Special: An Issue out of the Archive

        I would like to thank Miss Soumaya Benrochd for having stirred ECO after some period of stagnation due to different reasons, among which the lack of contributors and transfer of its founding members from the university’s surrounding to distant locations, either around in
Morocco or abroad. But innovative and active minds are always nearby and we just have to look around for them, or they equally have to look around to find us, the looked for space or target. Soumaya has proved to be one of the minds of the second type. She looked for ECO that was active for some time ago and is now no longer there. Ignited with her enthusiasm, she started the move: she contacted me asking about ECO and its plans, and why has the blog not been edited for some months till now. After having explained the situation to her, she suggested the rebirth of ECO. This e-newsletter has been in my archive for more that 12 months with some touches needed for it for completion. Thanks to Soumaya, rectifications and more than few touches have been brought to it. For her encouragements, suggestions, and spirit of responsibility I thank her very much, personally and on behalf of the previous members of ECO who I believe still think of the project and will be happy to see this issue ready for dispatch, hoping that their circumstances will ease them out a bit to allow them to contribute to the continuity of ECO. I equally thank Mr. Anas Malki, Mr. Jalal El Mir and a long list of ECO members, contributors and friends for their readiness to cooperate. I also believe that if ECO started at the university, it should by no means end by the end of university years. Its aims can be expanded, and our experiences from different places can enliven the project and feed it with more vitality, work, ideas, and hope. Now that ECO is coming back, we need to nurture it with what we have and what we do not have. Taking university students as its main contributors, it will from now on turn into a more open space for creative minds, be they high school students who plan to join the university and consequently contribute to its activities beforehand, or undergraduates, graduates, or postgraduates who like to enrich to their life at the university with extracurricular activities. The space will be also open for alumni students whose memories never forget the old spaces and places of learning, as ECO’s blog proves through the very positive feedback it received from ex-students at Oujda university who are working or pursuing their studies overseas…I always believe that ECO was born to live ‘somehow.’ Together we can always realize this ‘somehow.’ Let the echoes of ECO be heard through group-work, through ECO’s group-work.

Mohammed Hashas

6 January 2009, Rome.

Editorial

Two years have elapsed since the foundation of the English Club at Oujda University (ECO) and one wonders what activities it has organized, and what achievements it has realized. Here comes the third issue of the Club’s newsletter to update its readers and friends of what it has achieved and what it still plans to achieve. Actually, this is the 3^rd electronic version, and 5^th in print since 2 newsletters had already been published by students of the department in 2002 and 2003 before ECO was set up.

This academic year 2006-2007 has been fraught with activities thanks to the cooperation ECO agreed upon with the newly established Anglophone center in the city: it is Oujda American Corner (OAC). The birth of contact roamed in the air when the MA students (who run the Club) were invited to take part in the multifaceted debate with the US ambassador in Rabat on 7 February 2007. The debate culminated in the first formal meeting (7 March 2007) the Club had with the Corner’s director, Mr Mohamed Bendaha, who amiably welcomed our suggestions and the agenda proposed to him for future activities. Since then both ECO and OAC have been organizing debates, talk series, training and orientation sessions for those interested in Anglophone studies at large. Actually, despite the time constraints they had to grapple with, ECO activists could but go with the agenda they traced some two years ago, taking perseverance, communication and research as their fuel towards better presence in the academic circles. That is why the follower of ECO activities can notice how many conferences, national and international, the Club was invited to take part in in a very short period of time, which widened the scope of vision of the Club members and expanded their contact list to a very satisfactory length.

To say but this, the steps ECO has taken this year would have been less if OAC has not seen light at this particular time. An Anglophone center in Oujda was a great need, and its cooperative spirit now would, hopefully, break the isolation the region, and especially the English Department at Mohamed I University, suffers from by trying to carry out as many activities as possible among the ones suggested by ECO. This be our aim at ECO and OAC, we do hope that more support, be it morale, logistical, or financial, is still needed for much better cultural and communicative projects – this every dedicated member and advocate should  take as his/her responsibility if he/she wants to see ECO and OAC (and with them research and communication) flourishing. We trust the potentials of our members and friends, and we hope they will be up to our expectations!

