Saturday Music Concert

last Saturday, April, 5th, 2008, I was invited to a musical concert in Akron university.

I was invited together with two other fellows.

The concert was ........

We had the opportunity to take some pictures before the concert start. Also, we explored the place which is giant. It provides places where to practice and have much entertainment. The concert was done by the students in the university.

Having fun

Being in the states engaged in learning by making a lot of sacrifice: leaving the beloved ones behind, friends, our students, environment... It is hard to keep the spirit of learning and the need for exploring what is related to culture and education. We are lucky to know not only about the States, but to know about other eight countries.

Time of entertainment was badly needed. This event was when we celebrate our colleagues birthdays: from Malaysia and Bangladesh. After the celebration, we had a lot of fun; telling stories, jokes, puzzle, playing games and competing with each other.

This was hide and seek game

Read Across America

It was on March 30th , 2008, I was among the teachers who offered to help in this educational meeting. It was devoted to Kindergarten to 4th grade children. It was a workshop to help children to pursue meaningful learning. It involves many activities, including reading short stories, drawing, painting, music, making puppets, playing games. This event was so interesting as i learnt how important it is to integrate all learning strategies to cater for the needs of the learners.


They were many hands on activities and psycho motor skills to make the kids move and play and manipulate all the materials they were provided with.

What's more, all the participants were offered a certificate of participation, which is really valuable and significant for any cultural activity which necessitate the needs of other people offering to help.

These students are acting the roles of clowns to welcome the children and have fun with them during all the activities.
They are celebrating the birthday of .................. , therefore they have cake by the end of the celebration.

This was taken before the beginning of the event.

Spring Break

Standing and waiting for the parade to start in Cleveland

part of the parade: A lot of people marching. music bands, the majority of people were wearing green garments.

Vising the library of the first laddies. It is the first library set in the states about the tasks, history of women who were mostly wives of the previous United States' presidents. It is worth visiting.

These photos are with two ex-teachers working in the library

These photos were one day before the spring break, we went for a shopping journey learning about other nations' food and ways of shopping.





Shopping center in Cleveland.

Indian food and spices store.

The van that we took during the trip.

We cook something, but it turns to be something else

Arriving to the States , spending over than twelve days in Philadelphia and exploring the sort of food that the restaurants and groceries offer, I have decided to cook for myself and do something resembling Moroccan meals.

I have succeeded to find the necessary ingredients and utensils to be used for the cooking. However, we cook lentils, but they turned to be soup. several times, I added a lot of salt or another kind of species, sometimes, it would be too much sugar. Sometimes, everything would be burnt or I would discover that there is something that I must not eat as pork or wine, then , I would throw it and start anew to cook something else.

This is the second cake that I was able to bake on my own

This is soup I had in a potluck dinner by one of my instructors.

This a Moroccan a teapot. I was making a cup of tea after a school journey.

Jump into fire

I could not remember which day was it. There were two events or two birthdays: my Indian teaser's friend and the a new born for my Moroccan friend. It was exciting and awesome. We had a big cake and some presents for the baby.

Later in that day, we attended a presentation about leadership and the issue of leaving home and coming to the States.

It was not that easy to leave the beloved ones, family, friends, students and the environment one is used to. The fact of accepting to come was the first step in the journey. I got to know most of my colleagues: entertainer, easy going, serious, advantage takers of every single benefit they come across, spy, careless, hardworking, devotees, good friends, open-minded and narrow-minded. It is not confusing to meet all these variety of people.

As I would always say I learnt not only about one countries, but about eight countries, including mine. I learnt about my history, geography, traditions, culture, food. It is a deep look to values, emotions,

Jump into fire 1

The great teacher who does the best he can to make his students succeed in their life and be fully involved in society.

This evening is marked by watching a movies 'Stand And Deliver' by Hal Erickson Edward. Some ILEP meet to see the film. You can see more information when visiting:

http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:46436

James Olmos portrays the real-life Jaime Escalante, a no-nonsense mathematic teacher in a tough East LA high school. Handed a classroom full of "losers" and "unteachables," Escalante is determined to turn his young charges' lives around. Drawing from his own cultural heritage, Escalante forms a bond with his largely Hispanic student body, evoking the names of famous Spaniards and Latin Americans whose great accomplishments were predicated on their ability to learn. The students gradually come to realize that the only way they'll escape their own poverty-stricken barrio is to improve themselves intellectually. As a result, the class' academic achievements soar dramatically — too dramatically for the Educational Testing Service, which is convinced that the class' high test scores are the results of cheating. The triumphant exoneration of Escalante's students provides Stand and Deliver with its rousingly upbeat conclusion.

Women's day

It is interesting to think if we do really need a women's day. Charmin wants women to have a daily celebration. She suggests that the problem, now, is caring to have a men's day.

