As-salaamu 'alaikum!


ورحمة الله وبركاته!

Welcome and marhaba to all Arabic students, parents, and interested readers!

My name is Brendan Work and I'm the Arabic teacher for the three public high schools in Missoula, MT: Big Sky, Sentinel, and Hellgate. I'm setting up this blog as an electronic resource for my students and colleagues, as a place to post pictures, videos, and other multimedia of varying educational value to the great lifetime goal of understanding and appreciating the Arab world.

As an exciting first taste of that world, five students and I are embarking tomorrow on an eight-day tour of Morocco, the western-most Arab country. It's the first time I've ever traveled abroad with students, though my third time in Morocco, and I can't tell you how excited I am. The educational travel company that put our tour together, Explorica, has been nothing short of excellent so far and I'd like to thank them right here for helping us out so much. 

Here are the companions for the trip (so as to intrude on nobody's privacy but my own, I'll be using everyone's Arabic names throughout these entries): third-year Big Sky student عبّاس, third-year Sentinel student زين and his mom أمّ زين, fourth-year Hellgate student عدنان and his dad أبو عدنان, third-year Hellgate student منصور and first-year Hellgate student ياسين. Then there's me, the tour guide Alessandra, and nine apparel production students from Florida who we'll meet in Paris.

Each of us has our own motivations for coming on the trip, but as Arabic students (whether enrolled or not!) we all share a focus on using our language in an authentic way and attaching what we've heard with what we'll see first-hand. We're going to document this trip thoroughly (meaning مية في المية) and take every opportunity we can to speak and listen to Arabic and understand Moroccan culture. So stay tuned to what we discover, check back often, and keep in touch by commenting!

Happy trails and كل محبّة,

Brendan

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