Content

The newsletter stretches over 29 pages which report the Club’s activities at the university and in collaboration with the American Corner. It also includes students’ creative writings, illustrated with pictures. To have your copy of the newsletter, contact us at hashasm@gmail.com and get your PDF version the same day!

What do they say about us?

I have just looked through the English Club website. Congratulations for
the amazing work you are doing!
Keep me posted.
Best wishes and good luck with your research.
Sabrina Brancato, professor at Frankfurt University, Germany.

I run through your two Newsletters and I realized that they were very interesting in terms of presentation.  The lay out is almost professional and the organization of material is as well. 
Mohamed DELLAL, Head of the MA programme, School of Humanities, Oujda University.

About the two newsletters you sent me…It’s wonderful!… I’ m very thankful. good luck and best wishes.

Said Elbousklaoui, a professor at Oujda University, Morocco.

Receiving your newsletters is such a lovely and agreeable surprise! I must congratulate you for your enthusiasm and energy. You did a great job!

Congratulations again to you all. I’m looking forward to receiving other issues.

Chourouq Nasri, professor at Oujda University, Morocco.

I liked the ECO magazine, you really did a good job, I hope in the future it will transform to more solid work, the thing I am so sure of. Have a nice time man.

Thanks, go on I like the way you handle it.

Jaouad Redouni, PhD candidate Fes, and Junior Teacher of English, Morocco.

Hi there,
I am glad to be kept updated on the American Corner’s activities and I would like to thank you for the efforts you are making to do that.

Moundir ALAMRANI, PhD candidate, Fes University, Morocco.

                        For an Effective  Intercultural Communication

By Ikram CHALLI

Culture

Culture may be defined as a system of taken for granted assumptions about the world that influences how people think and act. Those assumptions arise from the shared experiences of a group of people.

Because different groups speak different languages and have different experiences, they construct different visions of the world and live those in out in a common culture. When people from different cultures come in contact with one another, those distinctive visions of the world and ways of doing things may collide, or combine over time, or co-exists harmoniously. Each of these potential outcomes happen through, and at least partly because of, communication.

It is not always easy to define culture, but its importance as the light which guides the minds and hearts of the globe’s people should not be underestimated. Culture, in short, is the framework for how people see the world- their perception of reality, how it affects them, and what their actions will be.

Interacultural communication

Interacultural communication can be understood as the meeting of local cultures that are included in the same society.

For more illustration, we can give the example of Oujda. If we go to the university Mohammed 1st, we will find students coming from different regions such as Feguig, Nador, Berkan, Zayou, Elhoucima and so on, they have different cultural and linguistic background.

When they live together and study together, they develop their communicative skills, i.e. each one shares and exchanges with the others his or her culture spontaneously or not; even though there are some cases that are close to themselves, and I think that this closeness is due to linguistic reasons.

The reason why Oujda is considered as a centre for intercultural communication is that it is the capital of Eastern Morocco. Nevertheless, if we go to Rabat or Casablanca, we will find a huge number of people with different cultures and they co-exist because of economic and studies reasons.

We have to bear in mind that each city has its own cultural characteristics either in music, the way of cooking, the way of dressing, and even their accent. This refers to a mosaic of traditionsM.

Intercultural communication

Before discussing the issue of intercultural communication, I would like to cite a Quranic verse, whose main meaning focuses on our subject. I will say it first in Arabic and translate it.

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم :

” يأيها الناس إنا خلقناكم من ذكر وأنثى وجعلناكم شعوبا وقبائل لتعارفوا إن أكرمكم عند الله أتقاكم “

       “O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made of you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.”

From this Qu-ranic verse we can deduce that Islam from the beginning had worked for the sake of motivating people on knowing the others and interact with them peacefully.

Going now to the definition of intercultural communication, it is wider than interacultural communication, in the sense that it includes many cultures all over the world. Its principals guide the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism.

People from cultures encode and decode messages differently increasing the chances of misunderstanding, so the first consequence of recognizing cultural differences should be to assume that everyone’s thoughts and actions are not just like ours. Such assumptions stem from potentially devastating ignorance and can lead to much frustration for members of both cultures.

