By. Kaylah Cruz-Herrera
The Center for Language and Culture, the school that all NSLI-Y students attend, holds different clubs every term. These clubs are designed to help Moroccan students practice their English in a creative way. They are also great for cultural dialogue.
Last semester, NSLI-Y students hosted Basketball Club and Chinese Club. This semester, Hamza, our program director, approached me about hosting Discussion Club. Discussion Club is a time when Moroccan students can talk and, sometimes, argue about a variety of topics. I agreed to host the club with Oumayma, a CLC student who majors in English at the university in Marrakesh.
The first meeting was fun, but uneventful. Since Oumayma and I had only announced the club two days before, only five CLC students attended. In the meeting, we talked about friendship and what it meant to us. The second meeting was another story.
Oumayma and I had wanted to discuss a more controversial topic: Spinsterhood. We had designed the club to start with a general discussion about marriage, and afterwards we would discuss women who choose not to get married. On the day of the second Discussion Club, the room filled quickly. We had originally arranged the chairs in a circle. So, as more people came, the circle kept growing until it reached the door. We ran out of chairs, so Oumayma and I ended up having to stand throughout the meeting.
Oumayma and I wanted to make sure that everyone in attendance had a chance to speak, so it’s not surprising that we never got off the topic of marriage. But, what was surprising was that we didn’t need to get off of the subject. Marriage was a very complicated issue for all of the participants. Morocco does not have the same ethnic and religious diversity as the United States, but that doesn’t mean that Moroccans aren’t divided on certain issues. In the meeting, we discussed the qualities of a good partner, love, independence, family responsibility, Westernization, and more. As the club’s leaders, Oumayma and I weren’t challenged at keeping the discussion interesting and full- the students themselves did that.
I was very happy to have learned more about Moroccans and their culture and I look forward to Discussion Club every Saturday.
The Center for Language and Culture, the school that all NSLI-Y students attend, holds different clubs every term. These clubs are designed to help Moroccan students practice their English in a creative way. They are also great for cultural dialogue.
Last semester, NSLI-Y students hosted Basketball Club and Chinese Club. This semester, Hamza, our program director, approached me about hosting Discussion Club. Discussion Club is a time when Moroccan students can talk and, sometimes, argue about a variety of topics. I agreed to host the club with Oumayma, a CLC student who majors in English at the university in Marrakesh.
The first meeting was fun, but uneventful. Since Oumayma and I had only announced the club two days before, only five CLC students attended. In the meeting, we talked about friendship and what it meant to us. The second meeting was another story.
Oumayma and I had wanted to discuss a more controversial topic: Spinsterhood. We had designed the club to start with a general discussion about marriage, and afterwards we would discuss women who choose not to get married. On the day of the second Discussion Club, the room filled quickly. We had originally arranged the chairs in a circle. So, as more people came, the circle kept growing until it reached the door. We ran out of chairs, so Oumayma and I ended up having to stand throughout the meeting.
Oumayma and I wanted to make sure that everyone in attendance had a chance to speak, so it’s not surprising that we never got off the topic of marriage. But, what was surprising was that we didn’t need to get off of the subject. Marriage was a very complicated issue for all of the participants. Morocco does not have the same ethnic and religious diversity as the United States, but that doesn’t mean that Moroccans aren’t divided on certain issues. In the meeting, we discussed the qualities of a good partner, love, independence, family responsibility, Westernization, and more. As the club’s leaders, Oumayma and I weren’t challenged at keeping the discussion interesting and full- the students themselves did that.
I was very happy to have learned more about Moroccans and their culture and I look forward to Discussion Club every Saturday.
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