On March 22^nd, 2019, the English department of the Regional Center of Education and Training (CRMEF), Casablanca Settat received six American Professional Fellows from the State of Massachusetts as part of the U.S. Department’s Professional Fellows Program:

This program received 16 Moroccan Professional Fellows last fall from October 6^th, 2018 to November 16^th, 2018 in the state of Massachusetts to complete their four weeks fellowship with both public and private organizations in order to gain deep understanding of the American society and how it fosters democracy and civic engagement through multiple strategies with multiple stakeholders.

Sana Lamtara who is a trainer at CRMEF English department is one of the Moroccan Professional Fellows who benefited from the six weeks professional fellows Program. She was hosted by Caroline Gear, the executive director of the International Language Institute (ILI) of Massachusetts where she spent four weeks fellowship. Sana Lamtara witnessed high quality instruction and teacher training through class observation and participation in professional development workshops. She also attended meetings with board members as well as teachers and trainers.

The six U.S. fellows visited our training center in order to inform about the organization they represent and share their previous experience with the Moroccan fellows they hosted in their organizations.  Dr. Abdessalam Mili, the managing director of CRMEF, Casablanca Settat region delivered a speech in the English language to welcome the U.S. fellows to Morocco and to Casablanca teacher training center and to highlight the importance of such exchange programs.

Since the U.S professionals were eager to know about our teacher training center, the head of the English department, Brahim Hadad, presented a brief overview of the teacher training center. Then, a group of teacher trainees presented a number of activities, in which they informed about the content of their training. These activities included plays, songs, posters as well as oral presentations.

Then, Sana Lamtara presented the project she developed in her four weeks fellowship. This project is an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Teacher Training program which aims at training teacher trainees on ICT integration in their teaching. The implementation of this project is scheduled for the second semester which will start next May.

Finally, the executive director of ILI, Caroline Gear, informed of her institution and its different programs. She also highlighted ILI’s involvement in civic engagement as it offers free English classes for area immigrants and refugees as well as the volunteer tutor program which encourages community members to come closer to English learners. Caroline shared some of her experience and knowledge in teaching as well as she introduced a learner-initiated pronunciation technique.

Our sincere thanks to the American guests who allowed for a mutual exchange of experiences and best practices.