Actually, in my country, the women is highly evaluated. ' Paradise is under the feet of the mother' Which means you have to respect your mother and never ever makes her angry or irritated. Girls should be cared for in our society. They should be educated appropriately; the reward is heaven in the afterlife.

If you educate a woman, you educate a the whole nation with its values and its traditions. In our country there is no appropriate relationship between a man and a woman beyond the marital relationship. We do not have this relationship of a boyfriend or boyfriend living together under the same roof. Those who are boyfriend or girlfriend are not supposed to act it publicly. Girls and boys have the same opportunities to go to school and choose their own job according to their scholastic achievement. They can choose the one they would like to marry. Before or after marriage, they can have an agreement about the way of life they want to lead, especially if both of them have a job.

I would say that girls tend to excel in learning languages and boys excel in scientific subjects. The girls free time may be spend at home helping their mother in the housework while boys may go out to cybercafes, sport cubs, association or just hang around with their friends.

Nowadays, girls are educated to think out of the box and be creative. There used to be no female teachers in my primary and junior high school. I have to chance to have a wonderful philosophy teacher in my 11th grade in my senior high school.

Take it Home!

It is very revealing to reflect about one's achievement and the amount of knowledge and practical aspects one has learned so far from this program. Certainly, I am making the most of my precious time to learn, reflect, and evaluate. I am implementing the concept of critical thinking in my studies. So far I have attended three courses, but I am unable to continue taking the fourth on line. I will be writing about some key elements of these courses:

Action research Dr. Dowdy

The procedures and the steps to carry out action research are very important in this course. It is the ‘a b c’ of researchers. It is a way of improving our teaching practices. It is through trial and error that I learn. The problem must be recognized and solutions to transcend and underscore the impediments to make the learners achieve and learn better. I started from a big issue, culture, and tried to narrow down the scope of my research to the pragmatic aspects of the language. I will be dealing with the speech acts of greeting. I will be working to improve the Moroccan students' performance to greeting as the American Native speakers of English do. I will teach my students the social use of the language and give them enough tools of language to meet my overall objectives.

Teacher’s education By Dr. Ambrose

I have learned about the American system of education and the reasons behind the act of "No child left behind." I learned about tracking, inclusion and the struggle the schools have to reach the requirements by 2010 requirements. I have learned about the kinds of school in the States: public, charter, religious schools, the ways school are raising funds, and the expectations of parents and the local and federal government. I learned about the amount of children and parent involvement in achieving high scores at school.
This course will make me reflect about my teaching strategies and about the fact of being a student. I will draw analogies and comparisons between being a teacher and being a student. There are lessons that I would benefit from these various reflections to better foster my professional development. Hence, I will enhance learning in my school and spread the acquired knowledge and practices to my colleagues back home.

Multicultural counseling by Dr. Marty Jenuis

Multicultural counseling is one of the courses I would recommend for future ILEP fellows to take. I would like the Kent State University to suggest it or make it part of the required courses. This course makes one learn how to be a social and global citizens. It helps to understand oneself. It uses all the human diversity and goes deep in analyzing the human relationship by considering any social, political, ethnic, psychological, intellectual factors to counsel between people. It means the person has to be a social counselor before being a teacher. It would be great to know about your students. The more you know about them, the more it would be a helping force to aspire for excellence.

Theodore Roosevelt Dramma Guild

Dr. Martin & his Wife Mrs. Aileen

This is Dr. Marty, the man, the husband, the cooker, the socisl conselor. the educator. He does not know how to say no. He is open-hearthed in the house, at work, at classroom, on the phone... great

Invitation
I am Dr. Marty Jencius from Kent State University.I am sending this email to a few of the ILEP visitors who I have had somecontact with since you have come to Kent. Either we have spoken, or you havealready been to my house, or perhaps we have gone on a shopping expeditiontogether. This Saturday my daughter, Hannah, has a lead role in her high schoolmusical "Guys and Dolls". This is a traditional American musical comedywhich is about gamblers and falling in love. I would like to invite you tojoin me and my family as my guest to a dinner before the show and then tosee the show.As a visitor, you will get to see what American high school drama/musicprograms are like. For dinner before, I am cooking a traditional Turkeydinner with casual seating and eating.I will be planning on having cars to pick you up Saturday at 4:30, we canhave dinner and visit, and then head over to the play at 6:45 for the 7:30show. I hope you can attend .Dr. Jencius
Dr. Jencius


Dinner

Turkey is the great celebration that the 7 ILEP attended with some members of the family. Turkey is an unforgettable. It is cooked in the Chritmas time when the whole family would come together. One and only one family would cook. They meet in one house to have much fun and entertainment.





