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DLI Alumni Association (DLIAA) |
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1. Message from
the president
2. Voluntary Contributions
3. Retirements/Resignations (1 Jan to
3 Apr 06)
4. In memoriam (1 Jan to 31 Mar 06)
5. Calendar
of events (FY 2006-07)
6. Cutting edge technology improves language proficiency
- Robert Lee
7. DLIFLC's Student Learning Center, what is it? - CMSgt Rodney Irons
8. The first Russian class in Monterey - From MISLS to the Army
Language School
9. DLI
alumnus
10. Spanish immersion program at Lake Tahoe Community College
(LTCC)
11. The Arabic Language - Making things difficult - Rick Francona
12. Lt Col Rick Francona, US Air Force (Retired) - A military officer
and linguist par excellence
13. Email to the Editor - Shaun Case
14. Local WWII veteran describes early language
training - Bob Britton
15.
16. Han Yuan "Harry" Lee (1924-2006)
- Chinese Teacher, Tester, Course Writer, and Chair - Ben De La Selva
17. Your
Alumni Association at work - Past, present, and future accomplishments
18. DLI Memorabilia - DLIAA
T-Shirts, mugs, license plate holders, and lapel pins
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1. Message from the
As we
leave behind a cold, windy, and rainy winter in Monterey, I hope spring time
finds you working hard on your foreign language skills. Remember: "you learn mainly by listening
and reading, but speaking and writing reveal your mastery" As in the past, I
look forward to hearing from you about your thoughts, suggestions and stories.
You can write to me at president@dli-alumni.org.
Benjamin De La Selva, President.
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2. Voluntary Contributions
Remember that just as Napoleon's
Army marched on its stomach, our Association
runs
on voluntary contributions.
When ready, you may send yours, however small, to DLI
Alumni Association, PO Box 5653, Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944.
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3. Retirements/Resignations (1 Jan 06 - 3
Apr 06)
Grdjic
Branko
(Serbian Croatian Teacher)
Larissa Zeltser (Russian Teacher)
Vladimir Zeltser (Russian Teacher)
Jovan Vukcevich (Serbian Croatian Teacher)
Fookchuen Chan (Chinese Teacher)
Farideh Khazeni (Persian Farsi Teacher)
Shahla Kashfi (Persian Farsi Teacher and Course Developer)
Alla Brodsky (Russian Teacher)|
Martin Metzger (German Teacher and Information Technology
Officer)
Ilya Levit (Russian Teacher)
Eugenia Levit (Russian Teacher and Chairperson)
Ludmila Ebelstein (Russian Teacher)
Venus Attia (Arabic Teacher)
Michel Nicola (Arabic Teacher)
Linda Millay (Command Group Admin Assistant)
Neil Granoien (Russian Teacher, Chair, Dean, Vice-Chancellor)
- Will retire at end of April
Elvira Robinson (Equal Employment
Opportunity Officer)
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4. In memoriam (Oct
to Dec 05)
Edwin
Larson, 85, (1921 - 2006)
(Persian Farsi graduate, ALS 1949) (See article #14,
below)
Serge Issakov, 86, (1919 - 2006)
(Russian Teacher, Supervisor, Chair, Dean) (See article #15,
below)
Han
Yuan "Harry" Lee, 82 (1924-2006) (Chinese
Teacher, Tester, Course Developer, Chair) (See article #16, below)
Alexander Gitchev, 59 (1945 - 2006) (Bulgarian
Teacher)
Irena
Bakst, 78 (1927 - 2006) (Russian
Teacher)
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5. Calendar of events (FY 05-06)
- Defense Foreign
Language Steering Committee and/or Annual Program Revie
- Worldwide Language Competition (WLC) – Month of May 06 (Presidio
of Monterey)
- Language Day – Friday,
19 May 06 (Presidio of Monterey)
- For more information visit the
DLI Alumni Association website, at: http://www.dli-alumni.org/LanguageDay/LanguageDay06.htm
- Installation Mid-Summer Party
- Tentatively scheduled for July 2006
-
- CLPM Seminar and Joint
DoD Language Conference
- October 2006 - Venue
not yet determined
- The American Council
on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Conference - November 2006, - For
more information go to http://www.actfl.org/.
