GEMS International School Tripoli


I arrived in Tripoli, Libya, fresh from the small town of Levin in New Zealand.  I found an empty room that was to be our Music/Media Technology room.  There was no equipment at all.



The workmanship in Libya is another area that you have to learn to work with. I had to work with the builders, making sure everything was built carefully and precisely. That was no mean feat in itself.

Equipment came from the UK mainly, although the iMacs were imported by a local company through Apple Europe.  Everything else I went and got personally from the UK and brought it back to Libya.

After a few months (and late nights) of hard work, the room was completed.  19 iMacs and 6 Macbook laptops, 25 M-Audio controller keyboards, an IWB, data projector and sound system. 

A small recording room was created adjacent to this room.  With the help of some friends and colleagues, I also managed to build a server running macOS Server X. The school network engineer, Tarek Ghmati, did all the cabling and installed the network switches. We could then run software like Apple Remote Desktop and Work Group Manager. Such powerful software made working in this room a delight. 



There are 61 different nationalities at IST and English is a second or even third language for many. This room had a language all of its own!  Children from all over the school came and worked in this room. Below is a class of Year 6 students who I loved to teach. They are engrossed here learning about editing digital video. Look at their faces  - it says everything! 



6 comments:

  1. I don't even know if you ever check this anymore, Mr. Stone. But, im in one of these pictures xD
    I went to IST about 4 years ago and you complimented my work on garage band. i dont reember much - me only have been a 6th grader then BUT you got me into creating music so thank you
    ------ from,
    A student you wont remember x)

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  2. I was also in this school and left it in year 6

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  3. This is cool. Where are you all now?
    I am teaching in Dubai. i often think about Tripoli, the students and the school. My email is markstone@vodafone.net.nz if you want to make contact.

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  4. coincidentally I recently moved out of Dubai and am now living in Canada

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    Replies
    1. wow whoever this is, i also left Abu Dhabi and am now in Canada lol! I was in Libya 2008-2011

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  5. Hi sir

    i would like to contact GEMS school office , could u please help me get in touch with them .
    this is my e-mail ( mocobx@yahoo.com)

    ty

    ReplyDelete