BASIC MILITARY ENGLISH

... for International Students

Zur Steigerung ihrer militärterminologischen Kompetenz in Englisch wurde von den „Language Lads“ des Referats Fremdsprachen für die International Students des FH-BaStg Militärische Führung gleich zu Beginn des Wintersemesters 2015 ein Common Module der EU, nämlich das Basic Military English Module, abgehalten.
Zur sprachlichen Aufrüstung der interessierten Leserschaft – und nicht bloß der Internationalen Hörerschaft – sei dieses nun in englischer Sprache kurz dargestellt:

Background & Design

Students of the International Semester undergo a customised curriculum, drawing from the three concurrent semesters, i.e. the first, the third and the fifth one. On top of them other students may enrol just for the one-week event. This time two Italian lieutenants from Torino augmented the multinational audience, bringing the grand total to 14 participants from six nations.

The BME Module proper was organised as a series of lectures, briefings and presentations as well as activities. On top of that BME was to promote students’ writing and speaking skills. To this end students were to submit a clearly specified assignment and make a presentation in class for oral proficiency.

The Module was based on the idea of total immersion, i.e. English only was to be used during class. Grammar was only taught by way of remedial grammar as required by students.

The didactic concept focused on Problem-based Learning (PBL) in order to

•  integrate knowledge and skills from a wide range of expertise,
• acquire knowledge through self-study,
• teach students how to work in groups and manage group projects,
• improve and develop the communication skills of the students,
• develop the problem solving skills of the student,
• encourage self-motivation, curiosity and thinking, and finally
• ... make learning more fun!

Purpose & Teaching Objectives

The purpose of the Course was dual, namely to

•  enhance the military language skills of students, thereby enabling them to better perform in a military English environment and
• promote students’ reproductive (active) skills (speaking and writing) as well as their receptive (passive) skills (listening and reading).

Resource Staff & Students

The two English language teachers THULLER and PAUSCHENWEIN, as well as four visiting lecturers, namely Prof. JATAUTAITE from Lithuania, the British native Prof. PERKINS, US Marine Gunnery Sergeant (ret’d) BOTTORFF, and Col LAMBAUER presented their topics and provided the students with technical and linguistic expertise.

From the Czech Republic LISNEROVÁ Veronika, from Greece STRATIKIS Nikolaos, from Italy SANTANDREA Mattia and DELLA NEBBIA Manuel, from Lithuania JASAITIS Mindaugas, SPURGA Algirdas, ZICKYTE Aiste, JASKUNAS Tautvydas, and BRUSOKAS Martynas, and from Poland KOZA Agnieszka, RUSINEK Karol, OLECHOWICZ Marta, and CHRUŚCIEL Artur. A German/New Zealander PhD student, Katharina STIRLAND, joined us as an observer!

Training Schedule

Following initial briefings on Monday, September 28th, including an English Comprehension Placement Test, the Module proper was quite intense, totalling 30 hrs or 2 ECTS credit points.

Topics and Assignments

Students were to write a paper on one of the topics below, if need be, conduct relevant research, and submit a fair copy of three pages minimum in legible handwriting. On these topics presentations were made in the cosy setting of a mock-up class, represented by fellow students under the watchful eyes of the teachers.

Grading

Final grades were based upon the 4P principle, i.e. on

:: participation in class
:: paper and presentation on assigned topics
:: performance in the final test!

It deserves special mentioning that most of the students achieved an A grade. Anyway, all of them had a clear pass and received their well-deserved 2 ECTS credits. At the side-lines of the Module, the members of the faculty also indulged in extra-curricular activities. Participants and teachers stayed connected and always closed ranks, which was conducive for the learning atmosphere. All participants understood that mistakes are the best opportunity of learning. That is why nobody was afraid of making mistakes. Otherwise they would have chosen the safest way of communication, which is silence.

It was decided that this momentum should be maintained and that nobody should rest on their laurels, but rather strive for continuous improvement of their language skills. To sum up, both teachers and students bent over backwards to make the Module an interesting and professionally rewarding event.

We will stay on the beaten track under the motto Never Change a Winning Module!

Epilog

Bleibt zu hoffen, dass die anfängliche Euphorie des Basic Military English nicht abflaut und zu Advanced Learners führt! Denn:
Sprache ist nicht alles, aber ohne Sprache ist alles nichts!