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Fez - The American Language Center (ALC) and the Arabic Language Institute in Fez (ALIF) offer a variety of clubs and activities to serve both Moroccan and foreign students. It participates in community service, furthers the education of students, and helps teachers develop their skills.
Apart from interactive classes to teach English and Arabic, the ALC strives to enhance students' knowledge by providing extracurricular activities and entertaining educational, cultural events as well as by providing entertainment.
The Center achieves its objectives through hiring the best teachers, whether they are Moroccans or native speakers of English, and exposing students to a variety of extracurricular activities that provide an anxiety-free atmosphere that helps develop intrinsic motivation.
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ALC Film Club: students are discussing answers which they've submitted on Socrative (by Jamal Morelli)[/caption]
As a step towards promoting competitiveness and encouraging students to learn English, the ALC gives students in public schools and universities the chance to study for free and benefit from the resources in the library and the various clubs organized by the administration.
In an interview with Morocco World News, ALC Director David Amster said, “The purpose of the clubs and activities is to help Moroccan and foreign students learn about the other’s culture and to provide an opportunity to practice English and Arabic outside of class.”
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During an Activity of ALC Photography Club (by the club)[/caption]
Members of the Center can choose from various activities to suit their interests. If a student is an avid reader, the ALC Book Club, run by Mitch Virchick, is dedicated to promoting reading. Attendees enjoy reading novels and poems with a thorough discussion of themes and cultural issues and provides the opportunity to use English authentically. To encourage literacy in Moroccan students, the library can be used by all ALC students and library members, and the bookstore offers books starting at MAD 20.
Film lovers can also enjoy their passion. Jamal Morelli, an innovative and energetic teacher at the Center, presents a film each Friday afternoon and enables his students to hold Skype conversations with native speakers as a pre- or post-watching activity in addition to group interaction and the pedagogical use of social media. Every Friday evening at the ALIF Riad in Batha there is a film in Darija or Arabic, which Moroccan and foreign students watch and discuss afterwards. There is also an excellent collection of 1,000 DVDs that anyone can borrow for free.
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During an Activity of ALC-FEZ &ALIF Cooking Club (by the club)[/caption]
Additionally, the administration often invites scholars from Morocco, the larger Arab world, and foreign countries to give lectures in their fields of specialization. Recently Leila Abouzeid, renowned author of Year of the Elephant, gave a fascinating lecture to ALC and ALIF students.
For those who like sports, the ALC sponsors a football team (the most famous sport in Morocco). The team participates in a yearly tournament involving ALCs around Morocco.
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Community Service Club ALC-Fes & ALIF (by the club)[/caption]
To promote the spirit of volunteering, the ALC-ALIF Community Service Club, a group of Moroccan and foreign students, organizes various charitable activities for youth to participate in, such as donating blood, tutoring needy children, cleaning public spaces, and gathering clothes for the impoverished. Additionally, the Club has improved the skills of students through workshops on public speaking, leadership, and art.
The ALC also provides courses for teachers to brush up and enhance their skills. Currently the Center is providing a scholarship for public school teachers to further increase their knowledge of English.
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