BASIC MILITARY ENGLISH

Common Module Basic Military English (BME) for International Students
mit Rekordbeteiligung

Background & Design

The 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 four Czech sergeants from the Brno University of Defence, two Italians lieutenants from Torino, and two Greek Cadets from the Hellenic Army Academy augmented the multinational audience, bringing the grand total to 24(!) participants from eight nations.
The BME Course (Module O) proper is organised as a series of briefings, lectures, and activities with six teachers presenting their topics organised as a Round Robin, i.e. they will present their topics as wandering lecturers while the three groups of students remain in their respective classrooms.
On top of that BME is to promote students' writing and speaking skills. To this end students are to submit to the Language Office, a writing assignment specified hereinafter and make a presentation thereon in class.
The Course is based on the idea of total immersion, i.e. English only to be used during class. Grammar is only taught by way of remedial grammar as required by students.
The didactic concept focuses on Problem-based Learning (PBL). The principal aims of implementing PBL are:

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

Purpose & Teaching Objectives

The purpose of the Course is dual and is reflected by the following objectives:

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

Resource Staff

The three teachers from the residential faculty, namely Rosy GEYSS, Christian THULLER and Gernot PAUSCHENWEIN (in charge of the CM) as well as three guest teachers, namely Craig POVEY, Tony WATTON, and George BOTTORFF will provide the students with technical and linguistic expertise. Two USMA Cadets, Jason BRODEUR and Ethan BLUHM will act as interlocutors on Friday.

Student Requirements

For a code of conduct, see the Ten Commandments attached!
Students should not to hesitate to ask for any clarification required. There is no such thing as a silly question – the only silly question there is, is the question never asked! They are strongly advised to take down all unknown words they encounter to ensure that the objectives of this course be met!
Comments on this Course are most welcome and should be made, using the End-of-Course Evaluation System.
Attendance is mandatory! Any absence needs to be compensated for on the absentee's own accord.

Topics and Assignments (Call for Papers)

You are 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 (400 words minimum). To this end the class senior is to collect the papers and hand them in at the Language Office (Room # 303) no later than by Thursday, 1600hrs. Co-operation with fellow students is encouraged, plagiarists, however, will be "court-martialled", i.e. flunked!

1. DAILY MILITARY ROUTINE
2. UNIFORM & EQUIPMENT
3. OPERATIONS
4. RANKS & APPOINTMENTS
5. ELEMENTS & BRANCHES
6. FORMATIONS & UNITS
7. ARMS & AMMUNITION
8. MILITARY VEHICLES
9. TERRAIN ORIENTATION
10. OFFICER TRAINING IN POLAND
11. OFFICER TRAINING IN LITHUANIA
12. OFFICER TRAINING IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
13. OFFICER TRAINING IN ITALY
14. OFFICER TRAINING IN HUNGARY
15. OFFICER TRAINING IN ROMANIA
16. OFFICER TRAINING IN GREECE
17. OFFICER TRAINING IN MACEDONIA
18. COMMANDS & WARNINGS, CEREMONIAL DRILLS

Grading

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

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

If you fail in one of the four P's, you will be flunked altogether!

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 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!

[Inhalt: Obst Pauschenwein/TherMilAk, Foto(s): ©Bild1-3: Pauschenwein/TherMilAk, ©Bild4: Seger/TherMilAk]