The Digital Stream
Conference - Last
- Teachers of English to Speakers
of Other Languages (TESOL) Conference - The 40th Annual TESOL
Convention and Exhibit (TESOL 2006) Tampa, Florida, March, 2007. Many DLI
faculty attend this conference. For more information
see http://www.tesol.org/conv/index-conv.html.
-
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6.
Cutting edge technology improves student proficiency
By Robert Lee, Curriculum Development Division, DLIFLC.
Robert is also a graduate
of
the DLI Russian Basic and Intermediate courses; and former Russian Military
Language Instructor.
As
the largest organization in the United States dedicated solely to the teaching
of foreign languages, the Defense
Language Institute Foreign Language Center is often at the forefront in evaluating
and leveraging new and innovative technologies to maximize the effectiveness
of instruction for both resident and non-resident programs.
The DLIFLC employs over 1200 full-time faculty and staff who
are all integral to the mission of delivering instruction across more than
two dozen languages to upwards of 3500 service men and women from all branches
of the military. The success of this mission, which is paramount to the nation’s
security, hinges directly upon the Institute’s ability to manage tremendous
volumes of digital information traversing not only the local campus, but the
entire globe. The office of the Chief Information Officer bears the responsibility
for ensuring this vital support is available 24/7. The office of the CIO must
be always looking ahead, identifying, securing, implementing and maintaining
the latest technology available. It serves as the point of convergence for
all of the Institute’s information technology requirements.
“The investment in new technology will pay off by providing
the newest and most innovative learning and teaching tools for students and
instructors,” said the DLIFLC Chief Information Officer, Lt. Col. Jorge Serafin.
A strategic Information Technology plan was developed through a collaborative
effort which addressed the current and future concerns of the Institute. Not
only did the Institute’s leadership provide input, the voice of the faculty,
staff and students was also heard. This level of participation clearly demonstrates
the Institute’s commitment to identifying and implementing the best information
technology solutions for the DLIFLC.
It goes without saying that certain key elements of the IT plan specifically
target the DLIFLC’s projected increases in the student load over the next
few years. In addition, the plan takes into consideration the fact that the
expectations upon graduation have also increased. To achieve these higher
graduation requirements, the Institute implemented the Proficiency Enhancement
Program, or PEP, as it is more commonly known. The PEP is dedicated to significantly
improving graduates’ overall language proficiency, but doing so without increasing
the course length.
How exactly will this be accomplished? First, the student-to-teacher
ratio will be decreased from 10 to 1 down to 6 to 1. The PEP envisions an
increase of some 800 faculty and staff and several hundred more students over
the next five years. This means more classrooms, which in turn means more
IT infrastructure. This new and enhanced infrastructure will bring increased
capabilities – students armed with tablet PCs and iPods will be interconnected
via an upgraded wired and wireless network. This “virtual” classroom will
now extend far beyond the traditional confines of the brick and mortar classroom.
“The existing network will be upgraded, wireless network services will
be established and DLIFLC’s connection to the Internet will continue to be
expanded as usage increases,” said Serafin. The expanded network infrastructure
will greatly enhance the Institute’s ability to stream high-quality audio
and video throughout the campus. This level of IT support is paramount in
supporting the increased requirements associated with PEP.
An integral part of the technology-enhanced learning environment
at the DLIFLC is the Technology Enhanced Classroom III (TEC-III) program.
TEC-III will put a tablet PC in the hands of each and every student. This
will create a network
of learning through which students will collaborate with each other and their
instructors beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. Students will
retrieve their daily assignments, supplemental materials and any other pertinent
information from the instructor across the wireless network. Not only will
they be able to review
a wide variety of instructional materials – text documents, web pages, audio
and video files from anywhere on campus – they will also be able to submit
their assignments electronically. Students will stay immersed in the language
long after the school bell rings.
