A Free Course in Fez - Advanced English for Moroccan Teachers

If you are a Moroccan teacher of English in a junior high or high school, here is a  free course to help you with your language skills, while providing engaging lessons on American Culture.

Run at the American Language Center in Fez on Wednesday nights, the new Advanced American Cultural Studies Course will delve into literature, film, art, music and architecture and give teachers a chance to practice and extend their English skills.

Teacher Jamal Morelli says that he intends to use pop culture as a way into "the American cultural landscape. I want to use this class as a way to offer an attractive surface to explore deep issues in American psychology."

Morelli is well qualified, being a teacher of English at the ALC, documentary film making at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, and a former professional musician. "I am going to start with with best-selling literature to look at the impact of America and the way we experience art."

In the area of cinema, the course will include viewing and discussing films such as Twelve Angry Men. "We will discuss citizen participation, how societal prejudice affects the rule of law and the basics of what juries do," he says.

Director of the American Language Center, David Amster, says that the course is based on one he taught in Egypt about 15 times. "The reality for Moroccan English teachers is that while studying at University, their English is at a high level. Then when teaching students, they don't have the ability to converse with native speakers, so their skills decline. The idea is to offer a special class to help English teachers practice at a high level with a native speaker on a regular basis."

As well as covering popular and some classic aspects of American Culture in the fields of  music, cinema, literature, art and architecture, the two hour course will be different each time, so students can repeat it.

Amster says that the American Language Center is holding this course "as part of an effort to support the public school system. When we give out scholarships, they benefit just a few students. It has more of a flow on effect if you improve the English of teachers."

Who: Teachers of English at Junior High School and High School
When: Spring Term, March 28th to May 30th, Wednesday from 6:40 - 8:50 PM
Where: American Language Center, Fez
Cost: FREE (with a 600 DH deposit to be refunded upon completion of the course)
Contact: Tel - 0535.62.48.50 or Email- jamalmorelli@me.com

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