Pre-Departure Orientation

Mohammed Dahbi, Supervisor -- Meknes, Morocco
RABAT, 17 May 2005

I’d like first to thank all the people and organizations that have contributed to the success of this program, namely MACECE, The State Department, The Ministry of Education, the University of Delaware, and the families that hosted us for two weeks in Delaware in the summer of 2004.

In the Partnership for Learning Conference we held here in Rabat about two months ago, Dr. Verity and Brigitte Miller stressed in their presentations the importance of collaborative work in language teaching. Brigitte, in her workshop, which she had prepared conjointly with Khadija Kairit from Marrakech, quoted Brown, 1994 who said, I quote: “ Teaching is a political act. You have a set of beliefs about how the people of this world should behave toward one another. You have convictions about the quality of life, the shape of liberty, and the pursuit of happiness… You are an agent for change in a world in desperate need of change, change from competition to cooperation, from powerlessness to empowerment, from conflict to resolution, from prejudice to understanding.”

God knows how much we are in need, these days, of these values stated by Brown.

I can’t find a better word than “COLLABORATION” to describe the learning outcome of my experience in the USA last summer. But to “collaboration” I would like to add “respect for the individual and the community”. These are probably the major values that govern people’s behavior in the States and also the values that have made the United States what they are now.

When I left for the States I was carrying with me a heavy load of thoughts and issues related to education and other fields in both Morocco and the USA.

I know that I come from a country where education faces many disturbing circumstances originating inside itself because a large number of people still believe that teaching involves keeping order in the classroom, pouring forth facts, usually through lectures or textbooks,giving examinations, and setting grades.

Education in Morocco also faces other disturbing circumstances originating this time outside itself. Education is, perhaps, engaged in a struggle against declared and sometimes hidden orientations that deny to our students the right to be themselves and share with their peers in other parts of the world at least some of the universal values.

Yeats, the great poet and playwright, once said that “ Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Only when I participated in this program did I know what he exactly meant in practice. The classroom in Delaware is a place where you should:

• keep an open mind when discussing a point;
• practice good manners in discussion;
• talk only when you have a contribution to make;
• argue against ideas rather than against people;
• avoid an all-knowing attitude;
• avoid interpreting difference of opinion as a personal attack;
• wait for evidence before you reject the broad statements of others.

These classroom practices wouldn’t work if there were no collaboration nor any respect for the individual. In the classroom and out within the community, you spend considerable time discussing subjects of common interests and problems of common concern. People live in a democracy where discussion and debate influence decision and choices. Therefore, it is important that the classroom should be the place where students learn how to discuss issues and problems intelligently and be able to organize and present an argument convincingly.

At the ELI (the English Language Institute in Delaware) I observed a number of lessons given to students coming from different parts of the world. There were Asians, South Americans, Europeans, and Africans. These classrooms were a sort of microcosm of the community outside. The students were different from one another in many ways. They differed in their color, politics, and religion, to name just a few. All of them, however, had one thing in common : to contribute to the general well-being of all the participants.

Learning English is achieved through collaborative talk in the classroom. Collaborative discussions about reading texts or videotaped scenes taken from American everyday life, inspire the students to explore the world beyond the classroom and ultimately develop competence as global citizens capable of interacting with the world.

In short, one would wonder which is an extension to which. Is the classroom an extension to the community at large or is the community an extension to the classroom? It’s difficult to tell. Schooling is the concern of the whole community, not the concern of just politicians and professionals. Parents play an enormous role in the academic achievement of their children and the effectiveness of schools. Moreover, education is often regarded as the key to opportunity, including financial security. Americans take a pragmatic approach to learning, so what one learns outside the classroom through internships, extracurricular activities and the like is often considered as important as what is learned in the classroom. Consequently, lifelong learning is valued which results in many adult and continuing education programs.

I said above that parents play an enormous role in the education of their children. This brings me to reflect on the two weeks I spent with an American family in Delaware. This homestay was an experience of great value. Two weeks with the Hales (Karen and Mike and their four children) were enough to have an idea about the ordinary average American family, having in mind, of course, the American standard of living. The Hales have nothing of the Hollywoodian image some people would like to sell us. They’re just like you and me. Their everyday concern is the welfare and education of their children. Collaboration and respect for the individual are again the mottoes that govern the relationship between all the family members. According to the Hales, parents fulfill their responsibilities to the children while the children are young, and when the children reach “the age of independence” the close child-parent tie is loosened, if not broken. Something that drew my attention regarding the education of the Hales’ children is the fact that three of their children didn’t go to the State’s schools. They were rather homeschooled. For one reason or another, some parents prefer to homeschool their children. And now within the community you find associations that collaborate with parents that homeschool their children to achieve their objectives. You can imagine how much effort and energy parents should invest in this project.

During my homestay I noticed that the Hales were strong believers in Christianity, but this was not, at any moment, an obstacle to a number of long discussions, often over dinner, and sometimes in the presence of guests, discussions that touched on very profound questions related to both Islam and Christianity. We often came to the conclusion that the two religions should highlight the things they have in common and leave aside their differences. And since only God could say who is right and who is wrong, let’s wait till the Doomsday or Judgment Day and listen to the judgment of the almighty God.

I also tried to show the Hales that Islam is not only a religion, but also a whole culture and people should put an end to the prejudices that link the Islamic terms Islam, Islamic, and Muslim to terrorism and violence.

There is no need to dwell on the contribution of the considerably large Muslim American community in modern America. I wish you could meet Dr. Khan, a child psychotherapist from Pakistan. He’s been living in the States for more than thirty years and he’s embraced most of the positive values without forgetting his own.

We can’t talk about the classroom and the community at large without highlighting the synergetic relationship between “ work “ and the classroom. Since their early age, children are exposed to the world around them. It is impossible to lead a normal and active life in the USA without coming in contact with business. At school, I was told, children learn how to become better shoppers or consumers. They learn where to get basic buying information about different kinds of goods and services. They also learn how governments work to protect the right of consumers. They learn about the organization and functions of business which helps them choose the type of company they might want to work at and the type of job they might want to do. If you look at what the Hales do during the day, it becomes clear that the average American adults’ jobs take more of their time than any other activity. Thus, choosing the right work is a serious matter that has important significance.

There are other features of life that caught my attention in Delaware such as “Time” and “Informality”. The ideal person is punctual and considerate of other people’s time. Americans tend to be quite informal in their general behavior and in their relationships with other people. You might be struck by the informality of American speech, dress, and posture. Idiomatic speech is heavily used on most occasions, with formal speech reserved for public events and fairly formal situations.

To conclude this talk, I think that the most effective means of promoting respect for diversity is by

• eliminating ignorance and poverty;
• and by establishing contacts in cultural exchanges programs such as this one. This has proven to be successful in channeling understanding, insight and eventually tolerance into the classrooms. Many of our teachers at the Junior High School level are using a number of books from Books-in-the Box which promote foreign cultures. We would like to see the same thing happening in other countries.

Thank you for your patience.