US OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION UPGRADES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LABORATORY
armradio.am
15.02.2008 15:45
US Charge’ de Affaires, a.i. Joseph Pennington and Armenian Minister of
Defense Michael Harutyunyan inaugurated the recently upgraded language
laboratory at the Aviation Institute in Yerevan on Friday, Februay
15. The US Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) provided the
$93,000 upgrade which featured fifteen new desk-top computers. The
new computers will enable Armenian military students that use the
English language laboratory to individually utilize language learning
software. Each student station is networked to the instructor’s
computer to provide flexibility for instruction. The laboratory, which
was originally set up by the US contractor Dal Media Solutions in
2006 and funded through ODC at a cost of $92,000, is already equipped
televisions, CD players, and DVD/VHS players to help students learn
English. Its purpose is to prepare Armenian military personnel for
study in U.S. military training facilities. About twenty-five Armenian
officers and sergeants attend military courses each year in the US
though the ODC’s International Military and Education (IMET) program.
This same program, currently funded by the US State Department,
is what also provided the funding to upgrade the laboratory
The new lab upgrade will help fulfill the joint goal of the US ODC
and the Armenian Ministry of Defense to centralize English language
instruction standards, and develop an intensive English language
course to support Armenian military personnel preparing for their
studies in the US. The ODC plans to provide an American English
language instructor later in the year to assist with instruction and
English course standards.
The US Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster US
government and industry assistance in the Armenian defense sphere. The
US ODC works for the US Chief of Mission in Armenia and the US European
Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.