Good Question

My favorite activity related to my project is spending time in the schools here in Morocco. With the help of Mr. Hussein Zelji and Mr. Ahmed Taie, I've gotten a chance to observe and participate in classes at all grade levels, in schools both public and private. Both Hussein and Ahmed are Inspecteurs, administrators who helps develop and evaluate teachers. This is a different system than the U.S., where a building principal is also typically the academic leader. Instead, the principal runs things on the ground, but the inspecteurs are the ones who stop in--typically unannounced--to observe classes.

When your school schedule looks like this, it make sense to have one administrator work on the schedule and another to evaluate the teachers.

Hussein, with whom I do most of my observations, supervises more than 250 teachers, in schools throughout Tangier and as far away as Chefchaouen. It's a huge job, and I'm constantly amazed at his equanimity, his sense of humor, and his willingness to take some random teacher from Idaho with him on his observations. Typically, I'll be working away at the American Legation, researching my project, and Hussein will call me to tell me that he's going to look at a school. While I know that I need to get my research done, these calls are impossible to resist, because--as all teachers know--it's more fun to be in school than in the library!

Hussein's visits can be stressful for the teachers, though I've known him only to be fair and direct with them. For my part, I've learned a tremendous amount from these observations, both from the terrific teachers and from Hussein's educational leadership. That, however, is a post for another time, because I want to discuss what usually happens at the end of my observations with Hussein, who often asks the teacher to leave fifteen minutes for students to ask me questions.

As an English teacher, I'm often more interested in pursuing questions that don't have one right answer in my own classes. However, for you, the loyal reader, I am going to provide the most common questions that Moroccan students ask me, along with the best answer--standardized test style--that I've discovered through a process of trial and error.

Question: "Are you a Muslim?"

This is always the first question that Moroccan students ask me. What I didn't realize at first is that they mean it in a completely neutral, non-judgmental way.  Here, because everyone is muslim, religion isn't considered nearly as personal (for lack of a better word) as it is in the United States. Not realizing this, at first I tried to soften my answer, by saying things like, "Not yet," which, while technically true, just leads to further questions about the process of becoming a muslim and my interest in doing so. So, for this question, for non-muslims, the correct answer should be decisive. Also, I've learned not to be awkward about it--they're just asking!

Best Answer: "No."

Just try telling this scary bunch that you're not a muslim.

Question: "What football club do you support?"

This is another common question that I basically didn't understand well at first. For a while, I told students that the team that I support is the Ghana Black Stars. This is another answer that is technically true, but completely misunderstands the question. It took some time in the cafes, and talking to students, to understand that this question is only about Spain's La Liga, and, more specifically, there are only two possible answers: Real Madrid or FC Barcelona. In the grand tradition of wannabe fans, I picked one at random, and NOTHING WILL EVER MAKE ME CHANGE MY MIND.

Best Answer: "FC Barcelona."

The Barca fans wanted to take a photo with me.

Question: "How do you find Morocco?"

Students almost always ask me about the experience of being in Morocco, and it's one of my favorite questions to answer, because--as readers of the blog will have surmised--I love Morocco! Students seem generally to agree with this point of view, as do most Moroccans, actually. I've found that Moroccans seem to be quite patriotic, and think that Morocco is a great place, or at least a good place that's getting better. Some of the students have a more pessimistic outlook on Morocco, which is the result of being a teenager. Either way, the best answer here is the truth.

Best Answer: "Morocco is awesome!"

Schools share common DNA wherever you go.

From here, questions seem to vary widely, depending on the age of students and what they've been studying in class. Once, Hussein asked me to share some thoughts about R. Kelly, whose song, "The World's Greatest," they had been listening to in order to practice their English. Delivering an impromptu lecture on R. Kelly in front of a audience of Moroccans teens is like something from a nightmare. Should I try to explain "Trapped in the Closet," R. Kelly's rap opera? Sing "Remix to Ignition" and reminisce about senior year of college? Fortunately, I was saved by the bell.

On another occasion, I had created some minor level of pandemonium with my assertion that Barca is OBVIOUSLY the best football club, and the room was full of background noise as students each argued their side of the football club rivalry. However, in the front row of the class, Said, a reserved, very sharp young man who had given me a tour of the school earlier, had a question for me, though I couldn't hear him well over the noise. I leaned forward.

Question: "Do you respect the blacks?"

I'm always interested to know what Moroccans think about, or hear about, the United States (recently, I wondered about this and Donald Trump in a guest opinion for the Seattle Times.) I asked Said what he was referring to, and he sort of mumbled, "Well, the police..." and trailed off, out of words. I can sympathize. It's pretty hard, given the past years that we're having in the US, to find the vocabulary for Ferguson, Freddie Gray, or Tamir Rice, even for native speakers. I told him that it was a problem, one that has existed for a long time, and continues to divide Americans about how best to solve it. I tried to explain Black Lives Matter. Said went on, "But then, the president, he is black!" He shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, it doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, there are some questions that just don't have easy answers.