Teaching English in Casablanca, Morocco : 1st – 30th August 2013

The organisation i volunteered with are called CSM (www.csmmorocco.org). CSM offer a range of volunteering opportunities primarily teaching English and French and also an environmental program. I signed up for the program through ICYE (http://www.icye.org.uk/) in the UK, which cost £850, which included some pre departure training,  the flights,insurance, accommodation with the host family and meals each day. 

In August 2013 I spent a month volunteering in Casablanca, Morocco. I taught English to some great Moroccan students, I had 2 classes each day, which lasted 2 hours each, between 8 – 12 in the morning, giving the volunteers the rest of the day to do what we wanted. We covered vocabulary and a range of grammar to help the students improve their English speaking ability. There where six of us teaching english at this project, each working individually with different classes.

Some of the younger students at the school

Me with my 8-10am class

Me with my 10-12pm class

I stayed with a host family in a great suburb of Casablanca; the area was full of little cafes and lots of places to eat. The area had lots of families and there was always children playing in the street. The host family I stayed with were extremely welcoming. Three of the brothers that I stayed with were involved with CSM and helped in the running of the project, signing up students and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Staying with a host family i sometimes got some extra guests wandering into my room.

My room for the month, shared with one of the brothers in the house.

CSM organised trips each weekend to show us a wide range of what Morocco has to offer, we spent one weekend in the city of El Jadida relaxing on the beaches and staying in a nice apartment together. We spent one weekend exploring the souks of Marrakech staying in a hostel with it’s own pool and we spent the final weekend at the aquapark and the beach in Casablanca.

The majority of the students really engaged in the classes and had a great interest in improving their English communication skills. For anyone interested in the program I would suggest taking a book such as English Grammar in Use , as each day after we taught we gave the people running our project a few pages to photocopy for the next day, and having a book to get teaching ideas and topics from can make the experience a lot easier. Some days I just had notes written down and worked the class around a grammar point, or covered a few pieces of functional language or vocabulary.

On the last day the best three students from each class were awarded a certificate 

I would suggest people thinking of applying to the program do some research on teaching methods and have a look at some teaching materials before departing (If you haven't taught before, or had any training). What you teach is entirely up to you, and you have to plan everything you want to teach yourself and as there is no training so you need to have some idea how to teach before you arrive, as you get straight into teaching within the first few days.

I would recommend the program to anyone who wants to get a taste of what teaching English as a foreign language is like, and anyone wanting to experience another culture at the same time.

Jemaa el fna square at night, Marrakech

A souk in Marrakech