To overcome such problems of cultural interactions, one should have an open mind, and prepare oneself to understand the other. In addition to this efforts were done in the educational and also business fields that are provided by text books including communicational situations in which the participants share different national origins. They arise communication across cultures and promote for intercultural awareness.

Moreover, in the recent years professionals in a wide variety of fields-including diplomacy, international relation, development, scientific and academic cooperation, business, health, and culture-have come to realize the importance if intercultural communication in their everyday word. Fast travel, international media, and the internet allow direct communication between people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Media and Intercultural communication

       Technology has come to play an exceptionally relevant role within the features and characteristics of the global eco-society within which we contemporaneously survive and interact. This, moreover, is something that tends to be made especially more evident when considering it in light of the significant degree to which practically all sectors of society tend to currently depend upon respective technological integrations. From the business to the political and from the scientific to the religious sector(s), each seems to have its respective share of technological integration that is typically tailored to yield maximal profitability and/or stability.

       The relationship of intercultural communication to mass media considering the obvious degree of advancement and development that the media has experienced since its days of radio programs, and television, we will now consider how this evolution had been instrumental to the rise f intercultural communication. It is essential, for instance, to consider that media productions, exclusively tailored for the purpose of entertainment on the TV and theatre have been increasingly adhering to illustrate individuals of diverse cultures within domestic or local situational setting. This, moreover, is a trend that has also been implemented vice versa; that is to say, that local cultural icons are illustrated in situations occurring in foreign environments and/or in close accompaniment to foreign cultural icons. A media trend that has been increasing till this day, this is something represents the inherent curiosity that cultures tend to entertain in concern to the features and characteristics of individuals from diverse cultures and ethnicities. This is something that has and will continue to encourage the individuals of one culture to assume a modicum of understanding, whether accurate or not, in context to the beliefs and traits of another culture. This canvas for this intercultural exchange, moreover, has been especially enhanced as a result of widespread proliferation of internet and its vehicular extensions that have been acknowledged within the prior section.

       Disadvantage(s) of intercultural communications prompted by electronic media: And while this something that would appear to be dominantly advantageous, it is crucial to consider that this is not always so. Take into consideration, for instance, the fact that media productions in the line of the action flicks and programs sometimes have particular elements that induce negativist attitude(s) against particular culture(s) being portrayed. Furthermore, while this negativity is not always prevalent, it would be relevant to consider that the very existence of such possibility is something that guarantees the outbreak of socio-ideological contention at a particular point of time in the future.

       To illustrate this point, I will give an example from real life. It is about those who bombard themselves in the name of Islamic foundations, the media in this case is propagating the idea that all the Muslims are like that, so they take one case and make an over generalization; this is very dangerous.

    Conclusion

       It is quite apparent therefore, that the boost in intercultural communications that has been brought about as a result of the significant development of media is something that is dominantly advantageous to society, in the sense that it helps for societal development? It would, moreover, be conclusively apt to acknowledge that the eventual outcome of this is something that will be governed entirely by the purpose of the individual(s) seeking to attain comprehension of another culture. This, moreover, is something that emphasised even more strongly when considering it from the point of view that understanding other cultures effectually and completely is something that does indeed  tend to promote globally communal co-existence, will being and understanding. It is quite apparent that understanding cultures from geographically isolated parts of the world is a step in the direction of uniting and maximizing the possibilities for worldwide peace and stability.

Stereotypes, Communication, and Networking

(at The American Corner Oujda in November 2007)

By Mohammed HASHAS

December 2007

November 2007 was an occasion for the English speaking individuals of Oujda city to exchange ideas with some Americans about the American life and about the possible ways of more understanding between the Moroccan and American people, leaving apart the political issues that generally hinder this understanding and co-work. It first started with Ms Paula McLaughlin, an American teacher of French at Mercy High School, San Francisco, California, who was invited to animate a debate on Stereotypes and Moroccan-American Communication on November 6, 2007. What might be of surprise about the event is that while she was expected to find grounds of understanding between her country and Morocco, the director of the American Corner, Mr Mohammed Bendaha, was simultaneously doing the same thing in the US for his country, Morocco, and the US. They happened to be ambassadors of their societies at the same time. And it is no wonder still to know that while in the US he had the occasion to talk about the Corner’s activity that particular day, November 6, as he recounted to me after his return back home.

