Educators from Iraq dreaming of future

A high school teacher from the Iraqi city of Karbala, Adel Abdul Amer Wale has big dreams for the boys in his classroom.

He wants them to be lawyers, doctors, engineers – leaders who can make a difference in the rebuilding of his country. “I wish them bright futures,” he said. “I want them to be successful.”

With hopes of improving the Iraqi educational system, especially after years of decline under Saddam Hussein, Wale and 12 other teachers from Iraq have traveled to Spokane to learn new teaching methods at Eastern Washington University.

They are the first group of Iraqi educators to come to the United States as part of a program sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Universities throughout the country applied for the chance to host the teachers, but it was EWU that won the prestigious $400,000 grant.

Since their arrival about a week ago, the 13 Iraqis – all teachers of English as a foreign language – have been participating in workshops and seminars that emphasize a more communicative approach to learning English. They’ll continue taking these courses for the rest of the month while experiencing American culture through home stays, sight-seeing trips and everyday interaction with people from the community.

On Saturday, the Iraqi educators spent the late morning shopping at Safeway in Cheney. They also made plans to watch the parade and festivities in town, as well as the rodeo later in the evening.

“I hope to learn a lot while I’m here,” said Wale, who has been teaching English for nearly four decades. “I hope this will be a gift to my students.”

Like other predominantly Muslim countries, schools in Iraq are segregated. Wale and other male teachers teach only boys while the girls are taught by women.

Wale’s students at Al-Iraq Secondary School are bright and eager to learn, he said, but many come from poor families. Some of the boys end up having to skip school at least two days a week because their parents send them into town to find work.

While one of the instructors from Baghdad can boast of the computers at his school, most elementary and secondary institutions don’t have that luxury, explained Hussein Khalifa. Until recently, Khalifa taught at schools in his hometown of Amara and other villages in the province of Misan, the country’s poorest region, about 300 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. As many as 50 students would crowd into his classroom, he recalled. On most days, he had only one piece of white chalk, which he had to use sparingly because there was never enough money to buy supplies.

“The condition is so bad,” he said. “They have nothing.”

Since the war began, some students haven’t been able to attend class because their schools have been bombed to rubble, said Mahdy A. Muhammd of Baghdad. Saddam Hussein stashed weapons in schools, he explained, which made them targets.

Hajer Ahmed, from the Kurdish city of Dohuk near the Turkish border, said their visit to the United States comes at a critical time. “We are at the beginning of democracy,” she said. “Change in society begins with children so it is up to the teachers.”

When Saddam Hussein was in power, teachers could not speak freely and their curriculum was under the government’s strict control, said Hayder Ali of Baghdad. Even the walls of his school were covered with Saddam’s photographs and speeches.

Since Saddam was removed from power, “for the first time, we feel free to say whatever we want,” said Ali, who teaches at a school that has 850 students. “I’m here (in Spokane) to increase my abilities so I can help my students speak better English and to learn more about the world.”

The 13 Iraqis come from all over the country and represent the diverse ethnic and religious populations of Iraq, said Earl Gibbons, EWU’s vice provost of international and educational outreach. Most are Arab, a few are Kurds. Some are Christian, others are Muslim. And while most of the Muslims are Shiite, two among the group are Sunni. The youngest is 26, and the oldest is 62.

All of them speak English fluently and were chosen by Iraq’s Ministry of Education, which has been working closely with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. After they were selected for the program – known as the 2005 Iraqi Administrator and Teacher Training Project – the educators were instructed to keep their travel plans secret. Because people have been harassed, hurt or even killed for their association with the U.S. government, the teachers told people in their schools and communities that they were visiting relatives in Jordan for six weeks.

“There are still people who don’t trust the United States,” said Salah N. Hadhood of Baghdad, but “many are grateful to the American government.”

When they return to Iraq, they will train other educators in the methods they’ve learned at EWU and help shape their country’s new educational system.

They also will share their impressions of Americans and their experiences in Cheney and Spokane. “Americans are kind people who love their country,” said Ahmed, who also writes for a Kurdish newspaper called Evro, which means Today.

The 33-year-old Ahmed, who wore a dress made of a silky fabric bearing small Kurdish flags, said she admires the patriotism displayed by many Americans and wishes that more Iraqis would do the same.

So far, everyone they’ve met here has embraced them with hospitality, said Khalifa.

People in the community also have benefited from the Iraqis’ visit, said Gibbons. “We read every day in the paper about all the violence in Iraq,” he said. Having the Iraqis come here, however, has provided them with “a much more three-dimensional picture.”

“In the same way they’re meeting ordinary Americans, we’re meeting ordinary Iraqis,” said Gibbons. “And we learn together how much we have in common.”