English Language Fellow Sarah Bedrouni recently accompanied 43 English language teacher trainees from the Ecole Normale Supérieure – Rabat to the 36th Annual Moroccan Association of Teachers (MATE) Conference in Fez, Morocco. The teacher trainees participated in numerous workshops, plenary sessions, and discussion activities at the conference, themed “New Educational Reform: Alternative Pathways in Language Education”.
Throughout the past month, student trainees worked on academic posters on themes including motivation and learner autonomy in the classroom. The posters served as great discussion pieces during the conference and provided the student teachers with invaluable research experience.
The conference allowed the English trainees to witness firsthand how English can help the next generation of Moroccans and gave them the confidence to participate in and present at future conferences. For many of Sarah’s students this was their first academic conference where English language teaching was highlighted.