The Great Global Project Challenge

World Schools  Pecha Kucha Evenings

Khalil Zakari | Ed-Links-Morocco

(Advisory Board Member at The Global Education Conference)

Project Lead: Khalil Zakari

Project Lead's Email Address: kzakari@yahoo.com

Project Lead's Institution: Ed-Links-Morocco

This institution is: non-profit

Additional Project Collaborators:

* Bookland Publishing
* Al Akhawayne University of Ifrane
* Groupe Scolaire Al Falah Privé Taza 

Project Title: World Schools  Pecha Kucha Evenings

URL to Project:

http://edlinksmorocco.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-great-global-project-challenge.html

Project Objectives: 

+ Enhance students' interpretive and presentational communication skills
+ Train students using slideware to present their projects convincingly and artfully
+ Promote intercultural understanding (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion)

This project will help students learn to:

+  Investigate the world
+ Communicate ideas
+ Take action

Project Short Description:

Most innovative students' projects opt for public speaking as an outlet to demonstrate their presentational skills, challenge their peers and compete for a prize or a certificate of award. Public speaking contests, sad to say, are starting to look much the same in the sense that most candidates draft, edit, learn by heart, rehearse and recite. The Pecha Kucha will force creativity, relevance and concision.

Project Full Description:

For almost fifteen years now, Ed-Links-Morocco, an Advisory Board Member at The Global Education Conference,  has been entertaining distinguished educational and professional relationships between students, parents, teachers, supervisors and textbook designers to maintain its reputation for excellence in the provision of English language teacher education, English language teacher continuing professional development and English language teaching /learning practices.  Ed-Links-Morocco has been elaborating a strategy to increase the productivity of both learners and teachers through publications, workshops, school visits, contests and other enhancement  activities.

Ed-Links-Morocco  will organize and coordinate a series of national and international Pecha Kucha  contests round current issues in order to encourage students  to unleash their creativity, grow interculturalist  and acquire connections.  These contests will be challenging, fun and rewarding... Promised!

In his blog, named "Remixing the Humanities", Richard L. Edwards states that Pecha Kucha "gets students to speak and act like experts on their disciplinary knowledge". A detailed description of Ed-Links-Morocco's  World Classes Pecha Kucha Evenings will be posted soon on:  http://edlinksmorocco.blogspot.com

Participant Limitations: 100 students (to start small)

Standards Addressed in This Project: Common Core Standards

Project Registration: 100 participants. Deadline November 15th, 2016

Project Start Date: November 25th, 2016

Project End Date: April 25th, 2017

Project Grade Level or Grade Levels: 16-18

Subject Areas Addressed in This Project: English and Language Arts

Project Platform: Edmodo

Digitals Tools Used in This Project: 

+ Smart minds
+ Smart Phones
+ Smart tablets
+ Smart boards

Project Concluding Activity or Product:

Ed-Links-Morocco hopes to be able to organize its World Schools Pecha Kucha Evenings finals in Fes_Morocco and invite a dozen students from neighbouring countries to present,  attend the certification ceremony and discover the Middle Atlas. 

Participant Feedback:
http://edlinksmorocco.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-great-global-project-challenge.html

Primary Language(s): English

The Great Global Project Challenge

World Schools  Pecha Kucha Evenings

Khalil Zakari | Ed-Links-Morocco

(Advisory Board Member at The Global Education Conference)

Project Lead: Khalil Zakari

Project Lead's Email Address: kzakari@yahoo.com

Project Lead's Institution: Ed-Links-Morocco

This institution is: non-profit

Additional Project Collaborators:

* Bookland Publishing
* Al Akhawayne University of Ifrane
* Centre Culturel Azrou
* Groupe Scolaire Al Falah Privé Taza

Project Title: World Schools  Pecha Kucha Evenings

URL to Project:

http://edlinksmorocco.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-great-global-project-challenge.html

Project Objectives: 

+ Enhance students' interpretive and presentational communication skills
+ Train students using slideware to present their projects convincingly and artfully
+ Promote intercultural understanding (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion)

This project will help students learn to:

+ Investigate the world
+ Communicate ideas
+ Take action
+ Knit connections

Project Short Description:

Most innovative students' projects opt for public speaking as an outlet to demonstrate their presentational skills, challenge their peers and compete for a prize or a certificate of award. Public speaking contests, sad to say, are starting to look much the same in the sense that most candidates draft, edit, learn by heart, rehearse and recite. The Pecha Kucha will force creativity, relevance and concision.