With MacLaughlin, and luckily with the director’s stay in the US at the same time, stereotypes were put on the table for correction or refutation. Though so many times the stereotypes are negative, this should not be a barrier towards comprehensive and understanding communication, that is how a young high school student with a young veiled girl brought the debate to near conclusion – calls which were applauded by the attendants because they (the calls for a better understanding) are initiated by the seemingly youngest participants in the debate.  What lent an academic aura to the debate was the presence of three university professors: Dr Jim Long, an American Fulbrighter at Oujda University, Dr Said Mentak, and Dr Mohammed Elkouche. Each was invited to say something about how they see the topic in focus; each responded according to his own experience and outlook.  In the main, it should not be understood that the debate has corrected all the stereotypical images each society has on the other. That does not happen over a two hours exchange of ideas. There is still a lot to be done, that is why more efforts are still to be directed to this point. Outreach programme is one way among possible many.

On 27-28 November, the US Embassy Public Affairs Bureau in Rabat reached Oujda within its Outreach Programme. For two days then the American Corner members as well as the English Department students at Mohammed I University met and exchanged ideas with some of the Embassy staff, be they Moroccan or American,  and participated in discussion about the American society, some of its aspects of life, its multicultural features, and possible ways of studying at its universities. The opening activities were held at Mohammed I University, School of Humanities, where a number of books were first exhibited and later donated to both the English Department library and the Corner’s. The English Department was mainly present in the person of it head Dr Abdennour Kherraki and its students. Akeelah and the Bee film was projected to end it with the Spelling Bee competition and by the end of which rewards (books, cassettes, T-Shirts) were given to the participants. The film pictures what goes in the US schools yearly, since they compete to have the Year’s “best speller”, as it were. Besides this tradition, the film pictures the presence of many ethnic groups in the American society, which are considered American despite their origins and differences. It may also be looked at as an example for teachers and tutors to consider new ways of teaching.  For students, it also means hard work and perseverance.  

The second day hosted a large number of visitors as it was programmed as Open  House, or Open Doors, during which activities of the Corner were exposed in a video. The books exposition was an opportunity for the visitors to have a look at the newly donated books. By the end of the day I was taken unawares by the director of the Corner to give the closing speech, which was an honorable occasion for me to thank all the attendants, and mainly the organizing staff of the Public Affairs Bureau, the Corner and the university for hosting these events which must have been enlightening and rich on so many levels. It was also an occasion to stress our job as ambassadors of our societies and cultures. It is through such cooperative work that one becomes more active and productive in his society, and all starts by making contacts which should turn into social ties and social networks. One alone cannot be as productive as when he/she is involved in group work, which teaches more openness to other ideas and perspectives.  

The feedback we received from both the organizing committee and the attendants and friends of the Corner is very satisfactory and very encouraging indeed. We hope similar activities will be organized the year throughout. This remains the job of all of us, as members of the Corner, and activists in our society. History does not forget that; pictures, records, and reports do their job well. So make your presence memorable!     

Some of the English Club members had the occasion to publish some of their articles on line, and they would like to share them with you, freinds and readers of the blog. Here you find the titles and website links:


The Internet and ‘The Great Firewall of China’ by Nour-eddine Labiad

Available at:
www.dialogues.rutgers.edu/vol_05/essays/documents/Labiad.doc   

&

The Value of Values at the Age of Globalisation 
Vision and Mission: What Difference?
When Void Criticism Encroaches on Wisdom
Integration or Assimilation, That is Not the Question  by Mohammed Hashas

available at 
www.aljazeeratalk.net/talk

Below are extracts from the 2nd e-newsletter (4th issue in all) of the English Club. The choice is the editer’s. For the whole newsletter, email him at: hashasm@gmail.com .
Expecting your comments and contributions.
———

