BILC May 14, 2012BILC May 14, 2012

Defense Language InstituteDefense Language Institute Th The Czech Republic e Czech Republic

With books many people can become learned even outside a school. Without books nobody can be learned nor inside a school.

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Outline

Jan Amos Komenský Teaching and learning linguistic pitfalls Chain of Command of Language Centers Educational and Training Center Defense Language Institute (DLI)

• DLI tasks and responsibilities• Organization • Language Department• Testing department

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John Amos ComeniusJan Amos Komenský

(1592-1670)

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JOHN AMOS COMENIUS

Comenius occupies a place in education

of commanding importance. He introduces

and dominates the whole modern movement

in the field of elementary and secondary

education.”

Nicholas Butler, Columbia University

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During the 19th century Czech National Revival, Comenius became idealized as a symbol of the Czech nation.

28 March, the birthday of Comenius, is celebrated as Teachers' Day in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia .

A lot of schools were named after him. For example the Comenius University was founded in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, a primary school in Skopje, etc. Also, many educational programmes are named after him.

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• Orbis Pictus ("The Visible World in Pictures")• Linguae Bohemicae thesaurus (Thesaurus of the Czech language), 1612–1656• Grammaticae facilioris praecepta, 1614–1616• Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gate of Tongues Unlocked), 1632• Didactica magna (The Great Didactic), 1633–1638• Didactica opera omnia (Writing on All Learning), 1657• Spicilegium Didacticum, 1680

Some of Comenius works

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• learning foreign languages through the vernacular; • obtaining ideas through objects rather than words; • starting with objects most familiar to the child to introduce him to both the new language and the more remote world of objects• giving the child a comprehensive knowledge of his environment, physical and social, as well as instruction in religious, moral, and classical subjects;• making this acquisition of a compendium of knowledge a pleasure rather than a task; • making instruction universal.

Comenius teaching fundamental ideas

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From „The Great Didactic“"What has to be done must be learned by practice. Artisans do not

detain their apprentices with theories, but set them to do practical work at an early stage; thus they learn to forge by forging, to carve by carving, to paint by painting, and to dance by dancing. In schools, therefore, let the students learn to write by writing, to talk by talking, to sing by singing, and to reason by reasoning. In this way schools will become work-shops humming with work, and students whose efforts prove successful will experience the truth of the proverb: 'We give form to ourselves and to our materials at the same time.' Mechanics do not begin by drumming rules into their apprentices. They take them into the workshop and bid them to look at the work that has been produced, and then, when they wish to imitate this (for man is an imitative animal). They place tools in their hands and show them how they should be held and used. Then, if they make mistakes, they give them advice and correct them, often more by example than by mere words, and, as the facts show, the novices easily succeed in their imitation. No one has ever mastered any language or art by precept alone; while by practice this is possible, even without precept.

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C O M M O N C O M M O N

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Different styles

Officialese The consumption of any nutriments whatsoever is

categorically prohibited in this establishment.

Official The consumption of nutriments is prohibited.

Formal You are requested not to consume food in this

establishment.

Neutral Eating is not allowed here.

Informal Please don´t eat here.

Colloquial You can´t feed you face here.

Slang Lay off the nosh.

Taboo Lay off the fucking nosh.

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• What do you fry your eggs in? creeper, fryer, frying pan, fry pan, skillet, or spider• What do you call a soft drink? pop, soda, soda pop, or tonic?

Beg, beseech, entreat, implore, supplicate, importune, obtest…

1. Beware of the bull!

2. I think the elephant is a bull.

3. Well done! You´ve hit the bull´s eye.

4. Don´t give me all that bull.

5. You will just have to take the bull by the horns.

6. Stop acting like a bull in a china shop!

7. There was a bull market on stock exchange yesterday.

VOCABULARYVOCABULARY

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SKIRTNICE

SKIRT

Logistic support

Round Robin Update

Table a Motion

Battle Captain

LIGHT SKIRT

BIT OF SKIRT

PIECE OF SKIRT

RUN A SKIRT

SKIRT AN ISSUE

Shipment

Motion

Flag officer

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Uložte viditelně za okno. Při odjezdu z objektu vraťte.

