At the teaching facilities of the A.M. School of Foreign Languages, the experimental course “Military Operational English” has been launched. This is the 1st experimental course of English specifically for “Forward Air Controllers” (FAC), Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces called to operate on the ground for final coordination in the event of close air support (Close Air Support) to advanced surface forces (Forward Line Own Troops).
The course, under the auspices of the 3rd Department of the State Defense Staff, is the result of approximately one year of study of the English linguistic issues of the FAC operator. The “FAC Capabilities Section of the Allied Air Command at Ramstein,” in Germany, and the language training institutions of the Armed Forces participated in the preparatory work. In particular, SLEAM provided its contribution in drafting the “Syllabus” and the final language assessment test.
The goal of the course is to maximize standardization in the training and education sector and to raise the professional linguistic proficiency of the FAC.
The educational activity, whose deadline is set for June 22, is based on the syllabus developed by linguistic experts with the assistance of industry experts, “Subject Matter Expert”, and includes a period of full immersion training to deepen the skills and certify knowledge of the English language used in the context of air cooperation activities, in accordance with NATO standards.
As part of the course, activities will therefore be carried out by native-speaking teachers focused on vocabulary, grammar and operational phraseology that characterize the environmental conditions of use and the various phases of radio communication “Land/Shore/Land”. Particular emphasis will be placed on the “listening and speaking” skills of the participants, through the use of transceiver devices to make the communication conditions in the classroom as close as possible to the reality of actual use.
The new MOE educational offer, currently being tested, fits within the established educational mission in the field of linguistics that SLEAM carries out in Loreto to meet the needs of personnel from the Air Force, other Armed Forces and Armed Forces of the State.
