Alumni Ambassador Monique Grindell’s English Language Fellowship in Morocco Captured Her Imagination

Alumni Ambassador Monique Grindell credits her English Language Fellowship in Morocco (2022-2023) with expanding her sense of what her life could be. “While I had taught abroad in my 20s and early 30s, I hadn’t imagined doing so in my late 50s and 60s,” Grindell said. “Taking on the Fellow project in Morocco helped me see that I can still enjoy and adapt well to living and working in a country and culture previously unfamiliar to me.” Grindell’s fellowship also added to her “sense of worth as an educator,” building her confidence in areas of teacher training and professional development that have helped broaden her subsequent teaching pursuits.

Five decades into her teaching career, Grindell is now enjoying having the flexibility to pursue new professional opportunities, including English Language Specialist projects, which have had a profound effect on her. “My Specialist project in India in 2024 working with trauma survivors took me in a completely different direction from the academic contexts I was accustomed to,” Grindell said. “Because of these new teaching and cultural experiences, I no longer fear presenting on new topics in my field and I proudly share my knowledge and experience not only with students but also with other educators.”

For her primary duties as a Fellow in Morocco, Grindell taught undergraduate students in the English language teaching program at her host institution, École Supérieure de l’Education et de la Formation (ESEF). Her courses included Advanced Writing, Spoken English, and American Culture, with class sizes as large as seventy-five students. For her secondary duties, Grindell gave teacher trainings at Centre Régional des Métiers de l’Education et de la Formation (CRMEF), a post-graduate intensive program for English teachers, and facilitated workshops at a conference sponsored by CRMEF for educators from around the region. Each day in Morocco was infused with new learnings as she navigated the challenges of teaching in a new context. “In Morocco, I learned a lot about what students value, and about the expectations in the educational system from an administrative standpoint, too,” Grindell noted.

In the last week of her fellowship, Grindell’s taxi driver invited her to join him and his family at their home for the annual Eid al-Adha celebration. Grindell and her driver had become good friends, going to local markets together and enjoying their interactions in a mix of Arabic, French, and English. While Grindell was looking forward to visiting her friend and his family, as a vegetarian she had some reservations about participating in this holiday known as the ‘Feast of Sacrifice.’ On their way to the festivities, they passed “a boy in sheep’s clothing,” quite literally, as the day’s slaughter had begun and the boy had a sheep’s pelt draped over himself. 

The events and activities that I wasn’t sure I was interested in…were more often than not the ones that broadened my understanding of the culture, and taught me how to find beauty in places where I hadn’t before, and for that I will always be grateful.

Upon arrival at her friend’s home, Grindell was “given the royal treatment” with cookies, mint tea, and a variety of colorful salads. Her friend’s sister offered to paint her hands with henna art. Meanwhile, intense smells wafted in from the terrace, where carcasses were bleeding out from the ritual sacrifice and family members were busy separating animal parts. Over the next couple of days, celebrations in the town continued with music and costumes. Local men roasted meat on street corners and more children played draped with sheeps’ pelts.Reflecting on the event, Grindell feels that it was representative of her time in Morocco, in which by staying open-minded she experienced unique hospitality and different aspects of the culture. “The events and activities that I wasn’t sure I was interested in, or even found a bit disturbing, were more often than not the ones that broadened my understanding of the culture, and taught me how to find beauty in places where I hadn’t before, and for that I will always be grateful,” Grindell said.

Grindell’s English Language Specialist project in Hyderabad, India, in 2024, consisted of two phases. After completing a needs analysis and creating a curriculum for a pilot course, Grindell taught basic English communication skills at a non-profit called Prajwala. She helped the students practice language that could increase their employability, facilitate self-expression, and develop self-confidence. For the course to be successfully replicated, Grindell adapted her curriculum through reflective practice and created a manual for other instructors to use. “Prior to this project, I had no direct experience with this population. I was both nervous and excited to be involved,” Grindell explained. “Spending time at the beginning of the project getting to know the participants and staff was immensely helpful.”

Six months later, Grindell returned to India for two weeks of workshops for staff members from different institutions and organizations. Grindell’s trainings focused on ways to implement and adapt the curriculum she’d created, with an emphasis on differentiated instruction. “In our discussions, we all learned about each of the participants’ jobs and student populations,” Grindell said. “Their students’ experiences with issues such as economic hardships  or physical challenges were such that the ways of teaching them varied greatly.” Wrapping up her project, Grindell visited one of the learning sites – a job center for people with disabilities – and as an honored guest on the day of the organization’s anniversary, she was asked to cut the celebratory cake! 

Grindell with her students at Literacy Connects in Tucson, Arizona

Currently, Grindell is volunteer teaching communicative ESL classes for recent immigrants and refugees at the non-profit Literacy Connects in Tucson, Arizona. In between her fellowship and Specialist projects, she has pursued various opportunities, including teaching an intensive English course to Mexican miners, and teaching online English conversation classes through Interlink International Institutes with Saudi Arabian professionals applying for graduate programs and with Japanese undergraduate students. “I am always learning new things from working with different populations, broadening my understanding of the world,” Grindell said. “I can’t wait to see what new opportunities will present themselves or who will walk into my classrooms in 2025!”

Hitting the road as an Alumni Ambassador has further opened up Grindell’s world of learning. Most recently, she represented the program at the WAESOL conference in Seattle, Washington, connecting with program alumni, meeting new teachers, and sharing her experiences in a recruitment presentation. “My experiences in both the Fellow and Specialist programs have been very fulfilling for me. They have opened up parts of the world and parts of myself that I’d not explored previously,” Grindell said. “I want to spread the word so that other educators can benefit from these types of experiences.”

Stay tuned for our next featured Alumni Ambassador story with Brandon Sherman.