“Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes – Knees and Toes! Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes – Knees and Toes! Eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes – Knees and Toes!” shout my twelve teenage Moroccan students. They are doubled up in laughter as they sing – at the song, the accompanying gestures, or at me I don’t know – but I know they are happy because huge smiles are bursting across their faces.
Today was my first day teaching English at a non-profit organization in Rabat and singing this silly song is how I ended one of the best experience I have had in Morocco. Teaching was incredible. Most of my students were eager to learn and anxious to show off. They shouted answers and skipped ahead, always trying to best their friends. And even those that seemed less interested were so proud when they answered something right. They giggled, cracked jokes and – at times – ignored me and my fellow teacher Brittany, but it didn’t matter. We handed out vocabulary lists and verb charts, but our real goal was to make English fun for them. One of professors had told us that this sense of amusement and joy was the most important thing we could teach. And as their laughter and shouts of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” reverberated throughout the building, I knew we had done our job. Next Thursday’s class can’t come soon enough!
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