Review: The Arabic Language Institute of Fez, part I

I am frequently asked for my opinions regarding the Arabic school that I have attended in Fez, Morocco. The Arabic Language Institute of Fez ("Alif" as it is affectionately known) is housed in the Centre Americain, a large villa with a lovely English language bookstore and coffee stand in its courtyard.

​The center is run by David Amster, a classicist by training. I believe he took out college loans while a university student and used the money to buy Greek vases at one of the auction houses. He assures me that he has long since paid back the loans and it was "well worth it." Amster's commitment to the preservation of the historic old city of Fez (or "medina") is truly legendary. He once drove to Casablanca to rescue two old wooden doors that had been poached from a riad house in Fez, and returned them to their owner. David is delightful, informative and full of advice and wisdom about life in Morocco.

I think ALIF is one of the ​best places to study Arabic in North Africa, both because of price and quality of instruction. Many of the Arabic teachers there also work for the local university and many have advanced degrees. They also have worked for years with American students which has taught most of them that Americans are accustomed to a particular pedagogy when it comes to learning language, and it is not the memorize-regurgitate-repeat of the French system.

​The school is organized around six week modules. Their schedule is available here. Students can take three week or six week sessions in both Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Moroccan dialect or darija. The school abbreviates this dialect as "CMA" for Colloquial Moroccan Arabic. It's my sense that the curriculum is more standardized for the six week MSA sessions. The three week sessions are more variable and the students have more say in what is taught in those courses.

Nevertheless, the quality of instruction there varies by instructor. I think Zaim is an excellent professor for beginning students, and he will have you speaking in case endings by the end of your first six week session.​ Hamid is a great teacher if you are interested in politics. He is a true political junkie. He was horrified the morning after Obama's State of the Union speech to learn that I, a political scientist, had not stayed up to watch the address at 3am like he had. He has also read virtually every piece of literature available to him in either English, French, Spanish or Arabic so he can be really helpful to those interested in literature studies.

It is better for graduate students looking for serious language study to take classes there during the school year, rather than during the summer. During summer months the Center can be overrun by American undergraduates studying abroad with the intentions of normal American undergraduates. In the fall the center is full of Fulbrighters, so those who intend to do research can meet a community of other young scholars by studying at the center.

​It's important to note that dialect on the street, CMA, is very different from MSA. I recommend anyone traveling to Morocco for the first time to take either the three week intro to CMA class, or to take private instruction in CMA for at least two weeks prior to beginning MSA. It will lubricate all of your social interactions during your entire stay if you can communicate people on the street: every taxi driver, restaurant owner or waiter, not to mention your Moroccan friends will appreciate your grasp of even a few words of dialect.

Speaking of your Moroccan friends, I also highly recommend that during your first stay in the country that you live with a host family. Moroccan hospitality is truly legendary and you will learn a million small details about daily life in the presence of a family than in a dorm or apartment. I recommend living in the Old City and requesting a family that speaks no French or English and has small children in the home. They will teach you more words than any adult companion.​

Rules for Letters of Recommendation, amended

I'm always surprised to learn that some people don't have rules for letters of recommendation. Rules are a must, both for "recommender" and "recommendee." I learned this practice from Dr. Michael Bernhard, who always promised me that if I gave him one month's notice, the letter would be done and on time. He also taught me that academics respond well when given an email reminder a  week and a day before the due date. You will see that I have incorporated his ideas into my rules.

I wonder how many hours of man power are lost communicating these rules informally when they could just be set in stone. So here they are. Set in stone. 

If you want me to write you a letter of recommendation, follow these rules perfectly:

1. Contact me with at least one month's notice and ask if I can write you a letter.  If you ask me in person, send an email later that day to remind me I have committed. I keep a spreadsheet of my letters, so if I tell you that I will do it in person, I need the email to make sure it is entered into my spreadsheet.

2. You will receive an email from me committing to write the letter. If you do not receive this email, you must repeat step one. 

