisheh refugee camp. The October 2000 shooting that her children witnessed. Leaving her translation studies for teacher training. Developing a play based method, writing it down, and the prize in March 2016.

Why did Hanan Al Hroub become a teacher?

Because of what happened to her children. They were shot at on their way home from school during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in October 2000, when her twins were nine and her youngest son six. She left her translation studies and trained in education.

What is Hanan Al Hroub's teaching method?

A play based approach she developed herself, for children who have experienced violence, built around trust and games, under a philosophy she sums up as no to violence. She set it out in a book called We Play and Learn so other teachers could use it.

What prize did Hanan Al Hroub win?

The Global Teacher Prize, worth one million dollars, awarded by the Varkey Foundation in March 2016. She was its second recipient, and Pope Francis marked the award with a video message.

Where did Hanan Al Hroub grow up?

In the Dheisheh Palestinian refugee camp, near Bethlehem, where she was born about 1973 and where the record says she experienced and saw violence. She has five children of her own.

What has Hanan Al Hroub written?

A book called We Play and Learn, setting out the play based method she built for children who have seen violence. Writing it down is the part that matters most, because it means the method works without her being in the room.

Where does this timeline of Hanan Al Hroub's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Hanan Al Hroub isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Hanan Al Hroub, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Varkey Foundation, Global Teacher Prize 2016 award record.
Contemporary reporting of the March 2016 award, which gives her age as 43 and places her birth about 1973.