Store visibly behind the windows after leaving this object return.

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Pass must be visible through windshield. On departing the base return the pass to

the security personnel at the gate.

Store visibly behind the windows after leaving this object return.

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AusUS GB

Why are Australians always happy when their mothers die? They always say “Mothers die” with a smile on their face.

A guy wakes up, finds himself in a British hospital, and says, “Did I come here to die?” The Cokney nurse responds, “No, I think it was yesterdie.”

In a New York City Park one guy turns to another guy and says, “Look at de boids.”

The other guy says, “Those aren’t ‘boids.’ They’re ‘birds.’”

The first guy says, “Cheez, dat’s funny, dey choip like boids.”

DIALECTS and VARIETIESDIALECTS and VARIETIES

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HOMOPHONY and HOMONYMY

Mary had a little lamb

She also had a bear

I´ve often seen her little lamb

But never seen her bear

BridalBridle

CallousCallus

DiscreetDiscrete

FlairFlare

DiscreetDiscrete

Bear – animalBear – supportBare - naked

Fleet – group of shipsFleet – rapid

Jet – stream of waterJet – hard black soilJet – type of plane

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ABBREVIATIONS

It would be nice to have a SOFA

OR

Status ofForcesAgreement

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• C1 – Command • C2 – Command And Control • C3 – Command Control And Communication • C3I – Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence• C4 – Command Control Communication and Computers • C4IR – CommandControl Communication Computers Intelligence And Recognition

C4 - Channel 4 (UK TV) C4 - Carrera 4 (Porsche 911 model)

C4 –Middle C (piano keyboard) C4 - Composition 4 (explosive)

C4 - Combat Casualty Care Course

C4 - Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate

C4 - Fourth-Generation Corvette (Chevrolet)

C4 - Colonial Coin Collectors Club

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“Enemy sit. Aggressor forces in div strength holding MLR Hill 820 complex gc AT 940713-951716 w/fwd elements est. bn strength junction at gc AT 948715 (See Annex A, COMPHIBPAC intell summary period ending 25 June)… Mission: BLT 1/7 seize, hold and defend obj. A gc 948715... Execution: BLT 1/7 land LZ X-RAY AT 946710 at H-Hour 310600…A co. GSF estab. LZ security LZ X-Ray H minus 10… B co. advance axis BLUE H plus 5 estab. blocking pos. vic gs AT 948710… A, C, D cos. Maneuver element commence advance axis Brown H plus 10 … Bn tacnet freq 52.9 … shackle codeHAZTRCEGBD … div tacair dir. Air spt callsign PLAYBOY …Mark friendly pos w/air panels or green smoke. Mark tgt. w/WP” (Caputo, A Rumor of War 1996)

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Enemy situation. Aggressor forces in division strength are holding the main line of resistance at the Hill 820 complex located at grid coordinates 940713-951716 with forward elements estimated in battalion strength at the road junction located at grid coordinates 948715 (See Annex A, Pacific Amphibious Command intelligence summary for the period ending 25 June). Mission: Battalion Landing Team 1/7 will seize, hold and defend objective A at grid coordinates 948715. Execution: Battalion Landing Team 1/7 land at Landing Zone X-RAY at grid coordinates 946710 at H-Hour (which is 06:00 on 31 June). A company of the ground support force will establish landing zone security at landing zone X-Ray at 05:50 on 31 June. B Company will advance along axis Blue at 06:05 on 31 June to establish blocking positions in the vicinity of grid coordinates 948710. A, C, and D Companies: The maneuver element commence its advance along axis Brown on 06:10 on 31 June. The battalion tactical network frequency is 52.9. Radio shackle code will be HAZTRCEGBD. The division tactical air direction and air support call sign will be PLAYBOY. Mark all friendly position with air panels or green smoke. Mark targets (enemy positions) with white phosphorus.

