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2005 English as a Foreign Language
Institute
for Moroccan
Teacher Trainers
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- Funding Agency:
- ECA: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S.
Department of State (Teacher Exchange Branch of the Office
of Global Educational Programs)
- Primary Partners for Planning and Implementation of Program:
- UDELI: English Language Institute, University of Delaware.
(Newark, Delaware)
- MENJ: Moroccan Ministry of National Education and Youth,
Rabat.
- PAS: Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy, Rabat.
- RELO: Regional English Language Officer for Tunisia,
Algeria and Morocco, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
- MACECE: Moroccan-American Commission for Educational
and Cultural Exchange.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
- Background:
Morocco has led all North African countries in its commitment to education,
having consistently devoted up to one fourth of its annual budget to educating
today’s children and tomorrow’s leaders. Recently, the Ministry of National
Education has made the strategic decision to begin offering instruction
in English as a Foreign Language to students at the middle school level
(collège). This has involved the creation of new curriculum and textbooks
as well as the training of hundreds of new teachers through the Centres
Pédagogiques Régional (CPRs). There is a recognized need to strengthen
the capacity of the MENJ to provide enhanced training to both future teachers
enrolled at CPRs and in-service training to current teachers, especially
at the middle school level.
- Program Description and Goals: This project is designed
to support the efforts of the MENJ to enhance the knowledge, skills
and capacities of teacher trainers and inspectors actively involved
in in-service training who are responsible for preparing new EFL
teachers at Moroccan middle schools. Although modest in scope,
the pilot initiative will hopefully be the first of a series of
programs funded by the US Department of State to provide teacher
trainers and qualifying inspectors with the most advanced and appropriate
theoretical and practical background and skills for the new generation
of EFL teachers at the middle school level. With the cooperation
of its above-named partners, UDELI has developed an innovative
training project. The current document reflects the concerns of
all partners as well as insights gained from discussions academicians,
inspectors, CPR trainers and administrators, and classroom teachers.
Objectives of the program include:
- Support MENJ in its undertaking to train hundreds
of middle school EFL teachers in effectively implementing
a new curriculum of English language instruction;
- Promote the capacity of participating teacher trainers
and inspectors to conduct effective initial and
ongoing training of EFL classroom teachers in the use
of proven communicative methods of teaching, in meeting
curricular goals, and in integrating supplementary
activities and materials;
- Provide several hundred classroom teachers
with a plethora of instructional aids, texts, CDs, and
other supplementary materials (known as “books-in-a-box”)
designed to augment and compliment their course textbook;
- Catalyze a multiplier effect so that those
who are directly trained through the project may, in
turn, train their colleagues;
- Forge long term professional relationships among
those Moroccan professionals selected for training and
their US colleagues; and
- Reach a highly successful conclusion to this pilot
project (as measured by the number of teachers trained
and the extent to which new methods are employed by trained
classroom instructors), thereby ensuring a continuation
and expansion of the training for the future.
Six Week Training Institute in the United States
- Interactive workshops providing intensive instruction
on current EFL instruction and teaching methodologies,
with an emphasis on applying these methods in the training
of other teachers;
- An ongoing interactive seminar series on innovative
and effective ways for classroom teachers to use the
textbooks their academies have adopted for the ninth
(or eighth grade) classes;
- Introduction to the “books-in-a-box” materials and
training in practical ways teachers might supplement
their textbook with the charts, games, posters, maps,
CDs, picture dictionaries, and other materials the boxes
contain;
- Hands-on training in the use of technology to teach
English;
- Workshops on American culture and American Studies
and on how to integrate this content in teaching English;
- Observations of and exchanging ideas with English
as a Second Language teachers at the public school and
university level;
- Interaction with representatives of various community
volunteer organizations (such as, youth and service-learning
organizations), including the Parent Teachers Association
(PTA), to discuss effective means for fund raising and
for increasing parent participation in supporting their
schools;
- Experiential professional development in conducting
effective teacher training, with Moroccan participants
having to design and deliver a one to two day conference
showcasing what they have learned while at the University
of Delaware; and
- A one-week escorted trip to Washington, DC to meet
representatives from the Department of State and other
government and private sector agencies, visit historic
and cultural sites, and tour model schools for teaching
English as a Second language and foreign languages.
Stage Three: Application of skills learned at the University
of Delaware and follow-on
- Continued communication among University of Delaware
faculty, Newark community hosts, and the Moroccan trainers
will be supported through an Institute website and listserv
which will link all participants and serve as a planning
platform for an in-country conference and a forum to
exchange experiences and observations while putting into
practice what they have learned in Delaware as they train
EFL classroom teachers.
- The project’s multiplier effect will be realized when
alumni of the Delaware institute organize and host a
three to six day conference to pass on their skills and
knowledge to other teacher trainers and qualifying inspectors
and to distribute multiple books-in-a-box packages to
each participant to use in his or her training and to
distribute to promising classroom teachers.
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