Teaching foreign languages to children and youth in Rabat
Rabat July 5 - August 5, 2023
Volunteer project: In Morocco’s public schools, the delivery of language classes is compromised by many factors, such as crowded classrooms and lack of trained teachers (due to an overall low education level, especially when it comes to English.) Private summer lessons are of course available, but too expansive for most families. This is where you can play your part. Indeed, volunteers coming from abroad remain the best option to deliver these children a good quality education and free service. We believe that you and they will gain from this international experience.
We have chosen the district of Sale to carry out the summer scholar support project as volunteers' help is really needed in this area.
This summer school offers disadvantaged children the opportunity to strengthen their French and English skills in order to give them the possibility to attend university after they finish high school. Indeed, courses in Moroccan universities are taught only in French, therefore excluding automatically all children who went to public schools and did not receive a sufficient education in languages.
The aim of this project is to reinforce the language competences of children and young adults with few opportunities. We would like to gather both Moroccans and international volunteers so that not only the students but also the teachers benefit from the intercultural exchange.
The volunteers will teach English or French or both according to their capacities. Some additional free time activities will be organized with the children. The volunteers will work five days a week, four hours a day in the morning.
In the first 4 days of the project, the volunteers will be given a preparation course consisting of useful advice, a tour of the city, some hints about the culture, etc. A trip on the weekend will also be organized.
Language: English or French
Accommodation: Volunteers will be living with a host family.
Location: Rabat is the capital and fourth largest city of Morocco with an urban population of approximately 580,000. Located along the Atlantic Ocean, Rabat has a mild, temperate climate, shifting from cool in winter to warm days in the summer months. The biggest theatre place is the Theatre Mohammed V in the centre of the town. The city has a few official galleries and an archeological museum.
Terminal: Rabat
Age range: 18 and over
Extra fee: 80 Euros
The extra fee is intended to support the local host of the project who does not have sufficient funds. It is due upon arrival.
School support for children and youth in Casablanca
Casablanca July 5 - August 5, 2023
Volunteer project: The aim of this project is to contribute to the education of children with fewer opportunities. They don't have much chance of learning foreign languages either because the classrooms are too crowded to deliver a good education, or because the education level in public schools is low and teachers are not properly prepared to teach the language. Also, if the students want to take private lessons in the summer to reinforce their competences, they would have to pay high fees that the parents cannot afford. The help of volunteers coming from abroad would be indispensable for filling the gap for these children while at the same time volunteers are getting an international experience.
This summer school support project offers children the opportunity to strengthen their English and French language skills in order to increase their chances to attend university after finishing school. At Moroccan universities, courses are taught in French only which automatically bans children from public schools as they don't have sufficient language skills.
The volunteers will help reinforce the language capacities of disadvantaged children and youth in Casablanca. Both Moroccan and international volunteers will take part in the project. The volunteers will teach English or French or both to local children and youth. Some additional free time activities will be organized with the children.
The volunteers will work five days a week, four hours a day in the morning.
Language: English or French
Accommodation: Volunteers will be living with a host family.
Location: Casablanca, in Arabic Dar El Baida, is the biggest city in Morocco and actually in the Magheb region. It is the economic and business center of Morocco. Casablanca is one of the most important cities in Africa, demographically and economically, being one of the largest financial centers in the continent. Its port is one of the largest artificial ports in the world and the primary naval base of the Moroccan Navy.
Completed in 1993 after many years in construction, the Hassan II Mosque is among Africa's largest, with one of the world's tallest minarets to boot. Thanks to its location on the waterfront, and the laser atop the minaret that beams toward Mecca, it’s one of Morocco's most striking buildings. It’s also one of the few mosques that permit non-Muslim visitors into its halls.
Casablanca’s central market is small and manageable. White-walled stalls with green clay tile roofs dotted with foliage make for all the Instagrammable backgrounds you’ll ever need. Vendors sell produce, nuts and dates, and argan oil - the traditional Moroccan elixir for most everything. Linger long enough and eventually you will see the vendors line up for the call to prayer, and then join them in a quick tagine lunch, served at outdoor tables.
The Aïn-Diab coast, the seaside annex of the city, is the traditional spot for inhabitants of Casablanca going out for the evening, especially at weekends. Trendy restaurants and popular pubs abound along the seafront. Some of these establishments, with or without seawater swimming pools, have been there since the thirties, like an unusual restaurant built on piles.
Terminal: Casablanca
Age range: 18 and over
Extra fee: 80 Euros
The extra fee is intended to support the local host of the project who does not have sufficient funds. It is due upon arrival.
Renovating a school and creating green spaces in Casablanca
Casablanca July 15 - July 30, 2023
Volunteer project: The aim of this project is to contribute to the improvement of a school in a disadvantaged area of Casablanca. Whilst Casablanca is known to be a cosmopolitan and vibrant city, poor areas like Sbata Ben Msik still don’t even have children parks. International volunteers will do gardening and improvement tasks in public areas in order to provide facilities for the kids and prevent them from playing in the streets. We extended this program to the maintenance of public schools (gardening and renovation) to provide these children with a good learning environment.
