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Restaurant in Rabat with a wonderful singer and oud player. Thank you to Samira Idel, my friend!

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High school students in Sale at the end of the school day with Ms Sprague. I wanted to talk to them, and sort of got in trouble because the group had a tight schedule this day.

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Oranges just hanging in a tree at a teacher's preparation school in Rabat.

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Veggie cart in Rabat. MMMM...

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Country living in Morocco (central region).

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Students presenting a report on Moroccan customs. They are wearing traditional clothing for this presentation.

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Road into the Marrekesh souk - where shopping happens.

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Canal from the Atlas mountains to the fields around Beni Mellal. The water is deep and swift and the sides of the canal are very steep, which sometimes causes drownings among the workers who live near the farms. We watched a woman with a child on her back, baking bread in an outdoor oven. There was also a lady getting buckets of water from the canal, who was very close to the edge. We were holding our breath.

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A little traffic in Casablanca.

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Henna for the "tourists". A good henna artist is skilled and works quickly. To get your money's worth make sure the henna is of good quality or it will fade very quickly.

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View of the mountains from a Beni Mellal public school...so lovely!

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Mounted guards outside of royal tombs in Rabat. They and their horses stand so still (for 6 hour shifts) that they sometimes look like statues.

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Micky D's in Marrekesh.

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Beautiful mosque in Marrekesh at twilight.

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This high school girl let me take a close up photo of her design for her hijab, made by pins and folds in the scarf. Amazingly beautiful and intricate.

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This is a photo taken by one of Fatimezzahra's students. It was sent as a thank you to one of my students who gave a pencil sketch in his greeting to the Moroccan students.

 
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Stork on the wall of the souk in Marrekesh.

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Kitten at the roadside restaurant on the way to Marrekesh. Cats are not necessarily regarded as pets in Morocco, but more as part of nature.

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Tortoise in Fatimezzahra's backyard that the housepainters for some reason also painted.

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Duck siting in the nursery-kindergarten level play yard of the private school in Beni Mellal.

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Fatimezzahra's brother raised a special breed of Turkish dog. These are the latest batch of puppies found at their "farm".

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My cat, Elliot, who was patiently waiting for his "mom" to return from Morocco.

 
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This lovely portrait (not current time) is of the King of Morocco and his wife and son. The King and Queen first met while jet skiing (I was told.). The royal family is highly regarded in Morocco. I tried to take photos of the photos of the King every- where I found them.

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Here he is in the Cassablanca bus station. Sorry for the blur but we were moving through quickly.

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Here he is in Marrekesh. This was taken in a restaurant with a maritime theme and so the uniform was featured.

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The King in the district educational center in Beni Mellal

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In a computer room in a private school in Rabat.

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In the principal's office in public school in Sale.

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Most importantly, the King and his son, in Fatimezzahra's orphanage. He was to visit Beni Mellal the week after our visit and was scheduled to visit the children here. We left hoping that he would find a way to help Fatimezzahra's babies...

 
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During our visits to public and private schools in the Rabat and Sale districts, we were treated to an English classes rendition of Katie Perry's "Fireworks". The students did an amazing job and seemed to love singing this pop song.

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At the American Language Center in Rabat, these students were playing a competitive game to increase vocabulary and comprehension. Students come to the Center after a full day of school to learn and improve their English. I was told that many students seek to learn English because it is the dominant language of technology, one key to an education and better life.

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In Beni Mellal, my host teacher's city, my American colleagues and I presented at a district teachers' professional development. This teacher stayed after the presentation to look at and comment on our JSEC's peace flags. He even took one of the cloth pieces to create his own wishes for peace. Thank you sir!

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The following photos are evidence of a great visual art program at the private school, G.S. KAD, where Fatemazzahra Massaq, my host teacher, also teaches. She leads a very busy and full life.

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Some of the pieces of art work contained topics of social concern. This piece was created for Woman's Day which is observed nationally.
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In our host teacher's class, they were improving their English by producing a production of King Lear. I was honored to be asked to help with staging, revising some stage combat scenes, and adding a period finale dance (Farandole).

    Author

    Marty Sprague is a teacher at Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She teaches both dance and international studies.

    It is to be noted that: "This website and blog are not official U.S. Department of State media resources. The views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the Teacher's for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State."

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