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Show I Mo AMc!roAinraericjirD 1 2ishcainigj irg3iniQsd 1 1 The University's already-strong Mid-East '''' programs got another shot in the arm Thursday as a new Moroccan-Tunesian- American exchange program came to the J: surface. In a meeting between Provost Tom King, Dr. Sami Hanna of the Mid-East ; Center and Dr. Mohammed Ben-Chaque-ron of Morocco, plans were discussed for starting language-oriented reciprocal train- ,. ing of North-African nationals and Americans. Ameri-cans. Financing of the project will be from the state departments and universities of J the coun trie s involve d . The colonian history of North Africa has left countries there without a nationl identity, at least as far as language is concerned. Dr. Ben Chaqueron pointed out that in Morocca, Arabic is spoken informally but is not used in written communication. Spanish predominates in the north and French is used widely in other sections of the country, as a result of former Spanish and French colonialism. Recent independence has emphasized the need for national unity and a national language, which will be Arabic. The language training which Moroccans will receive here will emphasize phonetic analysis and teaching methodology. Provost King emphasized the cultural "fringe benefits" of the program. "We are doing for Ben-Chaqueron what We should be doing for all of our students. That is, designing special programs to meet individual indi-vidual needs and sending people to more specialized places where they can find out what they need to know." Dr. Ben-Chacqueron Ben-Chacqueron will also be going to a school in Portland which specializes in teaching English as a second language. Morocco Initiated Program The Moroccan government initiated the program and acted through Dr. Hanna to find support and cooperation in this country. According to Dr. Hanna, "The Moroccan embassy expressed an intense and immediate need for this kind of training. They are very anxious to get underway this summer." Students sent over under fellowships from the state department and the University will complete com-plete their training in several intensive summer sessions. The University is known all over the world as a leader in the field of Arabic studies, both political and scholarly. "Everywhere I went," Dr. Hanna said, "people told me, 'If you want to learn Arabic, go to Utah. If you want to study manuscripts, go to Utah.' " Specialization An Accident Provost King explained that this specialization special-ization and proficiency in Mid-East studies "happened by accident." Originally, the University set out to acquire scholars from just about any culture available, but they happened to come by some "really brilliant bril-liant scholars from the mid-east with extensive ex-tensive backgrounds." Things just sort of fell into place after that, and now the University is one of the foremost mid-east centers of the world. This comes at a time when there is a good world market for information on mid-east questions. King summarized the reasons for University Uni-versity support of this program when he asked, "Why stay in the Cairo Hilton when you go to Cairo? If you want to stay in a Hilton, stay here." The whole point of cultural learning is first-hand experience and understanding of other cultures, and this program is just another in a long series of opportunities for such first-hand experience. |
