12 A T TREVOR, WE ENGENDER IN OUR STUDENTS A DESIRE TO BECOME LIFELONG LEARNERS. IN KEEPING WITH THAT SPIRIT, I RECENTLY traveled to Morocco to participate in a course on comparative multicultural education. It is a coveted opportunity to spend any amount of time observ- ing and interacting with students and teachers in another country. It can reveal wonders about your teaching and the way you perceive yourself as a cultural being. However, in an inter-cultural forum of knowledge exchange, its interlocutors often find themselves gallivanting through a dance in which each member is cautious to not step on the other’s “culturally sensitive” toes. Schools are social institutions; public or private, they reflect the mores of the culture in which they are situated. As educators, we spend a majority of our lives in schools, acquiring and imparting social ideas. It is enlightening to witness teaching practices that are vastly different from those found throughout the American system. In observing many classrooms, some moments led me to wonder how I could emu- late particular teaching practices in my own Trevor classroom. During other times, I was quietly chagrined by disseminative techniques that seemed counterintuitive, but I remained mindful of my status as an observer and not a critic. Morocco Morocco International Learning in ≤ Morocco by Shawn Chisty, second grade teacher Morocco’s geography places it at the crossroads of cultural exchange and has contributed to its construction of a multi-layered, complex, and atypical identity. In its current day, it strives to strengthen its claim as an Afro-Islamic nation with distinctive Berber roots. Woven into this complex fabric are the remnants of French colonialism. Nationalistic identity seems to emanate through its people. Acquisition of knowledge and the craft of teaching seem to be highly valued, though the country still struggles with raising its literacy rates. Its reigning power, King Mohammad VI, labeled any individual know- ing only one language as illiterate, as social mobility and national advancement warrant the knowledge of both maternal and Western tongues. Dual language acquisition (Arabic and French) has become a key characteristic of Moroccan primary education. In my observations, children appeared to seamlessly transition between French and Arabic instruction on a daily basis and demonstrated impressive proficiency in both languages at an early age. While increased language immersion remains a goal of Trevor primary education, children at Trevor do not benefit from two languages ubiquitously spoken in and outside of school, unlike Moroccan children who likely encounter French and Arabic in daily life and in the media. Moroccan school curriculum, however, does face interesting challenges within this language mélange. While mathematics, science, and social studies are taught in Arabic at primary levels (with exceptions in some schools), children may be expected to study the same subjects in French later on in 13 H o w m any lang u a g es is to o m an y la n g u a g es ? Combien de lang ues rep rés e nt ent t rop de langues?
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