A Sense of Purpose

            After months of little to no work and false starts these last two weeks have been amazing for my sanity.  My classes are really starting to get off the ground; even the middle school aged kids are starting to learn something.  Admittedly, I kicked all the bad ones out and got an almost completely new set, but hey, these ones want to come.  Actually, the great experiment is coming soon, I kicked all the bad ones out of class last week, but told them they’d be allowed back if and only if they behaved in other clubs and activities at the Dar Chabab, and all but one have my approval to return, so we’ll see if seeing that my threats to not teach them have some worth will fix the behavior issues.  My younger kids are adorable, and really eager to learn.  I think they actually helped shame the middle schoolers, after just two lessons the young ones had better English than their older siblings had after a month, based solely on the fact that they would listen and then get to play some learning games. 

My classes for older students are also going well, and I’m even starting to have some adult learners sit in on classes at the appropriate level.  My advanced students now understand the differences between Capitalism and Communism and I look forward to starting them on some history lessons soon (I’ve got students who requested I teach a conversation based course on history in English for their studies, it’s like a match made in Heaven).  My girls at the artisanal cooperative are working hard, and I think I’ll soon be able to take an occasional break writing lesson plans for them since a couple of the simpler intermediate lessons will do.  My intermediate students had a bit of a hard time with the essay I described a couple of posts ago, so I’m going to start working with them on fluency in writing.  I found an interesting suggestion in one of my teaching books that said that foreign language students often have an easier time speaking clearly than writing clearly because writing gives them too much time to think and make a direct translation where a loose translation doesn’t include the extra expressions of their native language.  The book recommended I try to have them dictate a short piece and have them write their own paragraph as they’re saying it.  It might end up being a train wreck, but one train wreck class is worth the experiment!

My clubs are also finally starting.  The chess club is a little looser than I wanted, so far no one has shown up when we decided to schedule it, but I still am able to give quick lessons and pieces of advice while playing with kids and watching them play at other times, and I’ve seen a marked improvement in one or two of them already.  The writing club met for the first time last week.  In theory I’ll be working with almost all the local English teachers from the high school and my tutor to teach this class, though at the first session both English teachers got sick and couldn’t make it.  While we’re advertising it as primarily a club for learning how to write creatively in English we’re also making it very clear that we will teach the basics of writing in any language, and we actually conduct classes in both English and Arabic and allow students to turn in writing in English, Arabic, or French (and theoretically Tamazight, but no one took advantage of that), so that all levels of English speakers can sit in on the classes, including absolute beginners.  The ones who choose to write in English will participate in an essay-writing contest for students of Peace Corps Volunteers across country and (if they win at the national level) around the world in February.  Then after that we’ll work on starting a literary magazine.  My next club will be a drawing club that should meet right after the writing club.  Since I know nothing about how to draw I’m just going to assist a couple of older students who requested it run it.

This facilitating role is actually an important part of the Peace Corps mission.  Obviously I teach my own English classes, and it makes sense that I’m the point person leading the writing club (for now, I hope to hand it off to the teachers and (eventually) to student leadership), but for things like the art club and other activities which I don’t specialize in letting Moroccans lead and do the work is very important.  It’s even more important when it comes to one off events.  My mudir wants us to host a SIDA (AIDS) awareness day.  His first idea was for me to lead it, but although I have Peace Corps materials in Arabic there is no way that my Arabic is good enough, nor is my knowledge about AIDS full enough, that I could answer questions beyond the basics should they come up.  I went to the local health center and asked if a doctor there would lead it, but they said that they don’t specialize in SIDA awareness and that I should talk with an organization in Khenifra.  When I told my mudir the local health center wouldn’t do it he cut me off and said it was alright, we’d just find a local girl with good English who I could teach the material to and then she would teach it.  He immediately left his office to go find one.  I was able to explain about the organization in Khenifra before things got out of hand and he said that would work too.  I met with them (the trip to Khenifra which ended my last post) and scheduled an event for early January since between my new clubs and their full docket the only other time was the day before New Years Eve, which neither they nor I wanted to do.  They themselves said no to Christmas since “it’s your holiday, why would you want to talk about SIDA on your holiday?”  My mudir was o.k. with this, though he doesn’t see the purpose in scheduling something so far ahead of time.  Don’t run away with the wrong idea; he’s a good guy and a hard worker, but like many Moroccans his sense of how to schedule and plan things well is a little underdeveloped.

Case in point, this last weekend we (he) organized an event for elementary school aged kids to draw in the Dar Chabab.  Since I was running around getting the SIDA event organized, getting the writing club stuff in order, planning classes, and starting to get work done for other future clubs and projects (with some luck the local music teacher and I will be getting some instruments for the school and Dar Chabab sometime in the new year), and since he has run these events before I was a little more hands off than I should have been in the planning phase.  We decided that younger kids would color in photocopies from a coloring book while the older ones would do more free form drawing, and I didn’t put up a fight when he said it would be better as a competition so we decided on prizes for the two age groups.  He found a couple older volunteers from my high school beginner English class to help supervise and we were ready to go. 

Come Sunday I arrived to find all the students in a huddled mass outside the Dar Chabab.  Two broke into a fight.  Since I’ve had to talk with one of them about fighting a lot I told him he wasn’t allowed in for the event.  The doors opened and as he started to enter I told him he’d be banned from all activities for the next week if he didn’t listen to me now.  He went in anyways.  Once I’d caught up with him inside I told him again he’d have to leave, and the mudir saw and asked what was up.  After explaining I quickly blocked my mudir from hitting the kid and said that I thought banning him for the week would be a better punishment, which he agreed to.  Yep, my mission to change the way people discipline children here has gotten to the point where I’m actively blocking them (at least when it’s not their own kids), and the amazing thing is, it’s working.  I could tell the kid appreciated it too, so maybe after a week to reflect I won’t have more fighting problems with him.