The Plague of Plagiarizing from the Internet

By Ilham BOUTCHICH

Not all thieves lurk in dark streets and parks. Some just sit in front of their computers, copying, pasting and printing. The Internet may seem another helpful source of information, but it misuses ‘the intellectual property’ to a great level. The problem with the majority of students nowadays is that they resort definitely to plagiarism to carry out their research, without being aware of the fact that not all what is on the Internet can be trusted. Although many people claim that using somebody else’s ideas and opinions without attributing them to is a form of theft, they certainly do not think of it a serious crime.
       Before the invention of the Internet, students were engaged in ‘prehistoric’ methods of academic dishonesty or what we call nowadays ‘Plagiarism’. Students could copy from books, magazines and newspapers; then long came the internet, which provides tons of information    that can be downloaded and copied at a touch of a button. Many websites offer pre-written term papers for any subject that a student may think of. Some of these papers are free, some can be purchased and they are ready for submission with bibliographies and references.
       So, what are the forms and shapes of plagiarism? Before dealing with this issue, a primary definition of the term ‘plagiarism’ sounds plausible. Macmillan English Dictionary defines plagiarism as: ‘The process of taking another person’s work, ideas or words and using them as if they were your own’. It takes many shapes and forms:

Using another writer’s ideas without proper citation. When you use somebody else’s ideas, you must state from where you got the information by using footnotes or other means of indication. By doing so, you are going to distinguish your own ideas and judgments from those you borrowed from other sources. In case your ideas are the same with those of  the writer you consulted, you should acknowledge that you both came up with the same  judgments.
Citing you source but reproducing the exact words of a printed source, without using quotation marks, makes it appear as if you have paraphrased  rather than borrowed the author’s  exact words.

Using another writer’s words without proper citation. You must place quotation marks around words or expressions you borrowed from a writer, to indicate that they are not your own terms.

Borrowing all or part of another student’s paper or using someone else’s outline to write your paper.
Handing in a work that is not your own (i.e. paying somebody to write the paper for you) is considered as a breach of the academic honesty.
        Obviously, the Internet has become more and more a favourite place for students to visit when searching for sources to use in research papers. This is mostly due to the wide and relatively simple access that the Internet provides to all kinds of information. Why traveling all the way to remote libraries when it is so much easier to open up a browser window and head to ‘Google’?  While the Internet can be a wonderful source and is a unique and versatile way of sharing information, not everything one comes across on the free area of the Internet can be trusted. There are several reasons for this of course. For one, the Internet tends to cover subjects more superficially than the printed literature, without the depth and context provided by a book. Most internet sources also lack explicit citations to other sources for reference. Such citations are an important part of articles found in professional journals for example.

Another important reason delineating why the Internet should not be the primary source of information for a term paper is its ephemeral nature. The printed literature (i.e. books) provides a permanent record stored in libraries. Information on the internet, however, has no permanency and is more like ‘the shifting sands of a beach’.
            The question to conclude with is ‘how to avoid plagiarism’ ?  Plagiarism can be avoided by reading the source material and taking notes and never copying word for word. This must be applied to the internet too. A good researcher never uses a plagiarized source into his own term paper. As an added disincentive to cut and paste from the Internet, remember that, your professor may suspect that a phrase is not yours. Plagiarism from the Internet is very easy to catch!

——————
Fiction

                                                               Step Son

By Mohamed CHAHBI

       Tahra was going to have a baby. All her muscles were trying to have the baby born. But unfortunately she was so thin, she couldn’t get the baby born. Moha took her to hospital, which was empty as usual. No first aid was given them. He called a nurse; she was trying to help her, but in vain. She told Moha that he must take her to the central hospital in order to have a caesarean. The central hospital was very far and the ambulance was out of order, so he took a taxi, which he found with difficulty though expensive. Tahra couldn’t bear suffering and pain; she screamed highly, and it was the last scream to shout. The baby got out Tahra, the nurse slapped it to make it breath, and she handed it to its father. It was a boy.

       Tahra became pale, calm, and breathless. She passed away. She was a pious and good woman.The nurse advised the father to keep his son in an orphanage, but Moha rejected the idea. He insisted on keeping his son in his charge whatsoever the circumstances might be. Two weeks later, the father couldn’t bear the burden of caring for the child. He asked his neighbour Amal to help him; she was a friend of Tahra. She accepted. Six months later Amal’s family decided to leave the town, so she had to hand the baby back to its father, and she advised him to get married to woman who could take care of Karim, the name given of Moha’s son. Moha didn’t welcome the idea.

