Being away from home for the first time on my own, to a foreign country with a completely different culture, was a very special experience! The first contact with the host family was a little uncomfortable, but soon became clear that there was no need to worry. It was my birthday on the first day of classes, and when I came home, the host father surprised me with flowers and the family took me out for dinner in a fish restaurant near the sea, where the accommodation manager showed up to bring me some chocolate! This made the first day of classes quite a success, also because of all the motivated students and the passionate teachers, who made the classes very nice.
Common area of the school was very nice because of the large and bright space. The three classrooms are – compared to the common room – rather small, but that doesn’t bother because of the small amount of students. I mostly had lunch after the intensive class, as it’s customary in Morocco to have dinner rather late in the evening.
Safaa, the director of the school, is as friendly as the teachers and the people of the host family. She’s always available and you can contact her with any question. She always makes time for you and wants the best for all students. She does her utmost to ensure that every student will be taught at the appropriate level in order to learn as much as possible.
Lotfi, the accommodation manager who also arranges the excursions, will do anything too to give the students a good feeling. He visited with me – as an employee of ESL – various host families, so I got an image of the different types of families where students can stay. This was certainly useful to be able to perform my advisory function better at ESL.
A group visit to the main attractions of the city seems very interesting to get to know the city and the students outside the classroom. It was very nice that on Friday an event was organized at school: one week the girls got henna and we ate couscous altogether, the other week we had dinner with the students and the teachers in a Riad.
Overall, my experience with Sprachcaffe was definitely positive, mostly because of the very pleasant – almost familiar – atmosphere in the school. However, it’s clear that the school doesn’t exist for a long time yet and therefore it still needs to grow. The director is really passionate and knows already another building to which the school could move if the number of students increases.
What do you think?