The Loreto School of Foreign Languages continues to deliver e-learning courses for its counterpart at the Iraqi Ministry of Defence. The new method of distance learning for the Italian language utilises a laboratory equipped with an e-learning platform and equipment (computers, printers, UPS units, projectors, internet subscriptions, etc.) donated permanently and free of charge by the Italian Ministry of Defence to the Defence Language Institute (D.L.I.) in Baghdad (Iraq), as part of the Italy-Iraq bilateral cooperation programme. The “online” management of the training programme complements the activities carried out on the ground by the “NATO Training Mission – Iraq” (NTM-I) to support Iraqi teaching staff and learners in their study of the Italian language. SLEAM is therefore tasked with providing live demonstrations to Iraqi officers at the D.L.I. of the interactive multimedia Italian language course, which lasts approximately 9–10 weeks with around 25 hours of lessons and study per week. The content available on the “e-learning” platform – which has also been developed in Arabic thanks to existing partnerships between SLEAM and a number of universities – is supplemented by “live” sessions, led by an Italian language teacher from SLEAM, with the aim of complementing the language training of the participants through the use of the virtual classroom and other resources offered by the course (forums, chats, etc.). The new “e-learning” teaching method, adopted for the Italian course aimed at Iraqi trainees, enables the provision of the fundamental and necessary initial knowledge of the language – in view of possible attendance at subsequent military training courses in Italy – whilst ensuring a careful balance between cost and effectiveness. Following on from the experience gained with the “blended” approach used in English courses, the idea has emerged to replicate this model for Italian courses as well, by incorporating an initial/elementary-level “e-learning” phase as a preparatory step for subsequent, more advanced courses. SLEAM’s e-learning Italian course for foreign nationals, launched in partnership with Iraq, therefore complements the traditional “face-to-face” course which has been held periodically in Loreto since 2008 for foreign military personnel as part of international cooperation programmes. Intensive Italian language courses are currently underway for participants from Mauritania and Afghanistan.