Mrs. Aileen, Morgan, Mary, Abdesalam, Hary,

The host Dr. ..... is assisting the guest in the table with cheerful welcome.

Theater This is before the beginning of the play.

The heroes of the plays: Hana Dubois and Peter Kierstead

It is a title of the play that we have attended on March 1,2008 at 7:30 p.m.

It is wow! It is a national celebration for me. That's school performance, getting students realiaze their dream

The main ctors and actress of the play. A photo with the hero.
After the play, the actors and actress got out to meet the audience.

Food

Food would be one of the most missing elements, once you are in the States. Everyone is on the move. There is very limited time for cooking at home if no guest is coming. Even the guest would most often be invited to restaurants or cafes. In streets, you cannot pass by without seeing a person holding a cup of coffee, tea or carrying a sandwich. Food is everywhere: in the classroom, streets, library, office, buses, market...Most food is in packets ready to consume and easy to handle. Many people just eat out. The family rarely meets to eat together. In the American family, I was told that anyone can open the fridge to eat on his own or prepare it. The Fridge is always full of cans, packages. It is just heat to eat. What is really peculiar in the States, all sorts of international food is available. Stores are full of different ingredients. There are special stores for any community that may live in this country. But, the food is either too sweet or salty.


I am just wondering about the numbers of females in stores, schools? Are they the females' land? Is there any culture associated to this?

Most of the times, as I have learned food is associated with business. The manners of eating are significant. The person would not be hired for not sitting ‘appropriately’, the kind of ordering, the ways of eating, putting and utilizing the table’s utensils including: fork, spoon and Knife; the use of napkin is of equal importance. How to behave vis-à-vis the ladies, sitting on your right or the ladies, if you are the only male around the table?


In our country, we eat just fresh food including vegetables and fruits, meat. All ingredients are so good, nice and tasty. It is healthy food. Probably, that's why some Americans carry extra pounds of weight. Our beast should be killed (slaughtered) appropriately. The beasts must not suffer; feel afraid when they are being slaughtered. They are supposed not to see the knife or blood. They must be treated gently. The bucher must alter the name of God in the beginning of killing the animal. The beast must be made to face the Kiblah (Prayer's direction, the direction of sunrise). We do not eat pork or drink wine no matter what sort or expensive it may be.

Before eating, we say "Bismi Allah' in the name of Allah, after washing our hands. We eat and drink with our right hand. We eat from the same plate, but we can use forks and spoons and eat from different plates. Each one is to eat from what is immediately in front of them. When we finish, we say " Hamdo Lillah' Thanks Allah.

culture!

Back form the white Hall to our place of residence. Photo leaning on the brain.

A very traditional way of baking bread using wood. Wow! it is delicious!

Being here for more than two months, now, it would feasible to draw some analogies and comparison between my culture and The American culture. It seems that the American are very polite when addressing a person. The words or phrases " Thank you / Sorry, Excuse me/ us are very recurrent almost whenever and whenever you are in. In Morocco, everybody would greet you and say 'peace upon you' in small cities or villages. It is the same in the suburban areas, but some people may ignore you. The Moroccan host present milk and date ( Gofio, Zrig in Sahara). The American, would suggest something to drink before any meal. You may engage with an American in sharing conversation.

A photo while visiting a village in the South East of my home country.

What I have learnt so far is that people in New York and Philadelphia appear to be more preoccupied. Pedestrians in New York do not give much attention to vehicles. They may cross the streets regardless the coming vehicles. Whereas, in Philly and Kent respect is show. Pedestrians won't walk unless the light is green. However, the horns are never heard as it is deemed to be an insult . In our country, It would be so odd if not using horns to make the pedestrians alert.

Beyond the Growing Seasons

You cannot imagine how an educational work will expand and flourich when you start compiling a data to include in your work. That's what came up from this Hartville life depiction. Many teachers are involved to have the book in their curriculum, studies, lesson plans, policy...

On the satge of the conference & hot choclate

These people are part of the community; 'they have access to the author's identity with the local community' said a Canton County school teacher who teaches 6, 7, 8th grades. He implement critical thinking skills in his classroom and students can identify with the characters of the story. The math teacher teaches about measures and strategies to count for farmers. The school principle spoke about 'a police car' which was driven by the bridegroom. the car was something unacceptable in the hartville community from Texas in the begining. It is getting to know this community importance. We should 'not think out of the box' We have got to know the culture we are communicating with. We have to listen, converse, discuss, read, analyse the needs and requirements.

Conference Growing Seasons

Thursday, February, 26th , 2008.

Migrant workers do not stop their work when the weather turns harsh—like them, we are still on for this evening!

The Gerald H. Read Distinguished lecture Series will feature Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community and its Educational Implications, tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the KIVA.