“For teachers, this technology will equate to a paradigm shift,” said Dr. Jack Franke, a professor in the European and Latin American School. “Textbooks that were previously static or outdated have evolved into dynamic books that organically incorporate authentic materials and the latest teaching methodologies.”
The programs at the DLIFLC have always placed a heavy emphasis on developing the students’ listening skills. In the not-too-distant past, students were issued the latest in technology – portable cassette players. Only last year, students listened to their lessons on portable CD players. Today, the Institute is again at the forefront in deploying the latest technology to the students. Sophisticated devices such as the iPod not only deliver audio; they can also record speaking assignments, play video, store digital textbooks and much more.
Another advantage of portable devices such as iPods is their durability. Unlike cassette and CD players of the past, the latest devices have no internal moving parts. Rather than leaving a virtually unusable CD player at the door upon graduation, students leave with all of their courseware stored on a single portable device. Students will continue to interact with DLIFLC long after graduation. Connecting to the Institute through the Internet, students will have access to the latest materials that can be easily downloaded.
“This portability is a major advantage for students - learners can play both audio and video files, as well as save documents to their iPods. Students are able to maintain and improve their proficiency via downloads from DLIFLC’s own www.LingNet.org web site and other Internet resources. Through these latest innovations we are able to focus on learner-centered instruction and results,” said Franke, speaking about the online linguist support materials produced by the Institute’s Curriculum Development Division.
In this vein, DLIFLC is taking advantage of a simple, yet highly effective technology – podcasting. Podcasting is a way of delivering digital content through the Internet to “subscribers.” In the context of teaching, students subscribe to their teacher's podcast of homework assignments. Teachers, in turn, would “subscribe” to their students’ podcast. As the Institute has made great strides in digitizing all of its curriculum, it can quite literally deliver these materials via podcasting to every corner of the world. Linguists deployed in the most inhospitable locations, wherever the Internet is available, will be able to access the latest DLIFLC has to offer. This technology will be useful even for new students on campus and enable them to log on and receive a digital welcome packet, initial instructions, directions, all of their course materials and, most importantly, their first day’s homework.
Technology does not stop with learning; it extends into testing as well. The latest iteration of the Defense Language Proficiency Test, also known as the DLPT5, will be transformed into electrons. Plans are also underway to automate previous versions of the DLPT exams in order to completely move away from paper-and-pencil test-taking.
“This is an exciting time to be at the DLIFLC. The information technology
plan serves as a roadmap for the future to ensure mission success. The technology
that we implement today will support DLIFLC’s innovative, transformed and
continually adapting organization operating on the cutting edge of language
instruction and technology in support of the Department of Defense world-wide,
” concluded Serafin
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7. DLIFLC's Student Learning
Center... What Is It?
By CMSgt Rodney Irons, Director, Student Learning
Center; DLI graduate of the Spanish Basic (1981) course.
MISSION STATEMENT: "To prepare DLIFLC students for success in their language studies by strengthening their knowledge of grammar terminology, equipping them with language course survival skills, and introducing them to the peoples, cultures, and countries of their target language."
To aid in preparing highly capable military linguists, the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) created the Student Learning Center. The Student Learning Center evolved from the Student Motivation and Retention Training (SMART) program in early 2006. Its mission expanded from just teaching the SMART course into areas of academic advising and plans to launch educational workshops in the near future.
Since its inception in 1996, the primary objective of DLIFLC's SMART program has been to increase the academic success and motivation of Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen, most of whom are learning a foreign language for the first time. The course teaches global grammar terminology and concepts in the English language and directly relates them to foreign language grammar concepts. The course also provides service members with an orientation to various learning styles, proven foreign language learning strategies, and an explanation of the range of foreign language proficiency levels required to perform mission-critical tasks. SMART also provides a highly motivational area studies portion that introduces service members to the peoples, cultures, and countries of their particular target language.
