I’ve always wanted to visit Morocco and thought I finally had my chance (albeit vicariously) via a Skype video with Amanda Mouttaki, an expat mom and blogger from Marrakesh, who I recently interviewed for our latest article, “Educating Your Children in Marrakesh.”
My dreams were dashed, though, when Amanda appeared on screen from her family’s home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She and her family are on home leave for several months.
Amanda and her Moroccan husband Youssef moved to Morocco last year to live with his family and have their sons, 10-year-old Mikhail and 7-year-old Khalil, learn the languages of their father, Arabic and French.
Amanda told us they wanted their kids to get to know Youssef’s family more than was possible in short visits and really learn the language, primarily because the kids had no way to communicate with Youssef’s family.
It was an easy move for the Mouttaki family, who had lived in Wisconsin and Washington D.C. Both 30-years-old, Amanda is a freelance writer and blogger and Youssef works remotely as a computer programmer. Youssef grew up in Marrakesh and attended local schools.
“My husband did not have a very good experience in Moroccan public schools growing up,” Mouttaki said. “So we looked up American, French and Canadian schools when we arrived. There are international education options but our focus was for them to learn Arabic and French.”
Homeschooling also was a consideration. “We thought perhaps we could homeschool them and get a tutor for a couple of hours each day for the first six months or a year,” Mouttaki said. “That was our backup plan if we could not find a local school that would take them.”
She explained that there is a dual local education system in Morocco, consisting of Moroccan public and private schools. Public schools are compulsory until age 16, but not highly regarded.
The Mouttaki’s decided to place their boys in a very reasonably priced local private Moroccan and French school that had some English instruction. “The school is completely bilingual, half the day is in Arabic and the other half is French,” she said. “They also teach a half hour of English a week.”
A video excerpt of the interview with Amanda soon will be available on our YouTube channel and as an Adventurer Video on our site.