English Language Courses

The English language courses have been held in the National Defence System since 1998. Separate battalions and national defence institutions were responsible for organisation of the courses. The Academy took over responsibility to organise the English language courses on 1 August 2005. Since then the courses have been completed by more than 2000 participants.
The Course objective is to teach officers of the National Defence, civil workers and employees working under labour contracts, foreign officers who have to take part in multinational missions, raise their qualification in foreign countries, and implement the tasks and functions indicated in the officer’s job description.

Types of Courses:
1. International English Language Courses. Duration – four months (540 academic hours). The courses are organised two times a year at the Department of Foreign Languages. The objective of the course is to help foreign officers to reach second level of language acquisition according to ND6001 of all types of verbal activities (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Candidates to the courses must have SLP 1111. There are 10-12 course participants in a group who come from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Georgia, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine. The course participants can participate in cultural events, cognitive excursions round Lithuania are organised for them.

2. Basic Level English Language Courses. Duration – 16 weeks (480 academic hours). The courses are held twice per artificial year at Kaunas and Vilnius English Language Training Divisions. The participants acquire basic knowledge and skills (Elementary according to international classification, A1 according to SLP (Standardized Language Profile) and 1111 according to ND6001 level. After completion of the course they are supposed to „survive” in an English speaking environment. This level of language acquisition is not yet sufficient for professional usage.  In order to preserve the knowledge and skills acquired and be able to apply them at work and in task fulfilment the course participant is recommended to take courses at higher levels as soon as possible.

3. Second Level English Language Courses. Duration – 18 weeks (540 academic hours). The courses are held twice per year at Kaunas and Vilnius English Language Training Divisions. The course participants consolidate all four communication skills, expand vocabulary in daily and professional areas and are able to perform tasks of language acquisition and creative language of average difficulty  (Intermediate level according to international classification, B1-B2 according to Standardized Language Profile or  SLP,  2222 according to ND6001 level). This level of language usage fulfils the requirements for professional every day language usage. Skills and knowledge acquired remain longer than basic knowledge, but disappear if not used for longer time.

4. Third Level English Language Courses. Duration – 24 weeks (720 academic hours) with a 5 weeks’ brake in the middle of the course (i.e. after 12 weeks from the beginning). The courses are conducted once per year at Vilnius English Language Training Division.  Course participants not only consolidate the four communication skills, expand vocabulary in daily and professional areas but also learn to perform fairly difficult language comprehension and creative language tasks (Advanced according to international classification, C1-C2 according to Standardized Language Profile or SLP, 3333 according to ND6001 level). Such language comprehension is necessary at the environment of active and high level language usage.  Skills and knowledge acquired remain for a long time. Even if the language is not used it is easily recovered long after.

5. Basic, Second and Third Level English Language Refresher Courses. Duration – 4 weeks (120 academic hours). The courses are held following NDS requirements. The course participants have to refresh basic, second and third level fundamental knowledge and skills in one month. In order to use course time effectively, the participants able to refresh their knowledge and skills mentioned above in a short time are selected to attend these courses.
6.English Courses According to USA International Military Training Program (IMET International Military Education and Training)

Duration – not more than 16 weeks. The courses are held twice a year at Kaunas and Vilnius English Language Training Divisions. The specific aim of the courses is to train course participants following USA English teaching programme before sending them to specialized qualification courses to the States.  The courses aim at developing listening and reading skills (language comprehension). Candidates with knowledge of basic level at least are admitted to these courses.  Every week course participants take a test on the topics covered (a book completed); every two weeks they take an achievement test.

Evaluation
Participants‘achievement testing is held at the last week of the courses (except for Courses According to USA Military Training Programme and International English Language Courses).  Speaking and writing skills are tested separately, later on the participants take the test which examines how the students have learned vocabulary and grammar, listening and reading comprehension. The participant must collect no less than 75 for successful completion of the course programme. After completion of Second and Third Level English Language Courses (or Second and Third Level English Language Refresher Courses) the participants have the right (i.e. without taking English language selection test – AKAT) to participate at the nearest testing according to ND 6001 at once. In spite of this, the teachers fill in the students’ course study characteristics, where level of the students’ aptitude and motivation is indicated, achievements throughout the courses and recommendations regarding their possibilities to take courses of higher levels are given.

The participants are provided with the course materials, much attention is paid to independent listening, and some tasks are performed in computer classes.  The course participants who come from other towns are accommodated at the Academy‘s dormitory.
Qualified and experienced teachers who work at the courses help the students to deal with the most difficult aspects of English language learning individually.  At the end of the courses the teachers are evaluated by the students who fill in questionnaires. This enables to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in a teacher‘s work with students.