3. You then send me an email with all of the following:

a. an actual NAME to whom the letter should be addressed and a PHYSICAL ADDRESS, even if the letter will be turned in electronically. A proper letter heading requires having both a NAME and an ADDRESS. I will not look for this name or address myself. You must do it. 

b. a brief description of what this award, scholarship, research, graduate program, study abroad, etc would mean to you and your long-term goals. Yes, I can read the description of the award on the website but THESE THINGS ARE NOT SELF EVIDENT. I do not know what your personal interest is in the program/fellowship/etc. 

c. Your resume. If you do not have one you must make one. Not a silly one. Go to the career center and have them help you. Ask your friends. Look at examples online. Make a proper resume. If you send me a silly one, I will think you are not taking this seriously and that you do not understand professional development. 

d. the deadline the letter is due.  

4. You will then receive an email confirming receipt of the previous email. If you do not receive it within two or three business days, resend the email. 

5. Send me an email the week before the deadline to ask me if I've sent the letter (unless I've already emailed you to tell you the letter was sent). The week before a letter is due, you have full permission to be ANNOYING. You can email me every day if you want. I will never intentionally forget a letter, so if you haven't heard from me you should nag just to be sure! It is actually a kindness. 

A few other things:

- I almost always turn in the letter myself. This is necessary for confidentiality. On very rare occasions will you ever see the letter physically. 

-Once I have written a letter for you, I will keep it on file. In some circumstances, I may be able to submit the letter for you on less than a month's notice. You have permission to follow the above rules even if you do not yet have a program in mind, but you want me to have a letter on file. In this case give me a general idea of what you anticipate needing letters for. 

-I am happy to write letters for students, but keep in mind that this may not be the best option for you. I am not a well-known or prestigious scholar (yet! ;). If you have taken one of my classes, I likely know you well, but it is ALMOST ALWAYS better to have a well-known scholar write your letters. If you need three letters, and two are written by well known scholars, it may then make sense to have a third letter from me if I know you well. Never turn in multiple letters from graduate students or young professors for graduate programs or prestigious grants. It will hurt your chances.  One is the maximum, in my opinion.

-If you are in an upper division class with me, consider the possibility that 10, 15 or maybe even 20 of your colleagues may also ask me for a letter with the same or a similar due date. Ask me EARLY if you have concerns that I will get multiple requests. 

Finally, if you are applying to graduate school in the social sciences or the humanities, you must confirm that you have read this blog post before I will write your letter. 

Picking "the" dissertation topic

I'll admit it. It took me nearly four years to pick a dissertation topic.

I started looking for a topic in preparation for my master's thesis in 2006. Due to a variety of circumstances, in the end I didn't have to write one. I settled on a dissertation topic in early 2010 and wrote a practice grant to prepare for a full round of applications in the fall, but SURPRISE! I got the first grant I applied to. So there I was in the field by November of the same year the topic was chosen.

How did I come to my dissertation topic? I was doing pre-dissertation fieldwork ​on political parties during the summer of 2009 and I came to the concerning conclusion that no one cared about political parties in Morocco and neither did I. At the same time, I was living with an Islamic education teacher who worked for the public schools and had a lot to say about recent reforms being made to the curriculum. In the end, I decided to write about the politics of educational reform in Morocco.

​But the irony is that, in the end, the politics of educational reform are intimately tied to party politics! I came full circle, but in the end had a much stronger understanding of how​ party politics shaped the lives of Moroccans, whether or not they were party members.

​My experience suggests several lessons:

1. Just pick something. You'll refine it along the way.​ I would never have gone to the present diss if I hadn't just arbitrarily picked a starting point.

2. Stay open to what other people think and especially those who know more about the subject than you do!

​During my pre-dissertation fieldwork, I interacted with a lot of people who expressed their apathy about party politics. They were the ones who helped me realize that I had picked a subject that was interesting to political scientists in America, not political scientists in Morocco. Once I settled on studying educational politics, Moroccan political scientists frequently expressed their jealousy:  "I wish I was writing this paper!" one of my respondents moaned. That was my sign that I had found a subject worthy of my attention. Those who knew the subject best found it interesting.​

3. Think about your passions that you don't consider related to your research.

I spent my years in high school writing after-school programming for children the American public schools were failing. I compulsively read articles about the politics of education in America. I am mentally writing the "perfect" elementary school public school curriculum at all times. It makes sense that in the end I was drawn the politics of education.​