University of Arizona to offer language training for Department of Defense
Oct 24, 2022, 4:05 AM | Updated: 7:33 am
(University of Arizona photo)
(University of Arizona photo)
PHOENIX — The University of Arizona announced Thursday the new Language Training Center program in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense.
The training center, only one of nine in the country, will give language and culture training for critical and strategic areas, offering classes in person and virtually, the school announced in a press release.
First-year courses will typically include Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian. Courses typically include 160 hours of instruction, following a curriculum that supports language abilities through proficiency-based, communicative and task-based approaches, according to the release.
The classes are intentionally kept on the smaller side — no larger than eight people — to maximize the learning experience.
The Department of Defense started Language Training Center programs in 2011, using existing university and college language and culture programs to meet the needs of Department of Defense organizations.
“The ‘train the trainer’ component was the top priority for our Department of Defense partners. It will dramatically expand the DoD’s internal training capabilities, again serving as a force multiplier,” Vice Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Humanities Kimberly Jones said in the release.
“Language specialists who go through these programs are well equipped to serve as language mentors, with a solid understanding of best practices for training and supporting lower-proficiency personnel studying the same target foreign language.”
The university has partnered with the Department of Defense in the past through Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, for language training.
The second component of the training center will be foreign language instructor certificate courses for less proficient learners studying the same critical language.
The Department’s Defense Language and National Security Education Office is funding the program through a three-year, $1.5 million grant.
