Communication among nations is vital to maintaining peaceful relations and within the context of the NATO Alliance, the greater the level of English and French comprehension and articulation, the greater the effectiveness of Alliance communications.
The CIOR Language Academy (CLA) provides tuition in English and French as a second language and in 2009 was held in Sofia, starting the week before the main CIOR Symposium and running concurrently with the CIOR Symposium for the second week.
Through the CLA, students are provided with an essential and indispensable tool to carry out international NATO business – the ability to communicate in one of its two official languages. Courses are designed to develop listening comprehension and pronunciation skills and to improve skill and confidence in speaking and listening. The students are NATO Reserve Officers and Regular Officers of the new Member and Partner nations of Eastern and Central Europe, many of whom previously used Russian as an operational language.
Learning objectives include expanding the student’s ability to interact intelligibly in both a military context and socially, to understand what they hear in a military context, to participate in group discussions, to speak with increased fluency and minimal hesitation, to comprehend short lectures and the gist of conversational English and French and to expand vocabulary in both written and spoken form. Conversation practice uses topical discussions in a military context and emphasises NATO military lexicon.
The CLA also teaches cultural and military history as a supplement to its language programme and portions of the curriculum address the background of CIOR, philosophy of NATO and PfP, as well as United Nations Peacekeeping. The CLA makes a significant contribution to defence diplomacy, allowing reservists from a number of countries share common experiences to enhance professional knowledge and mutual understanding. These lessons are not just limited to the students as the CLA also considerably stretches the reservists who provide the instruction.
Approximately 70 students from 10 NATO member and Partnership for Peace countries attended the CLA in 2009 and there was a good mix of returners and newcomers across both the English and French faculties. Three of the eight English faculty members instructing at the CLA in Sofia were sponsored by the UKRFA. The English faculty provided intensive instruction across three levels, from beginners to advanced.
The 2009 CLA students were more integrated with the main CIOR Summer Congress than in previous years and were able to take part in the opening ceremony in Sofia with the rest of their delegations. The Academy graduation ceremony was held during the CIOR Council Meeting. At the graduation students of the CLA at every level were able to speak in both English and French about their experiences at the Academy.
The CIOR Language Academy convenes once annually for a period of two weeks. It also convenes at other times during the year for one-week refresher courses. The CLA will convene 18-31 July 2010 in Vyskov, Czech Republic. To find out how to become an instructor, contact the UKRFA Secretariat on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
