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We feel like we're building bridges to cultures and nations around the world, so it's an honor
and a privilege to share that particularly with this audience.
Approximately 25 foreign attaches from all around the world toured the Defense Language
Institute Foreign Language Center on Tuesday, May 17.
Thank you very much for having us here today and on behalf of our dean the Admiral ????
Boldon and our chairman of the association Cpt. Smith??? tank you very much. As a token of our appreciation
I hand you over our crest.
The visit was part of the attaches' annual spring tour that this year focused on Navy-Marine
Corps and Joint Commands in the western United States.
The DLIFLC commandant, Col. Danial D. Pick, spoke to the foreign attaches upon their
arrival, reinforcing the importance of teaching language through culturally-based instruction.
He spoke about the extraordinary breadth and depth of knowledge the faculty bring to DLI.
Rear Adm. Jeffrey A. Lemmons, Navy Director of International Engagement, was among several
escorts who accompanied the visitors during their tour, providing an opportunity for the
Department of the Navy to extend courtesies on par with those given to U.S. Navy attaches
abroad.
It allows us to get the extra practice we may need sir.
Adm. Lemmons observed classroom instruction along with several of the attaches, and was
awed by the current technology used to teach language. Sgt. Noah Mott who has been studying
Dari at DLI for approximately 10 months demonstrated to the visitors some of the new innovations
in language study and the speed and availability in which the students are able to access study
materials on an academic network.
So when you need to speak to someone to refine what you have learned, it's pretty much as accessible
as the keyboard?
Absolutely sir, and with a lot of this the soldiers in this class have families and live
off post and its very difficult for them to come in sometimes to see a teacher face to
face, so having the additive advantage of being able to do it over the internet is a
huge change and a huge advantage for them.
Though the majority of the foreign attaches were Navy, other service components were represented.
Denmark's Air Force Lt. Col. Jan Kristensen, who visited the classrooms with Lemmons, had
the opportunity to see his fellow compatriots demonstrate negotiation techniques in Dari.
"I'm very impressed. We just witnessed a class of four Danish students conducting a role-play
of negotiations in Dari. They were very language proficient, and also very proficient
in gestures as well. It was actually almost like watching someone - a local from Afghanistan."
The senior foreign military officers, most of who work in their respective embassies
in Washington were exposed to major cultural, industrial, governmental and historical aspects
of the United States during their travels.
"And they are representing all of the regions of the world where we operate and are quite
interactive and have a great amount of contribution to this tour, as they tell us what we are
looking at as much as we try to convey to them what we're doing."
"I'm the Navy's foreign area officer, community advocate and as such have had an ongoing dialogue
with DLI over the FAO training requirements. I find that DLI has been very responsive and
has been very willing to listen to our concerns about the development of linguists not just
listeners but of conversational linguists, who have an operational impact."
"Today I saw a much expanded, online, interactive, distributed way of increasing language aptitude."
"And I was very impressed [by], not only what I saw in the mid-term and the later-term students
but what I saw in the...instructors' ability to adapt and embrace this new technology,
as effective instruction technique, so I saw many things today that were very encouraging
and I will take them back and report them to my service headquarters as more reasons
to support the DLI initiatives."