Reading This Blog

Global Roads to Morocco is a travel blog created by Patrick Whelan, a world history teacher at Saint Stephen's Episcopal School in Bradenton, Florida.

Blogs like these are arranged in reverse chronological order, with the earliest posts at the end and the most recent at the top. Readers also have the option of using the archive located to the right in order to find the posts with the most interesting topics.

This blog is not an official US State Department publication. The views and information are my own and do not represent Teachers for Global Classrooms, IREX, or the Department of State.

Those interested in this blog may want to explore my other travel blogs on Istanbul and Cambodia.
Istanbul in October
Angkor Watsup

Lessons Learned in Morocco

Globalization is real. I teach about cultural diffusion in my history class starting with the ancient trade routes and early civilizations. In 2017, we all live in a globalize culture. In a small village deep in the remote part of southern Morocco on the edge of Sahara, all the teenagers know the lyrics to American and British pop songs.

America is seen as the land of opportunity. When I asked teenage students about their personal dreams for the future, nearly everyone said that they wanted to travel. Number one on their lists: the United States. An education at a US university is considered the gold standard.

English is the global language. Moroccan students graduate high school with ability in four or five languages, but English is becoming most important. Because of the saturation of American TV, film, and music, they speak English with an American ascent. If Moroccans want to speak with people from Japan, Tanzania, Russia, or India, they speak in English.

Faith, family, food, and friendship are the core values of Moroccans. Islam doesn't just serve as a faith but a glue that holds people together. Family, food, and friends serve the same purpose. People greet each other warmly and constantly display hospitality.

Marhaba, Shokran

The two most frequent words that I heard in Arabic were marhaba, meaning welcome, and shokran, meaning thank you. Marhaba was said upon entering every home, classroom, shop, or space. If you cross any type of threshold, someone will welcome you. Marhaba. When people used English, marhaba would translate as "you are welcome." The proper response is of course, shokran. In typical American English usage, we reverse these two statements: thank you; you're welcome. In Morocco the default opener is welcome.

So to the people of Morocco, I need to offer my gratitude.
To my teacher host Ayoub, shokran.
To the kind teachers and principal of the Excellence High School, shokran.
To the students, so filled with ambition and idealism, shokran.
To the gracious politicians, Saharan and Amazigh villagers, and those who smiled at me when I passed, shokran.


To Dr. Pullen, my head of school, thank you for being excited for me and affording me this wonderful opportunity.
To the Teachers for Global Classrooms program run though IREX, thank you for choosing me and training me to take full advantage of this fellowship.
To my travel partner Travis and the other ten members of my Moroccan cohort, thank you for your stories and inspiration.
To the US State Department, thank you for providing funds for this travel experience.
To my colleagues at Saint Stephen's, thank you for stepping into my classroom and filling the gap during my absence.
To my wife, thank you for telling me to do this travel adventure despite the great inconvenience it caused you.

Shokran.

Teaching Teachers

Most of my time in Rabat and Guelmim Morocco was spent in classrooms with students, touring sites, and eating meals with groups of locals. One morning Travis and I were able to have a bigger role by offering a workshop to English teachers from the region on effective teaching strategies.

I am very proud of the job that we did modeling active, student-centered learning. The twenty teachers who attended were thoroughly engaged throughout the workshop and were among the best participants that I have ever worked with. They were so pleased that many stayed for over half an hour afterwards to ask questions and continue the conversation.

We made clear several times that we presented this workshop not because the educational system in the US is better--frankly we had seen that the teaching is at least as strong in Morocco as in the US--but because we both were experienced workshop presenters. In this way I tried to avoid the perception of a neo-colonial culturally superior attitude.

Travis, My Travel Partner

The Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship made the wise decision to deploy us in pairs. In that way we had a partner to filter our experience through and to share cultural observations. I was fortunate to be matched with Travis Bouldin, an accomplished teacher from Washington DC. We travelled together almost everywhere in Guelmim.

Travis teaches world history at a public school that offers a rigorous college-prep environment for young men of color. We have many of the same interests in history and other intellectual fields. He also is a nature lover and has a similar educational philosophy and teaching style as I do. We get to see each other again this summer when we will be together at an AP World History training in Charlotte NC.

Storks Amid History

Capital city of Rabat, like the country itself, has layers of history. Waves of empires have settled and left their mark in this remarkable place. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs of the ancient world controlled parts of Morocco on their outer frontiers of their empires.

No place represents this layering of history better than the Kasbah of Rabat, which contains the ruins of several of these civilizations. Perched atop the ancient ruins were nesting storks. March is mating season for these migratory storks, and several of them were making a racket with their beaks to attract the amorous attention of other storks. This made me think. If storks bring babies to people, then who brings baby storks to storks?

Below you will see the top of an elegant mineret for an early Arab mosque with nesting storks. I have a photo of me near the worship space for this ancient mosque. I also have a short video clip of the storks making their mating calls. You may need to turn up the volume to hear it well.

Storks Mating Season

The Cats of Morocco

The number of cats that I found in Morocco was impressive indeed. The first image comes from a cat hanging out at lunch by a Saharan-style tent. The other two I discovered in some ancient runes in the city of Rabat.