“I will never get married. Though Tahra died she is still alive in my heart; I can’t forget the wonderful moments I spent with her,” he thought to himself before Karim’s scream awakened him to reality. Moha tried to placate his son’s screams and sobs. He prepared the milk, washed the clothes. “Oh my God, I can’t bear it; I suffer a lot; I must find some solution to this problem; I must!”

Moha took his son to a kindergarten, yet he found that the babies there are maltreated; he returned home with his son, all sadness, fed up with the situation.

“I must get married, but can I find the suitable woman?” He marched to his friend Ali in order to help him end this problem. Ali advised him to marry a girl from his own village. He asked his uncle for his cousin’s hand. He saw in her the right wife to attend to his Karim. “Yes of course my son,” the uncle tapped him on the shoulder. He asked the girl’s opinion. A man like Moha is rare to find though quite poor. His chastity could compensate for his poverty.

Moha got married to his cousin Mina; he had asked her to take care of his son,and she couldn’t say no. She would prepare the baby milk, wash its cloths. Karim is now four years. Karim called Mina “Mama”, he loved her so much; he didn’t know that his mother died the day of labour, the day he was to be born.

       One year later Mina met Ftou when she was shopping. Mina invited her for tea; Ftou accepted the invitation and accompanied Mina to her modest house.

“Welcome”

“Thanks”

They were discussing life’s problems. Suddenly “Mama” came out. It was Karim coming on the wrong time.

“Who’s he?” Ftou said.

“H is my son”

“Your son! But you’re too young”.  

“ I mean my step son”

“Your step son!

“Yes I married a man who has got a son with an woman before me. She is dead now. He asked me to take care of his son and I accepted”

“But why don’t you have a son of your own who would take care of you when you are old?”

“I think Karim is my son though,” Amina retorted.

“Ha! but he is not yours, when he grows up, he will never help you, and he will take the whole heritage, don’t forget that, too.”

“But I had never beaten him; I deal with him as if he were mine.” She said innocently

“So you’re free, I just advise you.” Mina couldn’t understand Ftou’s speech; she thought that she wanted just to destroy her life. That same night she waited for her husband to come in. Once in she started:

“Moha I want to have a baby of my own”

“What?!”

“ I tell you that I want to have a baby”

“But why?”

“You know, Karim isn’t a baby of my womb,. Moreover, I want to have other babies”

“Please Mina, Karim loves you indescribably. He calls you “mama”  though you aren’t, and once pregnant you will neglect my son.”

“Yes he is yours not mine; I want to have mine, I’m not a nurse, I’m a wife. Besides, it is my right. Please Moha, I want to have this experience, please,” she implored with a kind of defiance.

“Yes it’s your right, but who will take care of Karim?”

Moha noticed that Mina insisted to have a baby. Karim had heard what Mina was saying. He cried a lot. That moment he began the inquisition about who his mother was: “Ma! Mina, aren’t you my mother?” He spoke with a childish sad tone.

Mina was angry: “yes I’m not, your mother was Tahra. She died when she was in labour to give birth to a baby, which is you!”

Amina shoched Karim, and her behaviour with him started to take another turn.

Two months later, Amina found herself where Tahra was some years ago. It was the central hospital.

“Congratulations Ssi Moha,” meaning Mr Moha, “your wife is pregnant,” said the only doctor available in the whole remote district.

“Oh! Thanks God, thanks a lot, doctor,” sang Moha joyfully to the doctor, with a sort of fear about Karim hidden in a corner in his white heart. Moha embraced Mina lovingly.

“You will have a baby”

But the doctor called Moha later to tell him something that is not to Mina’s liking: “your wife has a heart trouble, so the childbirth threatens her life; she must forget about having babies. She will never be able to support it, otherwise she would risk her life.” Amina heard the entire doctor’s speech; she refused the idea of miscarriage.

