February 15, 2008

U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation Upgrades English Language Laboratory

U.S. Charge´ de Affaires, a.i. Joseph Pennington and Armenian Minister of Defense Mikayel Harutiunian inaugurated the recently upgraded language laboratory at the Aviation Institute in Yerevan on Friday, Februay 15. The U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. though the ODC´s International Military and Education (IMET) program. This same program, currently funded by the U.S. State Department, is what also provided the funding to upgrade the laboratory.

The new lab upgrade will help fulfill the joint goal of the U.S. 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 U.S. The ODC plans to provide an American English language instructor later in the year to assist with instruction and English course standards.

The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster U.S. government and industry assistance in the Armenian defense sphere. The U.S. ODC works for the U.S. Chief of Mission in Armenia and the U.S. European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.

U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Pennington and Armenian Defense Minister Mikayel Harutiunyan speak at the opening of the renovated language laboratory

U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Pennington and Armenian Defense Minister Mikayel Haruttiunyan test the new equipment