The Air Force initially established the SMART program in 1996 to address the increasing academic attrition (31% in 1996) of its initial entry-training (IET) students. In October 1996, the Air Force Element (AFELM) taught its first class, a 1-week course designed to better prepare IET students for foreign language learning. In September 1997, the Naval Security Group Detachment (NSGD) decided to join this effort and began sending its students through the course. The AFELM and NSGD worked together to expand SMART's curriculum and began teaching a 2-week version of SMART in October 1998.
The AFELM developed a proposal to expand the program DLI-wide and briefed it at the DLIFLC Annual Program Review (APR) in February 2000. At that time APR attendees raised concerns about space, manning, funding, and lengthening the student pipeline. However, the consensus was to submit a formal proposal to HQ TRADOC and PERSCOM for consideration. In March 2000, the proposal was briefed to LT GEN Van Alstyne (Deputy CG TRADOC for IET). The proposal won overwhelming approval and LT GEN Van Alstyne instructed the DLIFLC to proceed with plans to expand the program. In May 2000, the DLIFLC Commandant submitted a formal proposal to TRADOC. In October 2000, the proposal was approved and DLI earned eight civilian instructors to support program expansion during FY03/04. To meet expansion concerns, DLIFLC also renovated spaces in late 2000 to give SMART two additional classrooms. TRADOC also gave the course its own course designator, 00ZS, and added SMART into the scheduling process for courses to begin in FY03. In late 2002, DLI completed another building renovation, giving SMART two more classrooms, for a total of five classrooms.
SMART held its first DLI-wide class on 19 September 2002, with 167 students from the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Evaluation and Standards Division (ES) conducted a research study during the fall of 2002 and early spring of 2003 to examine SMART's effect on attrition for AF students. ES gathered data on students who attended SMART from 4 October 2000 to 28 August 2002. They examined the success rates of those students and compared them to those students who had not attended SMART. These data included any students who began language training on 5 October 2000 and ended by 14 March 2003. The study also focused on only those students in pay grades E1 to E4. Graduates were those who completed their language course successfully the first time through with a DLPT proficiency level rating of two or higher in both listening and reading, and a speaking proficiency of one-plus or higher. The study revealed increased graduation rates for students who attended SMART as follows: 4.0% for Category I, 6.7% for Category III and 6.6% for Category IV languages.
During FY03, the services and DLI met with several difficulties enrolling students into both language courses and SMART. However, DLI felt the SMART course was needed for its students, so DLI developed a proposal to reduce SMART to a one-week course and then integrate it into all basic language courses. This proposal would solve the scheduling difficulties as well as ensure that all students would be guaranteed SMART training before beginning their language studies. A formal proposal was developed and submitted to TRADOC for approval. DLI proposed to eliminate the two-week course (00ZS), add one week onto the basic language courses and then incorporate SMART into all language courses. TRADOC approved the DLI proposal but the basic courses would not be lengthened until FY07. In preparation for the FY07 implementation, the SMART staff redesigned the curriculum into a one-week course and began it in December 2004.
In the interim, DLI decided to delete the SMART 00ZS course in July 2005 and partially integrate the one-week course into high enrollment languages to include Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Persian Farsi and Russian. This decision would allow SMART to try various ways of integrating the one-week course to determine best practices before full integration in FY07. However, it would not allow students to receive the full one-week SMART course. This method also did not allow SMART to teach all languages. While SMART was evolving into a shorter, integrated course, DLI was also examining ways to expand SMART's role across the institute. In February 2005, the SMART staff began the development of English courses with a specific foreign language focus. For example, in coordination with the Persian Farsi department, SMART began development of a Persian Farsi focused English text. This text would allow SMART teachers to introduce Persian Farsi grammatical concepts to familiarize students with Persian grammar before their language studies began. The Persian text was completed in the fall of 2005 and SMART began teaching it to Persian students. Plans are to expand this effort into at least the high enrollment languages such as Arabic, Korean and Chinese.
