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More than 100 students have written letters so far for me to bring to the students in Morocco. They were excited to share why they have Trojan PRIDE by describing a typical day at PV. The French 5-6 class wrote eloquent letters in French, culinary students wrote about a day in the PV kitchens. The business students who run Trojan Corner not only wrote letters, they also donated a giant bag of Trojan swag for me to share with Moroccan students. Thank you PV, keep writing; let's turn the campaign into a movement!

Booking dot Yeah!

With my chemistry travel partner Stacey Haas, we were finally able to figure out where we are staying while teaching in Ait Melloul. And from Google Maps, it looks fantastic!

The hotel appears to be a vacation resort only minutes from the beach. I am sure we will be spending all of our time inside the classroom teaching, planning, and grading lessons.....

French out Moroccan in

I checked out two more language on CD recordings to attempt to learn French while driving. The first item was an extended conversation between two people on something about bread and a hotel, I think.....
It melted my resolve, so back to the library they went.
Instead I purchased this book which received high ratings on Amazon and have high hopes for.


Maybe local Moroccans will be more forgiving of my terrible Moroccan than if I had tried terrible French.

En route via DC

Last night I met my Moroccan cohort of teachers in person; it is nice to put real faces and voices to virtual faces.
We are currently getting our introductory greeting from the Department of State and the IREX-TGC board. Learning so much from the panel of alumni teachers about their travel experiences.
Excited to implement global projects in to my classroom.
Students, what ideas do you have for integrating our Genetics curriculum with another classroom of students from another country? What could we learn from them?

Choukran Bizzef!

A fellow teacher and PAEMST awardee Ms. Dwyer from St. Louis put me in contact with one of her students whose family is from Morocco and who had visited there several times. 

Zak and his mother were so kind to Skype with me and help me with some of my pronunciations. In addition they gladly answered many of my questions about the culture. Online I had been reading contradictory information about how to dress and how to act. They calmed my worries, telling me that Moroccans are very interested in Americans and our culture, that I could be myself, and that the people are very friendly.

Thank you to my first new Moroccan friends!

Spanish out French in

Yeah, right.

So I just found out my travel details after time in the capital Rabat, I am going to Ait Melloul, the inverse distance to the usefulness of my Spanish. Spanish (which I have been practicing daily) is spoken in Northern Morocco, I am going 5 1/2 hours south.......

So, back to the library. Turn in my beloved Spanish on CD course. Check out the dreaded French course once again. Oui. I can do this.

What do you want to know?

As part of my visit, I will spend a week in  Ait Melloul, with a US teacher and a local host teacher. We will be in a classroom for a week and have been told that Moroccan students are very curious about the United States. Please comment about some of your favorite things as a teenager: music, vacation spots, food, school subjects, sports, movies, anything!

Coast near Ait Melloul

What are my tasks as a TGC Fellow?

I have only completed the portion in red.

More details can be found at https://www.irex.org/projects/teachers-global-classrooms-program-tgc

How did I wind up bound for Morocco?

In  2012, I learned about an opportunity through IREX and the Department of State for teachers in the United States. The program selected experienced teachers to globalize their curriculum through training and coursework as well as an international field experience. Each year I would get a notice that applications were open, and each year I made an excuse as to why I couldn't go. Early 2015 came another noticed and I decided to do it before I could talk myself out of it. I worked my way through the rigorous application process and was thrilled when I learned in June 2015 that I was one of 72 teachers in the United States selected as a fellow in the program.