This sign points the way to our classrooms for the American School of Agadir.
Bit of a revolving door in respect to the teachers, as I've stated. The small American School is housed within a large school (Institution Al Imam Al Kastalani or IIK). We answer to the director of IIK, Moulay Said. He's a very nice man who enjoys learning more English from Denise and I. Our spring break is the last week in March, and Moulay has said that he would help us arrange bus/train tickets and find an inexpensive hotel in Casablanca. Yay!
More about the school. We have 8 kids total. One 6-year old, one 5-year old, three 4-year olds, two 3-year olds, and finally, our 2 1/2-year old. Talk about a will of Iron on that one. It is difficult because they are at wildly different levels. We're teaching simple addition/subtraction to the 5 and 6 year old. One of the four year olds recognizes all of his letters by sight and the others lack a bit. They, for the most part, meet in the middle. The two three year olds to very well in general, and this is the first year of school for the 6 year old. He needs a lot of social coaching. The parents range from fluent in English to very little English. The 2 year old is the only one who speaks English at home, so several of the kids are surpassing at least one parent with their English. I am amazed at how fast the little creatures learn. Here are a few pics of our American School facilities and kids...
Our day is from 8:30 am (thank you for the sympathy from those of you who know I am NOT a morning person, much less a morning Happy-Face-for-small-children person) to 2:30 pm. It is hella-nice to have afternoons free, though we should make more use of them than we do, perhaps. We do our fair share of relaxing, and have gotten to the roof to sunbathe and read a few times. Afternoon trips to the souk are not unheard of, but we try to stay away from Marjane if possible. More on those places later.
Ah, back to the school... When I arrived as the new teacher, the parents were very concerned. They had a meeting themselves, and presented us with a letter stating their worries and slight dissatisfaction in the decrease in their children's rate of learning since the first teacher left. They then requested a meeting with Denise and I. It was a bit of a stressful time as I was still adjusting to being a long way from home. The meeting went well, however, and we were successful in convincing the parents that we were happy in Agadir, happy to be teaching here, happy with the money (reason why the previous teacher left), and NOT GOING TO ABANDON SHIP.
Everybody seems to be much more at ease now.
For several photos in and around the school, click HERE.
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