Defense Language Institute The Czech Republic With books many people can become learned even outside a school. Without books nobody can be learned nor inside a school. BILC May 14, 2012

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

John Amos Comenius Jan Amos Komenský (1592-1670)

Comenius occupies a place in education 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

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.

Some of Comenius works 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

Comenius teaching fundamental ideas 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.

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.

L I T E R A R Y C O L L O Q U I A L C O M M O N S L A N G J A R G O N T A B O O S L A N G

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.

VOCABULARY 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… Beware of the bull! I think the elephant is a bull. Well done! You´ve hit the bull´s eye. Don´t give me all that bull. You will just have to take the bull by the horns. Stop acting like a bull in a china shop! There was a bull market on stock exchange yesterday.

RUN A SKIRT BIT OF SKIRT SKIRT NICE SKIRT PIECE OF SKIRT SKIRT AN ISSUE LIGHT SKIRT Table a Motion Logistic support Battle Captain Round Robin Update Flag officer Shipment Motion

Store visibly behind the windows after leaving this object return. Uložte viditelně za okno. Při odjezdu z objektu vraťte.

Store visibly behind the windows after leaving this object return. Pass must be visible through windshield. On departing the base return the pass to the security personnel at the gate.

DIALECTS and VARIETIES US GB Aus 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.” 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.” Why are Australians always happy when their mothers die? They always say “Mothers die” with a smile on their face.

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 Bridal Bridle Callous Callus Discreet Discrete Bear – animal Bear – support Bare - naked Jet – stream of water Jet – hard black soil Jet – type of plane Flair Flare Discreet Discrete Fleet – group of ships Fleet – rapid

It would be nice to have a SOFA ABBREVIATIONS It would be nice to have a SOFA Status of Forces Agreement OR

C3 – Command Control And Communication 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 - Carrera 4 (Porsche 911 model) C4 - Channel 4 (UK TV) C4 –Middle C (piano keyboard) C4 - Composition 4 (explosive) C4 - Combat Casualty Care Course C4 - Colonial Coin Collectors Club C4 - Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate C4 - Fourth-Generation Corvette (Chevrolet)

“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 code HAZTRCEGBD … 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)

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.

Chain of command of Language Centers MoD General Staff Personnel Division Military Academy Vyskov Mil. Intel Zatec ETC Chocerady DLI Vyskov N. Defense University Brno Mil. High School

Educational and Training Center Chocerady

LANGUAGE SECTION Languages Types of courses English French Intensive Refresher Combined

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

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

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.

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 of language 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

Organizational Structure Office of the Commander Methodology and Testing Department Teaching Department Organizational Branch Germanic Branch English Testing Br. Other Lang. Branch – Int. Other Lang. Testing Br. Prague, Brno Vyškov

DLI 2003 - 2011: Faculty and Staff Sedlec - Vícenice Liberec Translators Čáslav Žatec 85  64 Prague Program SAC Prague Vyškov Brno Olomouc

LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT Languages Types of courses English French German Russian Arabic Czech Intensive Refresher Combined Terminological Specialized (NATO)

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

Number of DLI students Jan/Feb 2012 – English language Type of Course Level Number of Courses No. of students Intensive SLP 2 4 35 SLP 3 6 47 Refresher 2 19 14 Terminological - 18 Combined 1 10 TOTAL 25 144 36 36

Number of Students 2007-2011

Language Training Department activities A-report: Military English We are in the Army On the Battlefield Modern Military Weapons Building a Secure and Peaceful World Top Stories High in the Sky

www.ujp-acr.cz 39

Testing and Methodology Department 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 activities Introduced bi-level testing Introduced language skill levels re-testing Introduced plus levels BAT – project Multilevel tests Computer assisted testing Computer adaptive testing

2982 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 12 2 14 810 1558 614 2982

Thank you for your attention

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