BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BILC Conference Bruges

BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BILC Conference Bruges, Belgium 04 -09 May 2014 ”Forging effective partnerships to optimize operational success” Advantages and disadvantages of contracting language training/testing services 1 MAY 14 LT Estela Magalhães Parreira

AGENDA § § 2 Introduction Weaknesses Strengths Conclusions

INTRODUCTION 3

INTRODUCTION Due to our commitments within NATO, UN, and EU, we teach English to our military. 4

INTRODUCTION We will soon begin to teach French. (Portuguese Air Force) For this language, we will contract external services to teach and test. 5

INTRODUCTION To teach and test English, we have in-house capabilities but also contracted services. 6

INTRODUCTION Throughout the years we have been: Downsizing the contracted services Developing in-house capabilities 7

WEAKNESSES / STRENGTHS 8

WEAKNESSES 9

WEAKNESSES Poor awareness of STANAG 6001 Testing NOT IAW STANAG 6001 10

WEAKNESSES Difficulties in adjusting to military environment Difficulties in adjusting to military teaching methodologies 11

WEAKNESSES Difficulty in teaching military terminology Difficulty in teaching for the mission 12

WEAKNESSES Virtual impossibility of teaching classified material 13

WEAKNESSES Lack of military experience to teach communicative skills within the field of military operations 14

WEAKNESSES Costly No permanent ties to the Military 15

STRENGTHS 16

STRENGTHS In case of shortage of “in-house” teachers 17

STRENGTHS Valuable asset because we usually contract English native teachers 18

STRENGTHS Valuable asset for: Academic English General English Higher Levels 19

STRENGTHS Different teaching methodologies Value added provided by these partnerships 20

STRENGTHS No permanent ties to the Military 21

CONCLUSIONS 22

CONCLUSIONS As everything in life, contracting teaching/testing services has weaknesses and strengths 23

TEACH I NG GUARA N TEE OBJECT IVE LANGUAG E S OPE R ATIONS C O MBINED P THEATRE REGARDLESS COMMUNIC A TE B EST MIL I TARY SKIL LS MULT I NATIONAL STRENGT HS Y EFFECTIVEL LIFE MAY DE END ON IT! 24

BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BILC Conference Bruges, Belgium 04 -09 May 2014 ”Forging effective partnerships to optimize operational success” Advantages and disadvantages of contracting language training/testing services 25 MAY 14 LT Estela Magalhães Parreira