Rabat – The British Council Morocco hosted 20 English teachers today, each of whom represented a Moroccan school that won the 2018-2020 International School Award (ISA).
ISA rewards schools “having an outstanding level of support for nurturing global citizenship in young people and enriching, teaching, and learning,” according to a statement from the British Council obtained by Morocco World News.
Mohamed Hassim, a trainer at ISA with British Council Morocco and a teacher supervisor at the Taroudant directorate, told MWN that ISA “started in Morocco in 2009 and this is the third generation that we have of the International School Award winners.”
Hassim noted that this year marked Morocco’s largest number of winners. “We have twenty schools from nine academies and thirteen directorates,” he added.
According to Hassim, the event is a very important project for schools because they “get involved in international partnerships.”
It is also good for students as teachers use English in a very realistic context. It is not the context that it only includes exercises and textbooks and so on, but this is an open context where they use English for realistic purpose and to open up to other cultures,” Hassim said.
MWN also interviewed teachers from the schools that won ISA.
Larbi Arbaoui, a middle school teacher in Taroudant directorate, told MWN “The international school award is a prestigious award that crowns dedication, collaborative work, and efforts made throughout the whole school year.”
“It is an excellent experience that personally gave me a golden chance to develop professionally and enlarge my network,” Arbaoui added.
Nazha El Youssfi, a teacher from Fez, said that ISA will help her develop teaching methods.
She added that the award will also provide the students with self-confidence, self-esteem, and help them become global citizens.
Mohamed El Ghazi, a high school teacher from Zagoura, said that winning “was really great, because it offers you to work with national and international partners and to share several international activities, including citizenship, human right, leadership.”
Aziz Asoubai, a teacher from Guelmim, said he joined ISA because he wants to get the students “out of the classroom … and boredom and to make them learn and get new friends from across the world.”
John Mitchell, country director of British Council, said, “The International School Award is a prestigious badge of honor for schools that can bring an international dimension to teaching and learning.”
At least 70 high schools from nine regions of Morocco applied to the ISA.
The 20 winning schools received a trophy and certificates for the “school, principal and ISA coordinator.
The statement added that the winning schools “will be allowed to use the coveted International School Award kite mark along with their school logo on all the official stationeries.”
ISA?
ISA is an annual award offered to schools on the basis of their application and whether they represent an outstanding level of support for nurturing global citizenship in young people and enriching teaching and learning.
“The ISA approach to school development is holistic and mirrors the curriculum based project work approach to encourage the teachers to use with their students,” added the statement.
The event took place in Rabat’s Center for Training and National Gatherings.
