Egyptians decipher Mountain View education Egyptians decipher Mountain View education (December 19, 2003)

Local students use more computers, speak up more

By Julie O'Shea

Sixteen teachers visiting from Alexandria, Egypt stopped in at four Mountain View-Whisman campuses last week to get a first hand look at how the American education system works.

The group was part of a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program aimed at promoting a more student-centered approach to learning in countries like Egypt, which generally has overcrowded classrooms with teachers in charge of very structured-learning environments.

"Whatever is new in America, we use it in Egypt," said Ramzi Attia, a teacher at Mohamed Hafez Ghanem Prep School in Alexandria. Attia was among the group of teachers who arrived from the Middle East country on Nov. 29. The trip, as it was for many others in the program, was his first visit to the United States. They are scheduled to head home Dec. 24.

"As long as it will help Egyptians, we are ready to do anything," Attia added, explaining that what is of key interest to him and his colleagues is the use of technology in California's classrooms.

Part of the goal of this program, sponsored by the University of California Extension, is to introduce participants to a new way of thinking and to give them the opportunity to observe student-based learning firsthand. Attia said his school has computers, but they are not typically used as learning tools as they are in Mountain View.

Attia and his Egyptian colleagues said they had an interesting time describing their country to the students at Graham Middle School last Thursday, Dec. 11, because many students saw Egypt as it was in ancient times.

"They thought we rode around in camels, and we live in the desert," laughed Lamis Ahmed, a teacher at Fatma Anan School. "We didn't come here by camel."

The visiting educators tried to dispel the "ancient Egypt" image American students have of the modernized country. Attia added that Mountain View looks a lot like Alexandria.

Jan Wright, an adviser for new teachers with the Mountain View school district, said she was not surprised by some of the students' misconceptions since many sixth graders have just started to learn about ancient Egypt. Wright said she was happy that the foreign visitors got a chance to set the record straight.

Wright was first approached by district administrators shortly after Thanksgiving with the news of the Egyptian educators' visit. Acting as one of the main event coordinators, Wright arranged stops at Monta Loma Elementary and Crittenden Middle Schools on Dec. 10 and Slater Elementary and Graham Middle Schools the following day. The guests were able to shadow the schools' teachers while on campus.

Attia and his group, sitting down during the lunch break at Graham, said the Mountain View classroom environment is very different from the one they are used to in Alexandria. For one thing, Attia said, Egyptian students are more respectful to their teachers and are much quieter than the American pre-teens he had a chance to observe last week.

Allison White, another teacher adviser at Mountain View-Whisman, said that perhaps the visits misinterpreted the children's "attitudes" since the student-centered model of teaching encourages students to speak up in class and offer their opinions.

"I hope what they walked away with was that we do care about what our kids are learning," White said. "All students deserve an education. We don't screen kids out.

"The U.S. is trying to educate kids from every walk of life."

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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