The UW World Languages Day is an annual educational fair organized by the University of Wyoming, Laramie in the USA. All Language Departments are represented in this day. So many guests from different parts of the state have come to have a look at this variety and cultural diversity. As a member of the Arabic department and a Fulbright scholar and teacher of Arabic at the university, I had to present my language to the locals and guests.
Before the event, we have gone through a series of preparation meetings under the supervision of my supervisor, Dr. Ali Raddaoui. We have made some posters and calligraphy that shows the beauty of the Arabic writing. The university and the Global Area Studies Department had provided us with everything we needed to decorate our Arabic table. What was left is our will and enthusiasm to make the event successful and present a good image of Arabs and Muslims.
When the day has come, we were among the early participants to start decorating our table and organizing our stuff as shown in the above picture. Many people from different ages attended the event. For example, university staff, local residents students and many people from around the state of Wyoming. Many of them were caught by my Moroccan traditional clothes. They gathered on our booth and started asking about our clothes and our language. I have taken this opportunity to present many aspects of my Moroccan culture such as the teapot, decorated tea glasses, map of Morocco, pictures that depict the Moroccan cultural diversity and a long video from YouTube about Morocco’s wonderful natural landscapes. As many pictures show different ecological and different landscapes, people were amazed to know that in one country we have the snow, the sea, the Sahara and mountains. Accordingly, many of the visitors showed an interest in visiting Morocco. At that time I was glad and excited that presented some of my country’s aspects that might encourage people to talk about it to others, who in turn may decide to visit it.
The event gave me the chance to meet different people from all over the world, from which some of them were also presenting their culture and language during the fair. For example, I met people from Asia and South America, who gifted me with small souvenirs from their country. We talked about their culture as well.
In the afternoon, I had the opportunity to deliver two presentations; one was about the Arabic, while the other was about Calligraphy. I had a class of about 20 students. I talked briefly about calligraphy and gave them the floor to try to write their names in Arabic using ink and bamboos as the underneath image shows.
The students liked the idea and took their writings with them as a souvenir. I was surprised to see the event photographer, who was covering the workshops, asking us to take part in the calligraphy session. She was excited to write her name in Arabic for the first time.
In brief, I wanted to share this experience with the readers in order to encourage our schools and educational institutes to dedicate such annual events to let students, teachers, education officials, parents and the civil society build solid commitments in improving languages teaching and expanding our cultural knowledge, something that will lead to trigger in people the values of coexistence and tolerance.
