Media Coverage by : Abdellah Lamine
« The Third Millennium ELT Curriculum : Towards Building Capacity, Empowering Leadership and Developing Entrepreneurial Skills’’ is the theme under which MATE (Moroccan Association of Teachers of English) held its 39th annual conference on the period between 1-4, April, 2019, at Semiramis hotel, Marrakech, Morocco.
The conference addressed the theme from different prisms. Experts in the field of education were called upon to contribute, discuss, suggest and share, through the different conference formats, successful strategies and techniques to help reach these objectives.
Some of The main objectives of the conference this year, among other things, were to:
- Define the concept of English language Curriculum in the 21 century in the light of current educational challenges.
- Discuss the dimensions of different skills sought through curriculum design.
- Refine teaching standards concerning entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
- Revisit student’s needs in terms of teaching materials and the different teacher roles in this regard.
The conference witnessed four keynote speeches, fifteen presentation covering issues on the sector of education and sixteen workshop on the latest innovative approaches of teaching and learning English. In addition, more than 200 participants from miscellaneous regions of Morocco as well as abroad, UK, USA, Chile.., took part in this event.
Some Contributors from Morocco include:
- Mr. Abdellah Youssfi , Inspector and supervisor in the directorate of Skhirate-Temara and the president of Mate, who tackled on the strategic vision 2015-2030 under the topic ‘’Capacity building prospects and challenges in the strategic vision 2015-2010: The need for a revolution not an evolution.’’
- Mohammed Hassim, a retired teacher supervisor and former president of Mate, addressed a keynote speech on: ‘’ELT in Morocco: Reality and prospects.’’
- Fahmi El Madani, ‘’Desiderata in leadership development.’’
- Mohamed Bakkas, ‘’Professional development through mate CIRCLEs.’’
- Abdelatif laklida, ‘’Drama and ELT thinking in EFL.’’
- Other speakers: Samir Benmakhlouf, mohamed Ouardani, Abdelkader Chaddoudi, Mohamed Melouk, Reddad Erguig, Latifa Safoui, Majid Nassir, Samira Idelcadi, Brahim Khartite, Mohamed Hammani, Adnane Rehane, Elarbi Imad and Majid Nassir.
Contributors from abroad include:
- Kathryn Riley, a professor of Urban Education, UCL, institute of Education and international scholar addressed a talk on ‘’Teachers and leaders: Making all the difference’’
- Anton Florek, ‘’From here to Where? Exploring the purpose and impact of schooling’’
- Simon Cowton, ‘’Leadership for learning – turbo-charging the teacher learning communities’’
workshops conducted by:
Mr. chddoudi, Oumama Kabli, hicham Lemrani Alaoui, Aziz Soubai, Hicham, Astaifi, Athon Florek, Kathryn Riely, Mohammed Elmeski, Elarbi Imad, Simon Cowton, Adil El Alaoui, Jihane Ben Masoud, Toumi Lafi, Rodrigo Isla, Fahmi Elmadani, Mohamed Bakkas, Abdelatif Laklida, Nezha Youssefi, and Rajae Akhdar.
The conference was concluded with a speech delivered by Mr. Abdellah youssfi, MATE president, in which he took the chance to thank all the participants, speakers, partners, the sponsors as well as Semiramis hotel for the wonderful service and the great provided learning atmosphere. After that, Mate distributed certificates; everyone applauded members of the board, warriors behind the scenes, previous Mate presidents, participants, and speakers for making it such a huge SUCCESS.
Attendees described MATE’s 39th annual conference a SUCESSFUL event, and everyone is looking forward to the coming one.