In the summer of 2005, DLI also began to examine a student academic advising role for SMART. The SMART staff visited the State Department's Foreign Service Institute to examine their academic advising mission. This led to discussions with each of the language schools about the possibility of standing up a similar mission at DLI under SMART. The goal was to establish a counseling service to assist students with their individual language learning difficulties. Discussions with the schools and military units also led to the idea of designing and offering follow-on courses in learning strategies, time management and other topics, geared towards helping students with their language studies. DLIFLC leadership decided to expand SMART's mission and established the Student Learning Center (SLC) in January 2006. The SLC provides academic advising, the one-week SMART course, other follow-on course offerings and guidance to the military units on their tutoring initiatives. The idea behind the SLC is to provide students assistance throughout their course of language study, thereby further reducing academic attrition.
DLI has invested much of its own resources to support SMART and
the SLC, including funding facility upgrade projects, purchasing equipment,
and hiring additional civilian faculty. By continuing to prepare Soldiers,
Marines, Sailors, and Airmen for language training and by providing them with
enhanced learning skills and academic counseling services throughout their
course of study, the Student Learning Center will fully achieve its goal of
motivating our service members and increasing their rate of success.
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8. The first Russian Class in Monterey
– From MISLS to the Army Language School.
I have often told my children and grandchildren about my
time in Monterey. So, here are a few comments. In Oc-tober of 1946,
my classmates and I assembled at the Presidio for the purpose of learning
Russian! None of us had the slightest idea as to what was in store for
us but we were ready and willing for whatever. We were a mixed bunch
- three captains, one lieutenant, two master sergeants, one staff sergeant,
a corporal, and me, a Tech 4. We soon became very close and always ready to
help each other in any way.
Prior to our Russian course, Japanese was the only language
being taught. Actually, we were in the first Russian class taught in
Monterey, which began with two instructors using one copy of Semenov's "First
Reader". There were no lesson plans prepared nor was there an exact
road map established for the direction our course would take. For a brief
period after class, the instructors would have to prepare and mimeograph the
next day's lesson. A lot of guess work was involved and many different
teaching methods and techniques were tried out on us and everything seemed
to work out for the best. It just took a little time.
Occasionally some of us would go down to the rock formations
along the waterfront in Pacific Grove and practice reading Russian text aloud
to practice pronunciation. No one could hear us because of the waves crashing
on the rocks. There were those times when Cannery Row below was going strong
and that terrific stench would float right up the hill into the classrooms.
When it got too bad, classes were dismissed for the day.
One of our classmates, Capt. Wargo, was instrument check
pilot for another pilot then stationed at the Presidio. They had a C-47 at
the airport for their use so as to get the monthly flying time. We could go
along and spend a pleasant afternoon sightseeing California from the air.
During our free time we explored the area. As you all know, there were many
places to visit.
All too soon the time passed and we were at the end of
our course. By this time there were quite a few more classes. We had made
many friends both in school and the surrounding area. Graduation was upon
us and the ceremonies included me giving the speech on behalf of my class,
in Russian, my 15 minutes of fame. Then came the goodbyes and we each went
our way. The Presidio and Monterey would always be remembered very fondly.
It was definitely a privilege and an honor to have been selected for this
training. It was well used during my Amy career as well as even today.
I did return for the 9-month advanced Russian course in
June 1965 but completed only 6 months. I applied for retirement and left service
in April 1966. This Monterey chapter of my life was indeed wonderful.
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9. DLI alumnus
The follo
"GOLD IN THE SHADOW was published in 2000. I wrote it as an archaeological thriller, in the same general vein of the Indiana Jones, Clive Cussler and Tombraider stories. Although I was not able to use my German language skills from DLI in the mixed Egyptian and Andean settings of the novel, linguists should appreciate the appearance of five other languages mixed into the story, including Quechua, Yaminhua, Machiguenga, Spanish and ancient Egyptian. The plot is a fanciful blend of Andean and Egyptian mythologies set in the present day Madre de Dios jungle of Peru, and follows the misadventures of an expedition seeking the legendary lost city of Paititi. The book is available through special order at most major chains and via Amazon.com." Best regards, Michael Marcotte
Book
Description: (Amazon.com) "It was outright lunacy, Rachel realized.
