Ella & Habib founded Ihsan Arabic to share their passion for Arabic education
Ella and Habib met and got married while studying Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. They were blessed to spend four years immersed in the Arabic language and their course included a year abroad in Nablus, Palestine. After graduating in 2018, Ella and Habib took to teaching straight away and discovered that they are just as passionate teachers as students. Four years in, Ihsan Arabic was blessed to have taught students from all over the world and, in 2022, fellow BA Arabic graduate Sophie joined the team.
Habib Ali
Habib’s mission is to make Arabic language education intuitive and accessible.
When Habib is not fine-tuning course material or leading Arabic sessions, he is thinking deeply about the direction of Ihsan Arabic as a dynamic language learning community.
After completing BA Arabic, Habib’s professional life has taken him into schools and graphic design studios. From the get-go, the combination of education and design has been integral to the Ihsan Arabic approach.
Ella Linskens
Ella is deeply passionate about helping others to unlock the beauty of the Arabic language.
She first got the Arabic teaching bug, when helping women in her local community to overcome the hurdles she had faced when studying the language at university.
As the principal curriculum developer, Ella spends lots of time revisiting her own Arabic learning journey and applying the superpower of hindsight. She is also the point of contact for learner queries on social media and other platforms.
Sophie Colell
Sophie takes pride in helping her students to achieve their full Arabic learning potential.
She has delved deep into the Arabic language as well as the history and politics of the region. She completed a BA in Arabic, including a year abroad, and went on to read an MSc in Middle East Politics. During this time, she fell in love with teaching Arabic, especially after she succeeded in helping her German mum to pronounce the letter ‘ayn ع.
Sophie leads a range of women’s courses and is our principal researcher, searching through Arabic texts to find the hidden gems which enrich our learning material.