“Please Mina, your life is more important”

“ But I don’t understand why I have no chance!” she started crying never intending to stop it.

“You have Karim; he is your son also,” the kind Moha attempted at assuaging her bitterness.

“I want to have a baby, can’t you understand that! But you, men, are heartless!”

“You may die, and who can take care of your baby, absolutely another woman, do you prefer that?”

       Mina had no choice. She accepted to miscarry. Back home, they found Karim waiting for them. Mina embraced him forcefully as a mother can do to her sole son, thanking God for having Karim beside her.

—————
 

Roots of Vice

   By Driss ZAIMI

The source of vice conveys its roots,

With green overalls and heavy boots,

The “stone fire” minds should be vaporized;

And the world as whole must be civilized,

Kick out your traditions, creep away your mores,

And tear your clothes, then open your doors,

The stupid souls swallow with bowls,

The enemy is happy, he achieves his goals,

Oh my likeness! Preserve your clothes,

The world is full with various mouths,

T-short no matter how cold it is,

Snakes are without and even bees;

Love your life although you can not bear,

Slugs are proud though nothing to wear!!!

******************

The Lord!

You feel cold I am here to cover you,

You feel bored I am here to be with you,

Vice by instinct is easy to be done,

The sight is far, eyes are eager to run,

He follows. I follow. What we follow!

Good fish would never be at the shallow,

I ceased to weep, I tried perhaps to creep

From one sheet to another; I feel a sleep,

Expose you fruits to my greedy teeth,

Guide, rather I remain beneath;

Oh! You with that cats and dogs diction;

Pull me out of that absurd fiction,

I am alone, I need you my lord

I am cold. Cover me or I am abhorred!!!

————————

       “By the end of my fourth year I recall all the beautiful days at Mohamed I University, Oujda , four years of hard work…. I met good friends especially my gang…and of course there are my great professors who gave us the best. What is important now is to consider the end of our university studies as a beginning of our life because how we will deal with real problems is the most important exam in our life,” writes Amal OUARHLI, with a broad smile in her face.

The English Club members who are working in co-operation with the American Corner in Oujda are taking part in many of the activities The US Embassy Public Affairs Bureau in Rabat is organizing in Oujda, following the programme below. SO BE THERE!!

OUTREACH SCHEDULE

OUJDA

November 26-28, 2007

(Program 2 at the University) AMERICA DAY & IEW AT MOHAMMED I UNIVERSITY, ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

09:00 – 11:00                Presentation on Studies in the US at the School of Humanities ’ English                                           Department at the School of Humanities ’ English Department. Fouzia.

11:00 – 12:30                Presentation with visual slides on “The American Society: People and                                           Values.” Raddadi.

15:00 – 18:00                Film showing ”Akeelah and the Bee,” then doing a spelling bee with  the students. Prizes will be awarded to winners (Jane Farrington and Cheryl Bostwick and Malika Baiz)

(Program 3 at the American Corner) 1st session of MEPI students’ selection at the American Corner

14:00 - 14:15                Welcome by David and introduction in English of the MEPI program.

14:15 - 14:45                Presentation by former MEPI student, moderated by IO Ranz. Ms.                                                Chourouk Berjaoui (MEPI alumnus) will share her experience.

                                   077-66-52-73.

14:45 – 16:45                 IO and RB to interview a group of students

Wednesday, November 28 (2nd day  in Oujda )

(Program 1) OPEN HOUSE AT THE AMERICAN CORNER

0900 -1700                   Open house in the American Corner.

           — Exhibit of PAS activities. MB/MG

           — A Slide show on “Scenic America” and “Diversity in the U.S. ” - AR

           — A Slide show on “Ethnic America.” AR

           — AMIDEAST Booth – FA

15:00 – 16:00                IO discussion in English on American culture and values to a group of                                        students from a public school. 

15:00 – 18:00                Film showing ”Akeelah and the Bee,” then doing a spelling bee with AC                          members.  Prizes will be awarded to winners (Jane Farrington and                                      Cheryl Bostwick and Malika Baiz)

(Program -2 at AC) 2nd session of MEPI STUDENTS SELECTION (IO and RB)

16:30-17:30                  Interviews of a group of students