A Peruvian expedition, based on a Moroccan map, to find a fabled city that
almost certainly did not exist. A destination smack in the middle of some
of the most inhospitable territory that Mother Nature had to offer. Poison
darts, bushmaster serpents, vampire bats, unknown creatures straight from
a nightmare...and Rachel’s missing twin. Despite the drawbacks, she had to
get to her twin as soon as possible. Only ancient myths and native legends
hint at the fantastic secret Rachel is about to unlock."
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10. Spanish
immersion program at Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC)
Now and then we receive requests from alumni who want to know where they can continue maintaining or improving their language skills. The following information was obtained from Janice Tait, Program Assistant, World Languages Department, Lake Tahoe Community College.
"Would
you like to spend some time at beautiful Lake Tahoe and learn the Spanish
language and the culture of Spanish-speaking countries? Join hundreds of others
from all over the nation at Lake Tahoe Community College Sunday, August 6
through Friday, August 11, 2006 for a weeklong immersion program. The Intensive
Spanish Summer Institute offers all levels of Spanish for true beginners to
fluent speakers. Over one hundred cultural breakout sessions and opportunities
to converse with native Spanish-speakers are included. Check our Website at
www.ltcconline.net/issi or call (530)
541-4660 x363 for more information. Registration begins May 22, 2006."
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11. The Arabic Language - Making Things Difficult
Extracted from: http://www.francona.com/commentaries/arabic.html. Published with permission from Lt Col Rick Francona, U.S. Air Force (Retired). Francona's bio follows this article.
The Arabic language is difficult – ask anyone who has tried to learn it. The United States government categorizes languages on the degree of difficulty for a native speaker of English to gain practical fluency. Category four is the most difficult; there are four of them. They are Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
The Arabic language - Al-lawghat al-‘arabiyah
Arabic is a Semitic language, as is Hebrew and Maltese. These languages are derived from the Aramaic language, believed to be the language spoken by Jesus Christ. Arabic is spoken by almost 250 million people and is the (or one) official language of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
That said, the local dialects of Arabic can be quite different from place to place, country to country. The Arabic spoken in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia – the Maghrebi dialect – is heavily influenced by French and Berber. Egyptian dialect is quite distinct, but is widely understood since Cairo is home to the major Arabic film and television studios. Syrians, Palestinians and Lebanese speak the Levantine dialect, which is markedly softer than the guttural sounds of the Gulf Arabic. Unless people from one end of the Arab speaking world converse in Modern Standard Arabic (the written language), they run the risk of being either misunderstood or not understood at all.
Arabic is also the language of Islam. The Islamic holy book, the Quran, is written in Arabic and is believed to be only fully understood in that language. As such, the Quran is usually not translated into other languages – explanations in other languages are common, but the text is always rendered in Arabic. For that reason, classical Arabic is widely understood by many of the world’s almost one billion Muslims.
The Arabic alphabet – the problem
In addition to being a difficult language, the Arabic alphabet creates its own set of problems. The writing system consists of 28 consonants; the three vowels are not normally written. As with Hebrew and the other languages that use the basic Arabic alphabet (Persian, Urdu, Malay, etc.), the script is written from right to left.
The major problem is how to properly transliterate the Arabic script. Although there is only one correct spelling in Arabic, converting it to something readable in Latin letters can be confusing. For example, is it Saddam Hussein or Saddam Husayn? Technically, neither can be incorrect since the actual spelling is the Arabic letters Hah Sin Yah Nun. Most media are using the transliteration Hussein, although Husayn is closer to the Arabic script.
The United States intelligence community is required to use a standardized system, especially in the era of computerized databases that require specific letters. That system is the Board on Geographic Names (BGN) transliteration system developed jointly with the government of the United Kingdom.
An example of the consequences of not adhering to the system is the U.S. Army destruction of an Iraq munitions storage depot in the days immediately following the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Operating under orders to destroy all Iraqi military facilities in the area under coalition control, Army officers checked the databases to determine if the Al-Khamisiyah depot was used to store chemical weapons. Unfortunately, the records indicating that artillery shells filled with the nerve agent Sarin were stored at Al-Khamisiyah were filed under a different – and non-BGN – transliteration. When the facility was blown up, American forces were exposed to low levels of the nerve agent.
