Overall we participated in 5 EFL (English as a
Foreign Language) classes over the week.
We had some really interesting and deep conversations about customs and
culture between or two countries such as marriage, the role of women, women in
the work place, equal rights, and unemployment.
I discovered that starting in 2003 a cultural
change is occurring regarding women. The
King and Parliament passed a new law reforming women’s rights and empowering
women. For a Muslim country this is very
progressive and forward thinking. I was
very impressed. For instance, women can’t
get married until they are 18. This does
away with girls being married off at a very young age. Also new was that men can only take a 2nd
wife with the permission of the 1st wife. We had a very open discussion about the
improvements towards women’s rights, but also about the challenges that still
exist. There is still too much violence
towards women that is tolerated; however, there are more and more women’s avocation
groups that have started up. Women are
less and less marginalized, which is awesome; however, the largest problem for
women is poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
Unemployment is a huge universal problem in Morocco overall.
Another major issue for women is being a single
mother or being divorced women with children.
They are still considered 2nd class citizens, although over
time the students felt this would change of the better. Mifdal guided the students to discuss
solutions to these issues. The students’
list included helping women find jobs, helping women stay in school or get
higher education, using the court system, and using the media to help change
opinion and perceptions.
From an educational point of view, I was so
impressed with how Mifdal used real life lessons to get the students to use
critical think and higher level skills in English. Furthermore how he brings global education
into his classroom every day.
A GREAT EXAMPLE OF MOROCCAN ACCEPTANCE AND GRACIOUSNESS.
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