ABC is not as simple as DO RE MI

I've started teaching English at the women's center in Ifrane and it's really a dream come true for me. I've been needing purpose and relationships, but I just hadn't found that until now. I teach twice a week for an hour at a time. The women's center is a place where women can learn how to use the computer, how to sew, how to bake, how to make/paint ceramics, and how to read/write/speak French, Arabic, and now English.


The girls that I teach range from 10 years old to their mid-twenties and they all come from a small small village 10 minutes outside of Ifrane called Tarmilat. They are from some of the poorest families in this region of Morocco. All of these girls had to stop going to school so they could work in and around their homes. Most of them have only have up to a 1st grade level of education. They are hardly able to read or write in their own language of Arabic, so this makes teaching them another language really challenging. But now that we've had three classes I'm starting to figure out how they learn best and I think we're making pretty good progress. We've gone through basic greetings, the alphabet, numbers, and pronouns so far.

Teaching this class has really meant so much to me already. I'm so so surprised at how my outlook on life can change with just a little bit of purpose outside of the house. I'm looking forward to getting to know each of the girls better and building a trust and friendship with them through time. I'm also hoping I'll have the chance to improve my Arabic in the process.