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MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. — As special guests of the Air Force Culture and Language Center staff, 20 instructors from the Defense Language Institute in Washington, D.C., and Monterey, Calif., are helping Air War College and Air Command and Staff College students cultivate basic language skills as part of the Strategic Languages program.
The goal of AFCLC officials is to improve the cross-cultural competence of Airmen, developing their cultural, regional and linguistic abilities through the professional military education system, and thereby developing Airmen with the skills to exert positive influence in support of Air Force operations worldwide.
Although a new requirement for ACSC students mandates that students must take 30 hours of language instruction, some students have volunteered for more than that.
AWC students are also volunteering to take optional language instruction. The instructors here are teaching eight languages via classroom instruction: Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Farsi, Swahili, Chinese and Russian.
Although most of the emphasis is on Spanish and French because of the high number of people around the globe who speak these languages, the instruction of Arabic, Farsi and Swahili has increased in importance, said Lt. Col. Brian Smith, deputy director of the language department at the AFCLC.
Each introductory-level class has 12 to 15 students, and classes are held Tuesday through Friday, with the possibility of Monday classes being added, Colonel Smith said. Spouses and family members also are permitted to participate in the AWC language classes, he added.
For the recently concluded first term of AWC, 25 percent of students volunteered for the language courses this year, said retired Lt. Col. Jay Warwick, the deputy director of the center.
“I believe people enjoy the classes because everybody is truly motivated and willing to learn since they choose the language they get to study,” said Irina Aguero, a Spanish language instructor and one of five instructors participating as part of the DLI’s ProMES, or Professional Military Education Support program, based in Monterey.
Though 30 hours of language instruction is a baseline requirement for ACSC, some AWC and ACSC students are voluntarily taking level 2 and level 3 language courses.
“Some students came to school with language skills, so we’re working with them to maintain or improve those skills while they are here,” Ms. Aguero said.
Colonel Smith said the program mission is to introduce students to language basics.
“We’re planting the seed of interest in language that we hope will grow and develop,” he said. “There is a great deal of excitement among participants.”
Brian Selmeski, Cross-Cultural Competence Department chair and assistant professor of anthropology, emphasized that language instruction isn’t just an intellectual exercise.
“Everything we do around here is supposed to contribute to helping the students here, who are Airmen, succeed at their jobs,” he said. “They care about what these things can do for them.”
He added, “We help them understand, but understanding is not enough. They are expected to act when they are on the job. We teach them how to use this information.”
He said of language and culture: “These are not mutually exclusive categories. These skills help us do the job.”
Ms. Aguero said language instruction is valuable to Airmen because it helps them develop a certain level of open-mindedness and appreciate diversity in the world, critical to working in a global environment.
The program at Maxwell is flourishing due to the interest of students and the recognition by center leaders that Airmen need these skills, she said. When this initiative began at AWC, four to five DLI instructors taught four languages. Last year, 11 instructors taught five languages.
“It’s a huge privilege knowing that we are setting the groundwork for expansion of the program,” Ms. Aguero said. “For me, it’s a privilege to be here.”
Hussan Hussein, an Arabic instructor who has been with DLI’s ProMES program for a year and a half, is teaching at Maxwell for the second time, having previously taught for the program in January and February 2009. He said the popularity of the courses is apparent.
“Our language courses are pretty much full. That tells us a lot,” he said.
Mr. Hussein hails from Baghdad, Iraq, where he served as an interpreter and translator for the military. Mr. Hussein added that he is pleased to once again be at Maxwell AFB.
“We’ve been in many, many places,” he said. “The Maxwell experience is always the best. The people here are awesome and make us feel at home.”
The DLI instructors are “very friendly and genial people,” Colonel Smith said. “They love being here. We want them to feel like they are part of the academic cadre here.”
