South Side Students Travel To Morocco For Spring Break

Nine Students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy recently returned from a spring break trip to Morocco. Photo Credit: Chicago Public Schools
Nine Students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy recently returned from a spring break trip to Morocco. Photo Credit: Chicago Public Schools

Southside Students Travel To Morocco For Spring Break

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Nine students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy in Englewood recently returned from their spring break trip to Morocco where they were able to visit five cities, live with local families, and practice their Arabic in real life situations and with native Arabic speakers.

The trip was made possible through the Qatar Foundation International (QFI) which is an organization that supports schools that want to connect their students with the Arab countries. QFI invited educators to apply

for the School Travel Awards for Global Exchange program by submitting a detailed application and forming a virtual online classroom with an Arab country.

Nine of Lindblom’s students who are currently studying Arabic were selected to take the trip to Morocco based on their proficiency and comfortability with the Arabic language, according to information provided by Chicago Public Schools.

“In seventh grade, we have the option to choose whether we want to learn Arabic or Chinese,” said Jasmine Green, an 11th grader at Lindblom Math and Science Academy. “I chose Arabic and you only have to do Arabic for two years but I really started to like it, so I kept going and now I’m in Arabic five.”

While the students were chosen for their outstanding skill in speaking Arabic, many were still surprised to learn that real world application of a foreign language isn’t always as easy as it is in the classroom.

“There are different dialects of Arabic wherever you go but the Moroccan dialect is really difficult to learn. Even our teachers said that it was difficult for them to understand what some of the Moroccans were saying.

That was one of the things that was just very different coming there. I learned a lot of new words that I thought I already knew which was really fun,” said Laila Morris, a ninth grader at Lindblom Math and Science Academy.

During the trip, students were placed in home stays with local families and had the opportunity to have an authentic Moroccan living experience.

“My homestay experience was different than I thought it was going to be because there weren’t all the luxuries I would have in my own house. However, everyone was so hospitable and even though the mother and siblings didn’t speak much English, we were still able to form a bond and they were very kind to me,” said Chelsea Cooper, 11th grader at Lindblom Math and Science Academy.

During their home stay, the students were tasked with cooking an authentic Moroccan meal and quickly noticed several differences between the food they were accustomed to in America and the food that they were making

from scratch with their host families.

“One thing that stood out with the food is that they eat bread with every single meal,” said Johnneisha Lee, 11th grader at Lindblom Math and Science Academy. “The food was really authentic there compared to American food which is really processed and you don’t really know where it is coming

from.”

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