Project Full Description:

For almost fifteen years now, Ed-Links-Morocco, an Advisory Board Member at The Global Education Conference,  has been entertaining distinguished educational and professional relationships between students, parents, teachers, supervisors and textbook designers to maintain its reputation for excellence in the provision of English language teacher education, English language teacher continuing professional development and English language teaching /learning practices.  Ed-Links-Morocco has been elaborating a strategy to increase the productivity of both learners and teachers through publications, workshops, school visits, contests and other enhancement  activities.

Ed-Links-Morocco  will organize and coordinate a series of national and international Pecha Kucha  contests round current issues in order to encourage students  to unleash their creativity, grow interculturalist  and acquire connections.  These contests will be challenging, fun and rewarding... Promised!

In his blog, named "Remixing the Humanities", Richard L. Edwards states that Pecha Kucha "gets students to speak and act like experts on their disciplinary knowledge". A detailed description of Ed-Links-Morocco's  World Classes Pecha Kucha Evenings will be posted soon on:  http://edlinksmorocco.blogspot.com

Participant Limitations: 100 students (to start small)

Standards Addressed in This Project: Common Core Standards

Project Registration: 100 participants. Deadline November 15th, 2016

Project Start Date: November 25th, 2016

Project End Date: April 25th, 2017

Project Grade Level or Grade Levels: 16-18

Subject Areas Addressed in This Project: English and Language Arts

Project Platform: Edmodo

Digitals Tools Used in This Project: 

+ Smart minds
+ Smart Phones
+ Smart tablets
+ Smart boards

Project Concluding Activity or Product:

Ed-Links-Morocco hopes to be able to organize its World Schools Pecha Kucha Evenings finals in Fes_Morocco and invite a dozen students from neighbouring countries to present,  attend the certification ceremony and discover the Middle Atlas. 

Participant Feedback:
http://edlinksmorocco.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-great-global-project-challenge.html

Primary Language(s): English

The Ifrane Project on Extensive Reading ( Ifrane– April 30th , 2016)

In collaboration with the Ifrane Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training, Book Land and EdlinksMorocco Khalil organized a workshop under the theme of     " Ifrane Project on Extensive Reading" on Saturday April 30th, 2016.

The objective of  the  workshop was to explore the potential of an extensive reading programme which will,  hopefully,  impact  reading  attitudes  and  habits, find  library  furnishing  solutions   and prepare teachers  for  what  may  be needed  to establish the  programme in their junior and high schools.

There is much potential the programme will score a success. The willingness of all the  teachers  who commitedly signed their attendance and voiced readiness, on behalf of their schools and institutions, to contribute to the project, the  unconditioned support  of  the  Provincial Directorate  of  the  Ministry of  National  Education  and Vocational   Training   in  Ifrane   to  the   endeavour,  the  magnanimous   partnership  with  Bookland Publishing, the neighbouhood  with Al Akhawayn  University of  Ifrane  and the desire to serve English language   education  where  English  language  education  is  really  at  stake  lay  the  foundation for successful team performance.

 "We get by with a little help from our friends".

The Beatles

"There is potential, I verily believe, Al Akhawayn University of Ifrane contributes to needy public school library  bookshelves furnishing".

Khalil Zakari

kzakari@yahoo.com

Middle School Global Test Construction: Art or Science?

Within the field of test development, the tasks and/or questions that are used to construct tests and examinations are referred to as ‘items’, and the range techniques involved in preparing those items are collectively referred to as ‘item writing’.

Is item writing an art or a science? The best item development techniques combine elements of both these intellectual activities. On the one hand, there is a fair amount of experimental method, which we might recognize as scientific, incorporated within the whole set of procedures for developing a good item, or the sets of such things we call ‘tests’. However, writing a good item is also a highly creative act. By the end of the process something new, powerful, and useful has emerged – a test instrument which has used words, symbols or other materials from a curriculum or a syllabus in a new way, often to serve a variety of educational purposes. In doing so, the item developer needs imagination and ingenuity as well as knowledge: form, structure and balance become important, as they are to a sculptor or a musician.

DESIGNING GLOBAL TESTS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Source: Alderson, J. C., Clapham, C. & Wall, D. 1995 Language Test Construction and Evaluation. CUP.

