Professor Nile’s Public Speaking Formula

  As a preventive measure, I had to slip this slide into Professor Nile Stanton's excellent presentation on persuasive speaking.  Try as we might, a few individuals in his Legation audience of master's business students from Tangier's HEM (Haute Ecole de Management) were not persuaded to turn off their infernal machines. But hey, if some … Read more Professor Nile’s Public Speaking Formula


Midnight Spotlight: Paul Bowles Returns to Moroccan Airwaves

  As a very nice spinoff from last week's Radio Tangier interview, tonight Thursday 9 February will feature a special two-hour Paul Bowles program, midnight – 2:00 AM (Morocco time or GMT; this would be 7:00 to 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time). Listeners across the world can tune into Moroccan National Radio Alidaa-Watania and/or Radio … Read more Midnight Spotlight: Paul Bowles Returns to Moroccan Airwaves


Domesticating Foreign Ads or Translating the Maghreb

   Foreignization, domestication, transmutation… Karima Bouziane has mastered the vocabulary of her topic. At today's presentation at TALIM, the audience caught on immediately to this specialized world of semiotics, which has to do with the study of signs and communication. The capacity audience (09:00 on a Friday morning – a major feat!) was composed largely … Read more Domesticating Foreign Ads or Translating the Maghreb


Deep Education: Olmstead Scholars Learn More Than Arabic

"To provide outstanding young military leaders an unsurpassed opportunity to achieve fluency in a foreign language, pursue graduate study at an overseas university, and acquire an in depth understanding of foreign cultures, thereby further equipping them to serve in positions of great responsibility as senior leaders in the United States Armed Forces." The Olmstead Scholarship … Read more Deep Education: Olmstead Scholars Learn More Than Arabic


2011 to 2012: Another TALIM Transition

To our usual languages in the little "card" above, we wanted to add a New Year's greeting in Tamazight, also known as Amazigh or Berber.  But we couldn't find it in tifinagh, the Berber alphabet. The world's most complete list of holiday greetings has just included (with our prompting) an entry for the language spoken … Read more 2011 to 2012: Another TALIM Transition


TALIM On the Digital Map

I know the print in the above image is a bit small (click on picture to enlarge in a pop-up screen).  But what it represents is this: during a long three-week period, ending on 12 December, we had almost no "hits" on TALIM Director's Blog because jinns had taken it over. Our URL, or, in … Read more TALIM On the Digital Map


Skydiving In a Hijab: the Wonders of Exchange Programs

You never know what those International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) people will get up to.  At Saturday's gathering in Mdiq (a northern Moroccan seaside town between Tetouan and Ceuta) of alumni from the US Embassy's various scholarship and visitor programs, the introductions were supposed to address the question "what do you miss most about your … Read more Skydiving In a Hijab: the Wonders of Exchange Programs


A Poem Entitled TALIM

Lucy Melbourne, American writer on Morocco, Fulbright scholar, and comparitive literature professor has done us a singular honor, with the publication of her poem "TALIM" in MLM – Le Magazine Littéraire du Maroc.  It's in the Autumn 2011 issue. As Lucy says, it's further proof that English has become a language of literature in Morocco.  … Read more A Poem Entitled TALIM


Legation Open House & Christmas Market

The organizers, with sold-out table Many websites that provide step-by-step guides to "starting your new tradition" are semi-commercial.  With yesterday's first edition of what might well become an annual event, our intent was strictly charitable, but then charity does start at home. Saturday's Tangier American Legation Open House and Christmas Market was a roaring success, … Read more Legation Open House & Christmas Market


Newsletter: A New Way To Read TALIM Director’s Blog

Most of our readers either "bookmark" or mark as a "favorite" TALIM Director's Blog (http://www.talimblog.org).  That still works like a charm, and thanks to the wonders of Google and other search engines, people continue to serendipitously stumble across our site. Now, thanks to TALIM Board member and tech whiz Dr. Michael Toler, readers can also … Read more Newsletter: A New Way To Read TALIM Director’s Blog