In partnership with the Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE), the British Council sponsored an English language camp for 141 teenagers from the most disadvantaged communities in Casablanca during the summer.
The camp, which ran from 13-24 July, consisted of a total of 30 hours of English language instruction supplemented by a series of games and competitions designed to give the students the opportunity to extend their English language skills.
The course was delivered by six recent graduates from the Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) teacher training college who took the opportunity to put into practice what they had learnt during a programme of British Council teacher training they attended earlier in the year. Apart from reaching out to youths studying in educationally challenging contexts, the initiative also provided the teachers with some valuable teaching practice before the start of the academic year in September.
The community-based aspect of the course also appealed to the teachers. According to one, ‘It was an enriching experience which has added a lot to me as both a teacher and a person’.
In addition to trying out some of the practical classroom techniques they had acquired during these British Council training workshops, the teachers integrated material from the Learn English Premier Skills English global product into their lessons.
Many of the students were particularly enthused by these materials, with one teenager even reportedly changing his allegiance from Real Madrid to Portsmouth as a result of the course!
The British Council in Morocco plans to continue and deepen its partnership with ENS and aims to engage with every new English language teacher entering the state school system during 2009-2010.
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