The tasks of the volunteers include painting the school, both as a basic maintenance and also in a creative way to bring life into it; cleaning the residence; creating green spaces, planting trees or shrubbery. Some additional activities, such as outings, will be organized with the children.
Apart from the renovation and brightening-up of the school facilities, the volunteers will have the opportunity to get in touch with locals and get involved in other activities related to Moroccan habits and way of life.
Language: English
Accommodation: The volunteers will be living with host families.
Location: Casablanca, in Arabic Dar El Baida, is the biggest city in Morocco and actually in the Magheb region. It is the economic and business center of Morocco. Casablanca is one of the most important cities in Africa, demographically and economically, being one of the largest financial centers in the continent. Its port is one of the largest artificial ports in the world and the primary naval base of the Moroccan Navy.
Completed in 1993 after many years in construction, the Hassan II Mosque is among Africa's largest, with one of the world's tallest minarets to boot. Thanks to its location on the waterfront, and the laser atop the minaret that beams toward Mecca, it’s one of Morocco's most striking buildings. It’s also one of the few mosques that permit non-Muslim visitors into its halls.
Casablanca’s central market is small and manageable. White-walled stalls with green clay tile roofs dotted with foliage make for all the Instagrammable backgrounds you’ll ever need. Vendors sell produce, nuts and dates, and argan oil - the traditional Moroccan elixir for most everything. Linger long enough and eventually you will see the vendors line up for the call to prayer, and then join them in a quick tagine lunch, served at outdoor tables.
The Aïn-Diab coast, the seaside annex of the city, is the traditional spot for inhabitants of Casablanca going out for the evening, especially at weekends. Trendy restaurants and popular pubs abound along the seafront. Some of these establishments, with or without seawater swimming pools, have been there since the thirties, like an unusual restaurant built on piles.
Terminal: Casablanca airport
Age range: 18 and over
Extra fee: 80 Euros
The extra fee is intended to support the local host of the project who does not have sufficient funds. It is due upon arrival.
Maintaining the natural landscape of Oued el Kanar
Oued el Kanar, Tanger-Tetouan August 15 - August 28, 2023
Volunteer project: Oued el Kanar valley is in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains. It is considered a highly preserved valley due to its nature and the traditional way of living of the local people.
The project was established by members of the local community with the aim to raise environmental awareness. Its major focus is on mitigatation of the effects of climate change and fostering intercultural education among the local community. The project is based in Ouad Kanar village in the north of Morocco, close to Chefchaouane and Tetouan. It is situated 90 km from Chefchaouane city, in an area that is famed for its cultural diversity. The volunteers will be hosted in a hostel and will be able to experience the cultural diversity and learn to live with and interact with members of the host community in an atmosphere of cooperation and solidarity. This project has hosted previously both local and international volunteers and it has great potential for replicating its activities in equally challenging circumstances in other regions of Morocco.
Volunteers will take part in various manual work and intercultural activities:
• Agroforestry including tree planting
• Landscaping and tending to bamboo trees in their natural habitat
• Cleanup activities, river cleaning
• Naming of trees
• Home visits
• Trekking in the mountain
• Intercultural learning coupled with home visits for exposure to development challenges.
• Possibility to visit nearby beaches
• Interaction with local farmers, sharing your knowledge, implementing your skills and experience in the daily farm life
• Help to document interesting, local traditional practices
• Help to clean up the river and create awareness in the area and the local community on the importance of nature
• Help to maintain the natural landscape
• Be part of an exposure visit to a farm and acquire hands-on experience in farming activities
• Meeting local farmers and learning about their methods of natural resource management
Language: English
Accommodation: The volunteers will stay in a hostel with basic living conditions.
Location: The El Kanar River, which has its headwaters in the western part of the Rif Mountain range, in the heart of the Talassemtane National Park, joins the Bouhya shortly before it flows into the Mediterranean, forming the vast Tighissasse delta. From its various sources, it crosses a rugged terrain made up of dolomites and limestone, reaching spectacular proportions before emerging onto the shale terrain in the canyon of El Kanar, patiently carved out by the flow of its cold waters over thousands of years. It is impressive for the visitor to contemplate the immense limestone mass overlooking the wide alluvial valley and the wild river flowing through the impressive gorge into the wide wadi surrounded by gentle cultivated hills and small villages scattered all around.
The valley of El Kanar summarises, as very few in the Mediterranean area, the constructive characteristics, the farming techniques and the use of water typical of the rural environment in which we find ourselves. Since ancient times, man has occupied this territory and transformed it for agricultural and livestock use. In former times, the valley was covered by Mediterranean woodland: holm oaks, gall oaks, kermes oaks... and a predominantly mastic undergrowth, which is still harvested to stoke the oven. Despite the rational use of the land, it should be noted that on some steep slopes, the loss of vegetation in favour of monoculture encourages erosion of these very thin soils.
Terminal: Tetouan Airport
Age range: 18 and over
Extra fee: 250 Euro
The extra fee is intended to support the local host of the project who does not have sufficient funds. It is due upon arrival.