David Hassler and Gary Harwood, and the panel of educators will be there to inform and to inspire you with the story of the Hartville migrant community ... warm your heart with stories of family, coming together, hope for the future, and photos that will tell a story beyond the words that you will hear. ...

Linda Robertson

This book is really inspiring. It is an attribute to human change. It is a life culturing. It is an outreach activity. It is voices of a village. It documents knowledge, inspiration, award, inspiration... it is a story telling to celebrate.

It took the David Hassler seven years to collect the data needed, including a series of photos and a long journey to take to have the actual book. The journey was more than five stages to get to self-satisfaction and more inspiration. He struggle hard to get a place in the Mexican community. Though this physical existence, he tried to get personal integration in the community by making different acquaintances. It is so hard to the community to accept a stranger to take photos. They are afraid of being arrested by the police as coming illegally to the land. He got to have permission to the farm to a witness of the community daily life. He consider 6:30 to 7 a.m. as the most hectic and lively time. They are getting ready to go to the farm, getting the kids ready for school. They excel to decorate their hats with flowers and ribbons. Their hands reveal their endeavour to achieve well in the farm. The author took tough decision to look for self-integration. He tried to learn their language, shop in the same area. There was too much pressure on him to leave their vicinity.

However, here came the opportunity for him when he was invited to a wedding party. It was a good step to move from personal access to the family household. This stage led him to get more involved in their in their life. He was asked to take picture during the ceremony. There were seven camps to explore to dig out the cultural components of the community.

After the wedding party, he was introduced in the medical facilities, school, church and their birthday parties. What is surprising enough is the great number of people attending each ceremony of birthday. Everybody has to wash up and gets dressed up. They have a great fun and women, men, and children have their gathering to concentrate on their own affairs.

Indeed, there was a lot of patience, endeavour, tolerance and sacrifice to bring this story the front pages. It is extremely rich and enriching of acculturation. Gary Harwood interviewed member of the community to give more life and enrichment to the photos depicted by Divid Hassler. I was able to write down some of their conversation during the conference:

Father to his daugther who was intending to get married: ' Are you sure you want to that? if not, just turn down and way away'

Lovely quote and meaningful cultural implications can be deduced?

Have your own car!

Sure, one should have his personal vehicle to be on time and invest that time in more useful things.

Less people in the Ohio are walking in the streets. It is noticeable that only the international students do so. I would go along a street without seeing any human being walking. It must be me who is a special case, then.
I would say that a lot American suffer a lot for being so obese. They care carrying extra weight, eating all the time, driving all the time. There is less time for exercising.
Even the bus is most often empty. None is there. Sometimes, I would take the alone for more than six stops, None show up, except the bus driver and me.
Buses' schedules is different from what is written on the bus flayers. You have to wait either ten minutes after or before the bus would come.
Strange enough in Kent, no cabs, less buses, trolleys.
Let's walk should be the motto for everyone to be less overweight!!!

Speech Testing

I have been in the speech testing in Nixon Hall on Thursday, 21st February, 2008. I was there on time. The room is a sort of small classes or laboratories. They are probably teaching languages, especially American. The focus is how to Americanize your communication English. It seems that they are driving everyone to be American in everything. Could it be, even we sneeze, whistle or walk in an American way?

White Hall, room 215.

There were nice, educated and beautiful female teachers in the lab. They warmly welcomed me to the room. I hung my coat and scarf and stepped to a room where I had to face the wall while sitting on a chair. The aim was to test my auditory skill s by raising my hands when I heard any sound from the headphone I was asked to put on. The test was great by the encouragement of the ladies. Then, they have to test my tongue and all part of articulation inside my mouth. It was really amazing and entertaining to utter some sounds after taking a deep breath. I had to hold on uttering the same sound as far as I can. It sounds that you are in a music chorus.

Later, I had to read a small text and different vowels and consonants. Throughout the test I was engaged in an educational discussion by reflecting on my previous teaching and learning strategies and about the courses i am taking in Kent State University as a vi ting scholar.

I discovered and explored some good aspects of my speech. I tried to act out and converse as if I were an expert actor. I learnt about the way I teach my students. I tried and tried to show I articulate well, understand, listen, rargue... with those who are my teachers assessing my performance and how much I have achieved in my educational journey. I took things from different aspect. I was one the learners who have to exhibit their skills and expertise in the field. I have learnt about my fossilization of pronunciation, especially when you just you want to finish what you are reading. I have recognize that I speak so quickly which makes it difficult for my interlocutor difficult to get my message. I have to practice more and interact with people, basically engaging or delivering a presentation. Sure , there is stress at the beginning, but you feel so strong and more lively to voice your ideas fluently.