Arabic language expertise will continue to be a problem. It is not
widely taught in the United States, but there is an increasing need. Immediately
following the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an urgent appeal for American citizens
with Arabic language ability.
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12.
Lt
Col Rick Francona, US Air Force (Ret) -
An
officer and linguist par excellence
Lt Col Rick Francona is a triple DLI graduate. He graduated from the
Vietnamese Basic course (Nov 71) at the DLI South West Branch in El Paso,
TX. Subsequently he studied Arabic Basic (Dec 74) and Arabic Intermediate
(May 78) at the Presidio of Monterey. Rick also served as a Military
Language Instructor (Arabic language) at DLI from 1978 to 1979.
Lt Col Francona enlisted in the Air Force in 1970, and
served as a Vietnamese linguist until 1973, conducting aerial reconnaissance
missions over Vietnam and Laos. After Arabic language training, he served
at a variety of locations in the Middle East from 1975 to 1977, and supported
the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in 1976. In 1978, he
became an Arabic language instructor at the Defense Language Institute in
Monterey, California.
Following his commissioning in 1979, Lt Col Francona was an instructor at the Air Force intelligence school in Denver, Colorado. From 1982 to 1984, he was a Middle East operations officer with the National Security Agency. In 1984, he was assigned as an advisor to the Royal Jordanian Air Force in Amman, Jordan.
In 1987, Lt Col Francona was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency
as the assistant Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East. During
this assignment, he spent much of 1987 and 1988 at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad,
Iraq, as a liaison officer to the Iraqi armed forces directorate of military
intelligence. Lt Col Francona traveled extensively as an observer of Iraqi
combat operations against Iranian forces, and flew sorties with the Iraqi
air force.
General
Schwarzkopf and Rick, Saudi Arabia, 1991 
Immediately following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August, 1990 and through
the Gulf War, Lt Col Francona was deployed to the Gulf as the advisor on Iraqi
armed forces and personal interpreter to commander in chief of the U.S. Central
Command, General Norman Schwarzkopf. As such, he was the lead interpreter
for ceasefire talks with the Iraqi military at Safwan, Iraq, in March, 1991.
After the end of the Gulf War, the colonel served in the Office of
the Secretary of Defense, and was a principal author of the Department of
Defense report to Congress on the conduct of the Gulf war. In 1992, he was
selected to be the first air attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Damascus,
Syria, returning to the United States in early 1995.
Iraq - 1995
From 1995 to 1996, Lt Col Francona served with the Central Intelligence Agency, and participated in a variety of sensitive operations in the Middle East, including the escape of an Iraqi scientist's family. During one of these operations, he survived an attempt on his life by Iraqi intelligence service agents.
In 1996, the colonel was selected to develop the Department of Defense counterterrorism intelligence branch. In late 1997, the colonel led a special operations team supporting NATO forces in Bosnia. He returned to the United States and retired from active duty in 1998.
Since retiring from the Air Force, Lt Col Francona has written Ally
to Adversary: An Eyewitness Account of Iraq's Fall from Grace, and consulted
with government and private firms. Currently he is a media analyst on Middle
East political-military events, currently under contract to NBC News, and
appears regularly on NBC Nightly News, MSNBC, Hardball, Connected Coast to
Coast, Scarborough Country, Countdown, and others.
Iraqi election coverage- 2005
The colonel has a bachelors degree in government and the Arabic language,
and a masters degree in international relations with a concentration in Middle
East studies. His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal,
the Bronze Star, and nine Air Medals, as well as campaign awards for service
in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and the Balkans. The colonel was awarded the
Central Intelligence Agency Seal Medallion for his service with that agency.
Lt Col Francona and his wife Emily reside on the Oregon coast
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13.
