Teaching Harrods* 25/03/2011

This morning I had one hour Common Core class to teach. The unit’s theme is shopping. As we’re heading towards the end of the unit, a reading activity is required, though it may be hard for students to grasp at this level, and with the unbelievably hard textbook for beginners.

Last night, talking to my host teacher on Gmail, she suggested that I use pictures and videos to explore the text visually for a better understanding. I knew I did not want to do that, I just did not know why exactly then. The text I had to teach was about Harrods’ shopping mall in Knightsbridge, London. And so I went googling some videos and pictures, and the more I found, the more I did not like.

This morning, I read the text for students to listen and pick up pronunciation, and after explaining some difficult terms, I started playing the Harrods’ videos. Normally, my lesson plan says that I should be describing, explaining and eliciting information from the students throughout the videos. I was intending to when I started playing the first video, and then I turned .. their faces.

The area where I work is not far from Takaddoum. Any one from Rabat who hears this neighborhood’s name has a clear idea what it’s like. But any way, I work in Mabella, a nearby area.

Writing my personal diary (which may be part of my teaching portfolio) right after the session.

In Abou Bakr Ssedik high school, Mabella, you find students from different surrounding areas and different social classes, but most of them are from Takaddoum (A very poor neglected block, where the ENS exists by the way!!), therefore, their social background is reflected at the level of their behavior inside the high school: Lack of stationery, drugs use, violence, dysfunctional behavior … etc. The very few who come from middle –no high- class can hardly be noticed as they mingle in the school environment and get affected themselves.

For me, teaching my students about Harrods shopping mall- especially when I know where they come from - with pictures and videos, was some kind of irony that I had to impose on them. I “had” to remind them of their miserable, unfair life they do not deserve. I felt really bad showing this video of the pastry section at Harrods when I know some of them didn’t even have breakfast before they come to class.

And then I mentioned Casablanca’s Twin Center as to make a comparison and give them an example that sounds “real”, but they didn’t know there was such a thing a Twin Center that exists right under their noses in Maârif. To make it worse, I mentioned the Morocco’ mall project. A place they might never get into or afford to shop from, let alone Harrods, for that matter.

Another “shock” for my students was learning that the last individual owner of Harrods –before Qatar Holdings in 2010- was the Egyptian Mohamed El-Fayed. An Arab once owned THIS Harrods? An Arab who’s not from the gulf countries, is rich enough to own Harrods? I could never describe the look on their faces, I felt like crying right there, right then.

I am not going to talk about poverty and economics in Morocco, education and health, protests and reforms … As a Moroccan citizen, I am doing my best to make the change I want to see in my country and society, maybe quietly, but I’m grateful my status now as a high school English language teacher allows me to do it that way, and efficiently. But any way, all I was thinking about this morning was: If there is such a concept as the American Dream, I definitely saw the “Arab Wish” in my students’ eyes this morning.

*not an article, just a page of my diary I felt like sharing.