Thought I would take a little time out and elaborate on the information I previously gave concerning my teaching assignment. Some of it my repeat previously given info since I can't look at both posts at the same time and eliminate overlap. So just bear with me if you have heard some of this before. One of the other volunteers,Marie (who is from Texas by way of France and Rwanda) and I are driven to an organization called Feminin Pluriel each morning and meet with students from 9:30-11:30 Monday-Thursday. I usually have about 10-15 students who show up. On Fridays, since the organization is closed, I have been meeting with several of my students in a cafe down the street to practice conversation skills etc.
While Feminin Pluriel was established to provide intellectual opportunities for Moroccan women, many of our students (and the best ones in my class) are men. Most of the men are young...in their 20s and the women tend to be a bit older. We split up the groups into beginners and advanced and I have been working with the advanced students. Generally their skills are very good and they are much more advanced than I thought they would be so I am frantically trying to remember the perfect progressive tense etc to review it for them. I thought that I would only have to be doing this sort of thing in French with my students in Asni...eek...English is hard!!!
Last week I had my best student, Mohammed (ofcourse....every male here is named Mohammed) for a private meeting which was great. We just went to a cafe and hung out.... Tomorrow's group will be more varied since a number of Marie's students want to join my group at the cafe so we will see how it goes. With the young men and women it is easy to have general conversations on popular music and even world events....less so with the older ones. What is difficult about the teaching is that the students do not come regularly since for many of them, they are just trying to fit in the class with their regular work and they come on their day off or during their lunch hour. This creates problems of continuity within the group. I have had to introduce myself and tell my life story so many times......poor Mohammed, who has attended every class, is tired of hearing it!
Most of the students are well educated. This week I had several teenage students in my class since school is on break for the next two weeks. Generally they have skills which challenge the others.
It is interesting to watch the interpersonal dynamics in the class. I have a 16 year old girl who is very self assured and modern with very strong English skills and I have a 67 year old retired teacher whose English is OK but she constantly interrupts and speaks French to all the other students. I have 25 year old male mechanical technician (Mohammed....above) who is very respectful and well behaved and religious and a 20 year old University law student who is constantly joking around and needs to be reminded that we are in class. I have young modern woman whose husband is an American citizen (Moroccan by birth) and lives in Chicago and she is preparing to go and meet him there in June (when it warms up) and her friend who is a very traditionally dressed and quiet young woman. Most of the women are or have been working in professional positions (arabic teacher, elementary school principal). Some of the women wear headscarves (particularly the older women) and most of the young men dress in tee shirts and jeans. It is just very interesting to me that the most motivated student (Mohammed) is probably the least educated of all of them.
Another Moroccan characteristic seems to be an inability to tell time......I begin class on time and students come in and out as they wish. They are very respectful but clearly this is the norm...they arrive late and may leave early but while they are there, they attend to the task at hand.
Anyway, they are delightful and I am going to miss them all when I stop working with them at the end of next week. Some of them are now my Facebook friends and some are just e-mail friends but hopefully we will all stay in touch in some way. I hope that I have been able to make a bit of a difference in their lives...in both their language skills but also in their knowledge of the larger world outside of Morocco. I know that they have already made a difference in mine.
Tomorrow: my classes and the staff here....Fes (not Fez) on Saturday-Monday.
While Feminin Pluriel was established to provide intellectual opportunities for Moroccan women, many of our students (and the best ones in my class) are men. Most of the men are young...in their 20s and the women tend to be a bit older. We split up the groups into beginners and advanced and I have been working with the advanced students. Generally their skills are very good and they are much more advanced than I thought they would be so I am frantically trying to remember the perfect progressive tense etc to review it for them. I thought that I would only have to be doing this sort of thing in French with my students in Asni...eek...English is hard!!!
Last week I had my best student, Mohammed (ofcourse....every male here is named Mohammed) for a private meeting which was great. We just went to a cafe and hung out.... Tomorrow's group will be more varied since a number of Marie's students want to join my group at the cafe so we will see how it goes. With the young men and women it is easy to have general conversations on popular music and even world events....less so with the older ones. What is difficult about the teaching is that the students do not come regularly since for many of them, they are just trying to fit in the class with their regular work and they come on their day off or during their lunch hour. This creates problems of continuity within the group. I have had to introduce myself and tell my life story so many times......poor Mohammed, who has attended every class, is tired of hearing it!
Most of the students are well educated. This week I had several teenage students in my class since school is on break for the next two weeks. Generally they have skills which challenge the others.
It is interesting to watch the interpersonal dynamics in the class. I have a 16 year old girl who is very self assured and modern with very strong English skills and I have a 67 year old retired teacher whose English is OK but she constantly interrupts and speaks French to all the other students. I have 25 year old male mechanical technician (Mohammed....above) who is very respectful and well behaved and religious and a 20 year old University law student who is constantly joking around and needs to be reminded that we are in class. I have young modern woman whose husband is an American citizen (Moroccan by birth) and lives in Chicago and she is preparing to go and meet him there in June (when it warms up) and her friend who is a very traditionally dressed and quiet young woman. Most of the women are or have been working in professional positions (arabic teacher, elementary school principal). Some of the women wear headscarves (particularly the older women) and most of the young men dress in tee shirts and jeans. It is just very interesting to me that the most motivated student (Mohammed) is probably the least educated of all of them.
Another Moroccan characteristic seems to be an inability to tell time......I begin class on time and students come in and out as they wish. They are very respectful but clearly this is the norm...they arrive late and may leave early but while they are there, they attend to the task at hand.
Anyway, they are delightful and I am going to miss them all when I stop working with them at the end of next week. Some of them are now my Facebook friends and some are just e-mail friends but hopefully we will all stay in touch in some way. I hope that I have been able to make a bit of a difference in their lives...in both their language skills but also in their knowledge of the larger world outside of Morocco. I know that they have already made a difference in mine.
Tomorrow: my classes and the staff here....Fes (not Fez) on Saturday-Monday.
Seems like a real interesting group of students!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Fes! I was there four years ago and it's a fascinating city. I particularly enjoyed the tomb of Sheikh Tijani, as the people coming and going were the most beautiful I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for your photo!
An don't forget to post to Facebook! I'm sure I'm not the only one who needs reminders to look at your blog.
Everyone misses you in prison!