Host Teacher Week...Introducing Hicham!

April 21—After a wonderful week with my Fulbright teaching colleagues, we said farewell and took trains and planes to our host communities. 

Arriving at the Casablanca Train Station.

Public Art at the station: Africa outline surrounded by wall mosaic - Very Moroccan!

On the platform of the Casablanca train station. Fès, here I come!

Lisa-Erika, me, and Whitney, at the train station en route to Fès.

Well, after a smooth and relaxing train ride from Casablana to Fès, my traveling partners and I have reached the cherry-on-top part of our trip - arrival at our host city Fés! Hicham, our energetic host teacher for the week, greeted us before we even stepped off the train onto the platform.  He told us that he talked to the gate agent and told him he must get special permission to us on the platform.  He said, “I told him I had VIP guests to meet.”  Talk about another warm Moroccan welcome!  Another note is that he had been in Brighton, England earlier that same day...He presented on the "5Cs" of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and on AI in education.   We asked if he was tired.  He said no, not at all.  

Whitney, me, Hicham, and Lisa-Erika upon our arrival at the Across Hotel in Fès.

He insisted on carrying all of our luggage and we made our way to his car.  In the coming days, we would learn that Hicham has the gift of connection; whether in the classroom, in the shops of the Medina, or at a cultural site, he would find a way to make a connection and make sure they we did as well. We also learned that connection is one of his "5 Cs" in the classroom too. We were seeing the C of "connection" in action - before we even enter his classroom.   

​As I start to watch for the ways that my 'guiding question' plays out in schools and society — How do schools and teachers in Morocco maintain high levels of engagement and ensure gender parity and equal opportunity for all students? — I can see that connection will be at the top of the list in Hicham's pedagogy.

Hicham at the TEFL Conference in Brighton, England

We also quickly realized that we would be looked after every minute of each day, and that Hicham is "famous" on the streets of Fès.   Flash forward: On the second evening of our stay in Fès, Hicham taught a class and the word “famous” came up as a vocabulary word.  He explained to his students: “it means popular.  Everyone knows you.”  We couldn’t help but chime in, “It's like your teacher! Hicham is famous!”

Hicham connecting with one of many friends and locals in the Fès medina

It only took us a few times in the car with him, only a single walk from the car to his home, one pass through the famous "Blue Gate" into the old Medina, for us to see that everyone knew him - and loved calling out to him.  We heard, more times than we could count, shouts of "Hicham!", from our left, our right, behind us.  Folks came out of their stalls to embrace him; they waved from motorcycles and on foot as we drove through traffic circles; they walked with purpose out of shops, classrooms, hallways to give him the “bro underhand high-five.  (Not sure how to explain that one but that's my attempt.  See above photo!) We even watched as he connected with the parking attendants on the streets each time we needed to find a parking spot once near the crowded edge of the old Medina.   From the first day in Fès, we knew immediately that we would be well cared for - and well-connected - in Fès!