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Chain of command of Language Centers

Personnel Division

General StaffMoD

DLIVyskov

Mil. High School

ETCChocerady

N. Defense UniversityBrno

Military AcademyVyskov

Zatec

Mil. Intel

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Educational and Training Center Chocerady

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IntensiveIntensive

RefresherRefresher

CombinedCombined

Types of coursesLanguages

English

French

LANGUAGE SECTION

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Crucial Features of Training Program 

• Six to seven 50-minute training units per day• Eight to ten students in each class• Native speaker 50-minute teaching unit per day (English SLP 3)• One mandatory lesson dedicated to listening practice in the

language laboratories per day• Lessons conducted exclusively in the target language

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Defense Language Institute

“Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back.” Chinese Proverb

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Mission statement of DLI

The Mission of the Defense Language Institute

is to ensure sufficiently trained and ready personnel are available

to meet the foreign language skill requirements

of the Ministry of Defense

and the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.

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DLI Tasks Responsibilities and Activities

The Czech DLI is an educational facility, the aim of which is to fulfill, flexibly, pragmatically and in the needed quality and quantities, the tasks in the field oflanguage education as required by the Czech Armed Forces in accordance with its biding standards (STANAG 6001).

Running foreign language courses as ordered by MoD Testing in accordance with STANAG 6001 Methodological supervision of language centers in the Czech military Representation in BILC - NATO Teaching in ad-hoc language courses to prepare personnel for positions in NATO/EU and the UN

Publishing, standard-setting, methodological, conceptual and other activities Teaching Czech language for NATO and PfP personnel Methodological supervision of language centers Holding language conferences for managers in the field of language education Organizing special seminars Accreditation of examiners testing foreign languages Validation of certificates obtained abroad at language institutes Keeping the military-wide database of test results 31

Organizational Structure

Office of the Commander

TeachingDepartment

Organizational Branch

GermanicBranch

Other Lang.Branch – Int.

Prague, BrnoVyškov

EnglishTesting Br.

Other Lang.Testing Br.

Methodology and Testing Department

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DLI 2003 - 2011: Faculty and Staff

Sedlec - Vícenice

Liberec

Translators

Čáslav

Žatec

Vyškov

SAC Prague

Prague Program

Brno

Olomouc

85 64

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IntensiveIntensive

RefresherRefresher

CombinedCombined

TerminologicalTerminological

Specialized (NATO)Specialized (NATO)

Types of coursesLanguages

English

French

German

Russian

Arabic

Czech

LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

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Crucial Features of the DLI Language Training Program

 • Six to seven 50-minute training units per day• Eight to ten students in each class• Native speaker 50-minute teaching unit per day (English SLP 3)• One mandatory lesson dedicated to listening practice in the

language laboratories per day• Use of authentic materials in the target language• Lessons conducted exclusively in the target language• Curriculum input from language training specialists from military

language centers abroad (primarily DLIELC, Texas).• Strong emphasis on student participation and motivation• Instructors who apply a highly communicative approach

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Number of DLI students Jan/Feb 2012 – English language

Type of Course Level Number of Courses No. of students

Intensive SLP 2 4 35

Intensive SLP 3 6 47

Refresher SLP 2 2 19

Refresher SLP 3 2 14

Terminological - 2 18

Combined SLP 2 110

TOTAL 25 144

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Number of Students 2007-2011

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

English

Other languages

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Language Training Department activities

• We are in the Army

• On the Battlefield

• Modern Military Weapons

• Building a Secure and

• Peaceful World

• Top Stories

• High in the Sky

A-report: Military English

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www.ujp-acr.cz

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Testing department is responsible for test development and testing military and civilian personnel according to STANAG 6001 and is responsible for the following:

• Standardizing test forms for all languages tested

• Issuing testing rules

• Tests English, French, German, Russian, and Arabic languages Czech, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Albanian, Serbian, Persian, Pashtu,

Mandarin Chinese, Polish, and Romanian languages

TESTING AND METHODOLOGY DEPARTMENT

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Testing and Methodology Department activities

• Introduced bi-level testing

• Introduced language skill

levels re-testing

• Introduced plus levels

• BAT – project

• Multilevel tests

• Computer assisted testing

• Computer adaptive testing43

Candidates tested – 2011

Language SLP 1 SLP 2 SLP 3 Total

English 608 1276 452 2336

Skills x 196 126 322

Other languages 202 74 34 310

Skills x 12 2 14

Total 810 1558 61429822982

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Thank you for your attention

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Other sources related to Comenius

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