My week in Marrakech: learning Arabic in Morocco

Marrakech – the first city that comes to everyone’s mind when you think of Morocco. The red city as it’s also known, the noise, the busy and narrow streets, the souks where you cannot walk without being noticed, the lovely, chatty people, the smells of cinnamon, cumin and mint tea…

I had the chance to spend a whole week here, not only as a tourist, but as a student of Arabic. I have been learning Arabic for a little over a year now. I first started studying in England, through Arabic evening courses, once a week. These courses taught me the basics, to be able to understand basic conversations and to read and write Arabic.

I then decided to go to an Arabic-speaking country to improve my language skills and put them into practice with local people. To my surprise, people could understand me, better than I had anticipated, and I was able to have daily interactions with the locals.

I choose Morocco because I fell in love with the country and its people from the first time I visited. It’s in their nature to make you feel welcome and to make you want to stay there FOREVER.

The week in Marrakech and the Marrakech school exceeded my expectations completely. The staff was so nice and welcoming that I wish I could have stayed longer. The school is in a very nice area in the new part of the city – very easy to reach from the accommodation options they offer. I chose to stay in an apartment, but with hindsight I think the option of staying with a host family would have made my experience even better. Maybe next time – as there will definitely be a next time!

My teacher was always very well prepared for the lessons and the method he used was a very communicative. I have never before spoken so much during classes. His English was really good, but we mainly spoke in Arabic. The classrooms are equipped with screens and other interactive materials, used to introduce the topics. This made the lessons fun and effective. I much preferred it to following a book.

The 2 hours of lessons a day went so fast through learning new vocabulary, putting it into practice, playing games to practice, and creating my own texts with my own experiences. We also worked with short videos that were used as prompts for us to speak and use the language we were learning. The lessons were complemented with other activities such as Henna seminars and cooking classes, which are an amazing way of getting to know the culture during the course.

The progress made by going to the country where the language is spoken cannot be measured. It’s something absolutely necessary if you really want to make quick progress and it’s not only about the language, but also about immersing yourself in the culture and customs.

As a female travelling on my own in Morocco, I felt completely safe. It is true that men approach you and try to speak to you, as they can tell you are not local. It can happen quite a lot, to the point that it can get annoying. This happens especially in the tourist hot spots such as Marrakech, Fez, and Tangier. If you travel to cities like Rabat or go to the dessert, it is not so bad.

There is no reason to be scared though, this sort of behaviour is very common in the Mediterranean. In Morocco you have to add the fact that local women will not talk to men they don’t know on the streets, so they target foreign women.

If you are in the souks, most of the men just want you to buy their tea pots, spices, souvenirs, etc. To avoid being bothered, you just keep on walking and don’t respond, same as Moroccan women do.

On the other hand, the souks are a good place to practice Arabic, and when people see you speak the local language, you always get better prices! People are generally very nice and welcoming, and as long as you treat them with respect, you should have no problems at all. Just be aware and, as in any other place in the world, it’s always best to go exploring accompanied by other people, especially at night.

Follow in Lety’s footsteps and learn Arabic in Marrakech

Highlights from the IATEFL 2012 Conference

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During the week of 19-23 March, at least 2300 delegates descended upon the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) to take part in the 2012 IATEFL Conference. Of these 2300, 29 people were lucky enough to receive scholarships that enabled them to take part. I was one of these lucky 29, the winner of Cactus’ “Cactus to Conference” scholarship 2012. As well as my conference entry fee, Cactus very kindly provided £400 towards expenses and membership to IATEFL for one year. This enabled me to also participate in a Pre-Conference Event (PCE). I chose the Teacher Development Special Interest Group’s (TD sig) workshop on Drama and Improvisation. It was a fantastic start to an equally fantastic week.

What a plethora of presentations, what a wealth of workshops followed the Pre-Conference Day! Luckily, I have a smartphone and was able to use the brand new conference app to help me plan my time in such a way as to make the most of everything available. For me, one of the highlights of the week was watching talks given by some of the leading lights of EFL. A plenary by Adrian Underhill on “Mess and Progress”, Jim Scrivener on the need for demand-high teaching, Luke Meddings and Lindsay Clandfield on subversive teaching, Michael Swan on “Grammar doesn’t have to be Grey”, Jeremy Harmer who gave us six pertinent questions to consider. Particularly exciting was an informal follow-up discussion on the talk about demand-high teaching with Jim Scrivener and Adrian Underhill, which took place in a bar in the Crowne Plaza on Thursday 22nd.

Another highlight, the flip side of the coin to the first, was seeing first-time speakers give talks at the conference. For example, Sandy Millin, winner of the John Haycroft Classroom Exploration Scholarship, delivered her very first conference presentation on getting students to use online resources to help them study English. This was not limited to scholarship winners, of course. I also saw a particularly interesting presentation done by a second year teacher who had undertaken a Dogme project at his school in Spain. Seeing people present for the first time made it seem possible that perhaps at the next IATEFL conference I myself could present for my first time. Everybody must start somewhere and this is the great value of the Cactus to Conference scholarship: it allows an inexperienced EFL practitioner to attend this conference and enjoy all the benefits of it, which sows the seeds for future professional development, which may not have been possible without this inspiration.

One multi-sensory memory that will stay with me as I pursue my career in teaching EFL is that feeling of being right at the forefront of ideas, amongst the buzz that can only be generated by a group of people – in this case from all over the world – with a shared passion. Thank you, Cactus, for making this experience possible for me!

 

Find out how you could attend the 2013 IATEFL Conference courtesy of the Cactus to Conference Scholarship…

Previous winners:

2011: Camilla Heath

2010: Fiona James

Picture: Jenny Johnson, Academic Director at Cactus, and Elizabeth Pinard, Cactus to Conference Winner 2012.

Everyone is a winner!* The Olympics Cactus style

All our London language courses will take a 2-week Olympics break from Fri 27th July – Fri 10th August.

As we all know, it can be a nightmare getting around London at the best of times and according to recent Transport for London adverts, this is set to only get worse during the Olympics, affecting both public transport and roads.

We’re therefore taking a 2-week Olympics break – so whether you’re staying to watch, heading for the hills, or have been lucky enough to secure some tickets – you won’t lose out, have to miss any lessons or get hot under the collar trying to fight your way through the crowds to get to us.

All London courses will ‘resume normal service’ from Sat 11th August and will run for an extra two weeks to make up for the break. So you get the full course you paid for, without having to compete for a seat on an overcrowded bus or train or miss your favourite event. 

Book your language course in July with confidence, knowing that we’ve got you covered!

*Applies only to Cactus students, no guarantees can be made for Team GB. We would however like to wish all athletes the best of luck!