To watch the film, go to www.englishclub.com and follow the links!Script - Stories From MoroccoDrafted by Nucha, ThailandOver 2 billion people will soon be learning English around the worldSource: British CouncilThe Learning English Video ProjectA 7-part series exploring aspects of English learning around the world by….∙ visiting school and language institutes∙ asking learners about their experiences, goals, problems, achievements∙talking to teachers about their methods, problems, solutions∙hearing tips and advise from learners and teachersTHE LEARNING VIDEO PROJECT STORY FROMStory From MoroccoThe film by Daniel EmmersonIt’s a big city. It’sum… there is a lot of nationalities, a lot of people and it’s a great city to live in there is a lot of things, new things and Morocco isn’t this advanced . But Casablanca is one of the most advanced cities in Morocco.Question: Why are people in Morocco learning English?Now the Moroccan system says every child has to learn English from the age of 12 and even if you want to go to university in Morocco now, they require you to have an intermediate level of English actually.Now you see billboards out there advertisements out there, they’re all in English , you know , they’re trying all the teasers they come up in English for the campaigns so now , for two years I’ve seen the progress happing mostly when I came here it was not that much ,but now English is people are learning English , there are a lot of foreign companies like American companies or other companies, they’re opening up and their headquarters or branches here in Morocco so I think it’s coming along there’s a lot of influence English language influence coming in Morocco .Now, most of the little trades and everything, business, it’s in English. I think that why? Even my father told me so because his work is all English so he is working in America so he told me English is very important.I think. It’s importance, English it’s for me the most important language in the world.It’s everywhere because of the tourism too. Morocco is really booming here as far as the English language is concerned if you go out and find a guide they’re fluent in English you’re gonna find better store …er like if you go to a small souk like a Moroccan market and they speak better English than many of the people out on the streets because I think they converse with a lot of conversation with a lot of tourists they know they are a lot of English speaking tourists . So, yeah, English is coming along more every day, all over Morocco.Welcome to Casablanca!Question: How does an international school in Morocco teach English?JODI MULDER( school director) American :The unique part of our school is the children will graduate with 3 languages Arabic, French and English but we teach out classes in English except for the French class and the Arabic class so the children begin in our school probably not knowing any English and as they go through the grade levels with support, they learn English.FLONA GUERNAQUI( teacher) Sri Lankan British :When I first started in 2005 we didn’t have an ESL system a kid was just taken in possibly with no English whatsoever and totally immersed in their grad level so right now unfortunately we could have a beginner in a pre – intermediate class but we have slight solution in that we do offer through night-school the chance for that kid to come in and go through a beginner course book let’s say.SALMA ECHAHLY (student) Moroccan:It’s …sometimes it can be chaotic because many people don’t understand and it can take weeks for one person to understand and it can take one day for another person to understand so there needs to be a balance and so in this school teachers help the students after school all the teachers without exception help the students after school so they can advance because it’s really hard with a lot of levels.FLONA GUERNAQUI( teacher) Sri Lankan British :In addition to all those other classes we have the lunchtime class that’s a walk – in for grades 9 and 10 they can just walk in with their homework with their social studies essay their English essay or a piece of literature that they have to read and I’ll help them through that guide them through it let’s say .ANOUR AEZIANE ELOTMANI( student) Moroccan :Yeah, the school it small and I think it’s better when it’s small because when you have too much people. I think the quality is not so high because there are some people who make a lot of … how to say… things that don’t belong to the lessons.The school is very nice there are good…There are a lot of teachers they are very good they are teaching very good and yeah it’s very nice.Question: What different experience have students had in learning English?Well I learned English when I was in the U.S. At 8 I went to the United States I stayed there 2 years so that’s where I go my accent from and then I came back to Morocco and I spent 6 years since I’ve been studying English in Morocco at the American School .Obviously English is not my native language but I did all my schooling after I graduated high school from Morocco I went back to the U.S. where I studied for about 8 years. I have two bachelors: one in econ.and one in finance then I worked for a little bit then I did my MBA in finance as well in the US. So my exposure to English before going to the U.S. was very limited .I took English probably for 3 years in high school before I went to the U.S. and continued my education in English.I’ve been learning English since 2004 ,so , with , in Germany but I feel that learning English in Germany is not leaning English like in an American School because when you are learning English in school , in Germany after school you’re sick of it so you don’t you learn, you make homeworks and so but you don’t practise your English .Generally the families don’t speak English if they do it’s very limited there aren’t any English books available a few ,but very difficult to get hold of it’s very difficult to get hold of a newspaper in English or a magazine in English erm.. if you do..on the rare occasion that you do find one the price is extortionate .I had ESL in U.S. and I learned by sign language I only learned by sign language so it was easier for me because my entourage talked in English but here in Morocco, I don’t think it’s that easy because your entourage talks Arabic and French and ..Well because my father speaks English very good so when he was with me I was trying to have conversation with him like two or three hours speaking with him. When I was doing mistakes he was correcting me.The good part about living in Morocco is that you know, the culture in itself is very err.. mixed in, you know Moroccan in itself as dialect is a combo or mix of Arabic, French and a little bit of Spanish as well so, people tell us you speak 3 or 4 languages or 5 or 6 and they’re like, wow you’re a genius .we’re of … it’s just the way we were brought up the culture or the dialect Moroccan dialect in itself err..it’s a mix of French, Arabic and English and Spanish kind of puts us in that , you know , mindest or gives us the exposure to speak, to speak different or to have the capacity of capabilities of learning other languages .English is not that heard in grammar and writing, it’s like French and you can find a lot of words in English that are exactly like French so French helped me a lot if I hadn’t know French I would have taken a lot more time .One of the challenges that I faced personally going to the U.S. is that academically here in Morocco in high school we learned the British English if I can differentiate between the British and the American the accents are totally different so the challenge I faced going to the U.S. is that , having to ..What’s the word. having to take whatever I’ve learned you know , the British way and kind of alter it especially accent – wise and in some instances in some expressions to the American… you know , American English if I can call it that but that was pretty challenging .Question: What tips and advice can learners offer?First of all , my parents say that it’s easy for me to learn I learn quickly and then when I begin to learn English I bought many books , CDs, dictionaries yeah and every time I was reading .. writing.. I was reading , writing , yeah because when I read and I see there is a word I don’t understand I check in dictionary and that helps me I love the English literature yeah, because I love reading and writing and when I I bought books English books and I love them like Harry Potter, yeah I love Harry Potter .It’s just how I heard things I saw movies.. movies … ummm personal teacher, ESL and after school and I worked a lot to get to my accent and to get to my level because I learned English in 6 months perfect English I don’t know if I can call it method… I have a particular method I don’t remember but , it’s like , I can say it’s magic .So the good piece of advice is that , you know everything is feasible , everything is possible as long as you put your mind into it and your effort and there is no… you know , there are no… limits or no … no obstacles if there is the willingness to learn .
Comments