After that we organized the ninety or so kids who showed up.  My mudir led them in a rousing screech of the Moroccan national anthem and the younger ones got to coloring while he continued to lead the rest in a much more sonically pleasant sing along.  When the younger ones were done the older students voted on who’d done the best jobs (names were on the back of the sheets, so they couldn’t vote for their favorites) and we awarded the prized, though in a bit of confusion they’d somehow gotten switched so that the winner of the young kids got a ream of nice drawing paper meant for the winner of the older kids (she eventually got one too, but I didn’t really want to give nice paper to a younger kid who’d only colored in the lines, it’s quite expensive and they won’t appreciate it as much).  Then the older students got coloring.  Meanwhile a couple of artists from Khenifra had dropped by and were painting a mural on the side of the room.  I pointed out to my mudir that they were painting right where his wife normally hangs the black board for her Arabic literacy classes.  He laughed along with me and explained that they’d insisted that there was the best spot over his objections.  It’s a pity, cause it actually is quite nice.  After the kids were done these artists picked the winners for the older kids.

Younger kids drew in the lines

Some older kids were very topical

Now picture it with a blackboard on top of it

Older kids works

In short, it was a fine event with only a few hitches, and I’m actually glad I could see how the Moroccans run it this first time so that next time I’ll have some suggestions that they’ll hopefully find helpful.  I think the most important thing will be to stagger the groups’ arrival times, because ninety is too many screaming kids for even the biggest room in the Dar Chabab.  It would also have prevented the bullying fight outside since the older kid and younger kid just wouldn’t have been there at the same time.  Secondly, we should have the older volunteer helpers meet beforehand, so that I can give them a little training about how to talk and work with kids (not trying to shout them down when they misbehave, and no insulting a kid’s drawing).  Lastly, I think I’ll also try to push to make it a celebration of creativity rather than a competition; the kids will enjoy it either way and it’ll stop a whole lot of headaches (well, ok, maybe just mine) and heartbreaks (the kids).

After these last rather active weeks I took this Monday to relax (translation: write lesson plans, correct essays, and schedule meetings for later in the week, but hey, that’s easier than teaching lessons and running meetings).  While I was sitting in my third favorite café (third favorite because a pot of tea is an extra dirham, but it’s in the sun during the morning) a couple of Europeans walked back.  What’s more, I could hear their thick British accents so I called out hello to them.  Surprised that some random, heavily bearded man in a djellaba was calling them they stuttered out a bon jour and apologized that they didn’t speak French.  I said that was alright since I’m an American and they looked closer, laughing at their mistake.  They’re an older couple on a backpacking vacation and they’d just stopped in my town to grab a coffee as they went up the road to Azrou, so we sat around and chatted for an hour or so.  They said they’ve been to a lot of different third world countries on packbacking trips, and they’ve grown a little cynical about aid work after seeing a great many aid workers who stay in sites only for a few weeks or months, live in relative luxury, and never really form attachments to the community, but I’m the first PCV they’ve ever met and my level of integration really impressed them.  It was pretty much a text book perfect Peace Corps ad, two or three of my students saw us and stopped by to say hello, my host uncle went by, people were constantly waving at me, I was able to throw out some rapid Arabic and teach them a little about the country.  Not exactly Peace Corps goal three (teaching Americans about life in Morocco), but Peace Corps work nonetheless I think.

After they went off I finished writing my lesson plans and then went home to make lunch, but the neighbor across the way intercepted me and had me eat lunch at his place instead.  There have been a series of scheduling conflicts, so this is actually the first time I’ve been in their house.  I learned that his wife remembers a little English from high school, but wants to get better (hopefully she’ll be joining my beginners class and both their young kids will start coming to my other classes).  I also saw a rarity in Moroccan houses, a nice, small, personal library.  They have a series of books on the history of technology and the science behind natural phenomenon (opening one page I taught him how to pronounce Charles (in Charles Darwin); there is no sign for “Ch” in Arabic and the book used the sign for “Sh,” so he’s gone his whole life thinking it is “Sharles” Darwin), and another series of Quranic commentaries.  They also have a whole slew of French novels and encyclopedias.  It’s all the more impressive since they both dropped out of high school, but they are committed to both their son’s and their daughter’s education.  They are a sweet family and I’m glad I finally got a chance to sit down and talk with them.

So there you have it, the last few weeks of work to prove that I don’t just spend all my time sitting around contemplating the Quran and Islam.  Just one week more and some of my friends will be stopping by for Christmas and then New Year’s in the desert, so expect dramatic photos in a post or two.  Since I haven’t left you with a Joha story in awhile:

Joha was in the town square one day, and a group of people asked him if he knew how to play the guitar.  Joha didn’t know how, but he replied, “Yes, I do. I am a masterful guitar player—in fact, I am one of the best in the world!“

The people, expecting him to make such a boast, immediately produced a guitar and asked him to play it.  Joha took the guitar and started playing on just one string, and continued to play on just that string.  After a minute of this, someone finally interrupted him and asked, “Joha! Guitar players move their fingers and play a variety of strings. Why are you only playing one of them?”

“Well,” Joha replied, “those players keep on changing strings because they are searching for a specific one.  I found it on my first try—so why should I switch to another one?”