WEBLIOGRAPHY:

Language Testing and Assessment: http://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/ENL286/Testing%20books/Language,testing%20%26%20assessment_Davidson.pdf

Guideline for Best Test Development Practices https://www.ets.org/s/about/pdf/best_practices_ensure_validity_fairness_english_language_assessments.pdf

Language Test Construction and Evaluation: https://books.google.co.ma/books?id=cB0b1FnLbfgC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

AMA ACCESS STUDENTS GRADUATION CEREMONY AND LEADERSHIP FESTIVAL

 AMA ACCESS STUDENTS LEADERSHIP FESTIVAL AND GRADUATION CEREMONY 

Centre d'Accueil des jeunes « Tin Hinan » 

 (TIZNIT, February 3rd-5th, 2016)

Nineteen students  from Tahla High School (Taza Delegation) headed south to join their AMA FY 12 ACCESS fellows in Tiznit in order to celebrate their graduation from the afore-mentioned programme. It has been exactly one year since they met in M'diq for their first Leadership Festival.

DAY 1: (Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016)

09:00-14:00_  OPENING CEREMONY

+ Welcome speech: (Samira Idelkadi) 

+ Word of thank: ( Khalil Zakari & Youssef El Kaidi)

+ Briefings:  (Idris Lamkadem & Brahim Elkabous & Mohamed Abou Abdellah )

16:30- 18:30: Tiznit City Tour

DAY 2: Thursday, February 4th, 2016

09:00- 11:00_  GRADUATION CEREMONY

AMA Access students graduation ceremony was held in the Centre d'Accueil des jeunes « Tin Hinan » and  attended by representatives from Tiznit City Council, local authorities, the Provincial Delegation of the Ministry of National Eduation, Parents' Association and the local press outlets.

11:30- 14:30_ LEADERSHIP FESTIVAL

Leadership Festival Programme:

I- Public Speaking: 

1- Our experience in Access Program (Ikram FADIL) 2- Developing your country is your responsibility (Rajae Rifi) 3- How can simple things change our lives (Salima TOUILE) 4- Education (Adil Boufessi) 5- Turning points (Mustapha BIKICH) 6- How to involve youth in politics (Hanane Berghazi)

II- Singing 1- God Bless Morocco (Jamila) 2- Titanic (Fatima Zahra Haimoud, Chaimae SEFFAJI+ Salima TOUILE + Latifa TIGOUDERNE and Maryam lyajouri )

III- ICT Projects 1- Legends in the US and Morocco (Oussma and Ayoub) 2- Photo story (Aadila BENDAHOU) 3- The Best Destinations in Morocco (Aziz) 4- White skills (Abdellah AMRANE) 5- Volunteering (Badr Lamsiah)

IV- Poetry Readings 1- A Poem by Adil 2- Ikram Fadil 3- Rajae Rifi 4- Brahim Ghafour 5- Rajae Jabal

V- Drama 1- Hamlet (Soukaina Belouch) 2- Unconditional Love (Oussama, Hanane, Fatima Z) 3- Crazy Class (AbdellahAmrane, IkramFADILE, FatimaZahra HAIMOUD, Adila BENDAHOU, Hajar AMARIR) 4- TV Show (Assiya, Rajae and Hajiba) 

VI- Public Speaking 2 1- Drugs addiction (Latifa TIGOUDERNE) 2- Cooperation (Ikram) 3- Five ways to kill your dreams (Abdellah AMRANE) 4- Being Successful in Life (Amal)

VII- Singing 2 1- Someone Like you (Hajiba and Assiya) 2- Zombie (All Students)

VIII- ICT Projects 1- Making Great Decisions (Aziz) 2- Video games (Fatima Zahra HAIMOUD) 3- Hunger and Poverty (Chaimae Seffaji) 

IX- Drama 1- Fashion Fadma (BENAMER+Maryam YAJOURI + Soulaimane GOUIJANE + Yassine AHLAOU + Chaima SEFFAJI + Abdellah AMRANE + Latifa TIGOUDERNE….) 2- Hamid, Abdelaziz, Hanane, Fatima Zahra Lamrini (Short play) 3- My heart and I (LatifaTIGOUDERNE + Salima TOUILE) 4- A sketch by Amal and Fatima Zahra Lamrini 5- Agness (SoukainaBELLOUCH + Ikram FADIL) 6- A sketch by Ikrama and Amal 7- Crazy Teacher (Hasnae Belfeqih and Mustapha Bekkich) 8- My Head is Stuck (Mariam El Yajouri, Abdellah Amrane)

X- Public Speaking 3 1- Maths forever (Oumaima ARBANI) 2- English in the Modern World (Rajae Jabal) 3- Why I chose English (Hassna Boujanoui) 4- How to Realize your Dreams (Nouhaila) 5- How to Motivate Yourself (Hajar Amarir) 6- Reading (Yassine AHLAOU) 7- Obesity (Maryam lyajouri)

XI- Singing 3 1- All of Me (Soukaina Bellouch) 2- Drag me down (Ayoub Id Mohamed) 3- Group Song: AMA Acces

Special Interest Group Exhibition:

AMA  Access  alumni and their teachers, the programme supervisors and  the members  of AMA association are  hereby  expressing  their  deepest  gratitude to those people who have seldom been  recognized  for  doing  good  deeds  to such  big  events;  the  people  who  cooked  the delicious meals  we have enjoyed, cleaned the places we have stepped  in and  gave  us  rides and  asked for nothing in return.

Press Release:

TIZNIT 24 Press: http://www.tiznit24.com/?p=65512
TIZNIT 90: http://tiznit90.com/تيزنيت-حفل-جمعية-الأساتذة-المغاربة-خر/

AMA FY 12 Access Tahla Center participates in Peace Corps Goal 2 Project in Tangier

AMA FY 12 Access Tahla Center students participate in Goal Two Project, (Tangier- August 25-27, 2015). The three-day program included a bunch of talks, presentations debates and workshops animated by Peace Corps volunteers, tours in the Medina, a visit to the American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies, and an evening in  Cinémathèque de Tanger.

In 1961, President JFK established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship through three underlying core goals:

* To help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and women.
* To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
* To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Debates and workshops: The objective behind the workshops, talks and debates was to have participants understand what it means to be American, find out how people from other cultures may view Americans as a group as being different from themselves and discover how  understanding one's own culture can help  better understand another culture.

Visit to the American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies:

The Tangier Amrican Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) formerly known as TwALM), a thriving cultural center, museum, conference center and library in the heart of the old medina in Tangier, is housed in the only historic landmark of the United States located abroad. Saved from destruction by a small but dedicated group of diplomats and academics now operating as the Tangier American Legation Museum Society (TALMS), the Institute now operates with a locally-hired staff under the leadership of the Museum Director, Gerald Loftus.

As the AIMS research center in Morocco, TALIM has hosted many conferences on a wide variety of subjects. Through these AIMS conferences, TALIM encourages communication among North African scholars introducing them to the resources of the TALIM research library. The AIMS Maghribi scholar program administered in Morocco by TALIM compliments this objective by offering short term grants to Tunisian, Algerian, Mauritanian and Libyan scholars to conduct research in Morocco.

Cinémathèque de Tanger: (RIF CINEMA)

To wrap up the Tangier Peace Corps Goal 2  program, AMA FY 12 Access Tahla Center participants visited the Cinémathèque de Tanger (RIF CINEMA), watched "BOYHOOD" and voiced their opinions about the movie.

After six tireless years of renovation, Cinémathèque de Tanger opened its doors in 2006, in the historic Cinema Rif, with the aim of offering to the public films rarely seen in Morocco, and preserving and promoting the cinema of Morocco and the Arab world. Cinémathèque presents diverse screenings—from short films to documentaries, artists’ videos to narrative features—both within its own walls and abroad, as traveling programs. In addition, it also features educational programs, workshops for all ages, artists’ talks, and residencies, and continuously expands on an archive that represents the collective memory and vitality of Moroccan cinema. 

BOYHOOD:

A 12 year story of Mason the Younger, and his sister, Samantha lived a rough life with their mother, Olivia, divorced with their father, Mason. Mason is always giving them advices about living a simple life, when they were hanging out on the weekends. In their American-life journey, Mason Jr. must face the reality that his parents will never be together, started when his parents chose to marry again with other persons, and he must try to focus chasing his own career and achieving his dreams, step-by-step, even when the conditions are awful and full of ugly truths.

It has always been a pleasure to be there where youssef El Kaidi and his AMA FY 12 Access Tahla Center participants get together or move in order to improve their interpersonal communication skills, make new friends and acquire life-long learning resources. Big thank you goes to Charles Hintz for all the time and effort he has invested to make the journey happen and to all the young Peace Corps volunteers who shared their knowlege and expertise with our future interculturalists. 

Thank you, John Davison, Director of the Tangier American Insitute for Moroccan studies, for your friendship and for the warm welcome. Thank you Mohammed Assetih, continuing teacher development activist, for your company and thank you to everyone we joined and everyone who joined us, offered us food and lodging, made our beds to lie proud, talked and listened to us or shared his/her knowledge and know-how with us. 

Congratulations, Youssef EL Kaidi , for your on-going successful endeavor to serve not only English Language Education, where English Language Education is at stake, but your community as well. There is, I verily believe, so much Access Micro-scholarship program runners can learn from your expertise in talenting participants' English Language interpretive and interpersonal communication skills. Thank you for giving....