E-Mail to the Editor
By Shaun Case, graduate of
DLI Russian Basic (1987) and OSIA (1991) courses/
I just wanted to thank you for the DLI Alumni Association. It is good to receive updates and remembrances as time goes by. I really enjoyed my work in the USAF in Russian, and my training at DLI. It is a beautiful location, and the staff were so knowledgeable and skilled in language. To this day, although I have not really used my Russian in almost 15 years, I can listen to conversations in the grocery store, Internet TV, etc. and have no real difficulty with it. I attribute this to the method of teaching used at DLI, which is obviously the best in the world.
My first instructor, basic Russian, started on day one by simply identifying things in the room in Russian, and told us that, "today is the last day you speak English"...and you know what...it worked very well. I already spoke German, and English, so tackling a new language was not new for me, but the method was, and it worked so much better than my previous experiences. Then when I returned for follow-on training for OSIA for the INF treaty, again, the teaching methods were excellent for our simultaneous translation and conversational skills! (Perhaps I had an advantage, already knowing 2 languages and being the first in history to score 100% on the DLAB prior to coming to DLI, but I still believe the teaching methods were the best source of achievement.)
I have since suggested similar methods for other language teachers, (civilians), who always, when they hear that recommendation, look like a light bulb just went on above their heads...So, DLIFLC not only helps our national missions, but in the end also contributes to the civilian community as former military folks and former teachers move on to other duties in life.
Thanks again, Shaun Case.
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The following article is about Edwin Carl Larson, who passed away on March
21, 2006 in Pacific Grove, California
14.
Local WWII veteran describes early language training.
By Bob Britton
(Article
first published in 1995. Re-published with permission from "The
Globe")
He's a veteran of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Persian-Gulf-Command, a retired Army medic and a Persian graduate of the Army Language School. Retired Master Sgt. Edwin Larson of Pacific Grove fits all of these descriptions. During the depression era of the late 1930s when thousands of people had no jobs, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, in 1938, which was set up earlier by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. CCC provided jobs for able-bodied men who constructed military installations or did forestry work around the country. The next time you're running, walking or marching on Soldier Field, take a moment and look at the stone walls surrounding the area. You'll notice the Camp Ord CCC workers constructed the structure around 1936. Larson worked on CCC camps in Northern California near the Oregon border. "CCC employees worked under semimilitary rules and discipline," he said. "We had about 200 workers per company, slept in tents, ate in mess halls and were led by an Army major or captain. We received $30 monthly and were required to send $25 home to our families and keep $5 for ourselves."
He joined the Army in 1939 and remained a soldier until his retirement in 1959. One of his tours ended up with the Persian Gulf Command as a medic in Iran from January 1943 to October 1944. He traveled the country visiting different military clinics and met the villagers and town people. When you mention the Persian Gulf Command, people today associate it with military Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991 driving the Iraqis out of Kuwait. For 30,000 World War II veterans, the term meant resupplying Russia by rail or truck convoys. Soldiers moved supplies from Iranian or Iraqi ports across scorching deserts and dangerous mountains reaching up to the eastern Russian front to help defeat Nazi Germany. Also, some of these former soldiers referred to Iran as Persia, its former name.
Before Larson's language training, he was assigned to the station dispensary at the Presidio of San Francisco and served as the medical orderly for Gen. Joseph W. "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, then commanding general for Sixth U.S. Army. Stilwell died there in 1946 and had many roots in the Monterey area. For example, Stilwell commanded Fort Ord and the 7th Infantry Division in 1940-1941. Then he served as the III Corps area commander at the Presidio of Monterey until his next assignment as commanding general of the World War II Burma-China- India campaign. While commanding Fort Ord, Stilwell began the idea for Stilwell Hall on the paM Annex. He envisioned a "million-dollar enlisted soldiers club" paid for by every soldier stationed at Fort Ord.Stilwell's ideas included a complete recreation complex with enlisted, NCO and officers' clubs, a chapel, and outdoor recreation facilities including a huge swimming pool.
However, funding shortfalls and the beginning of World War II prevented the other facilities from being constructed by what is now Stilwell Hall. Stilwell Park and Stilwell School are named after the "soldiers' general. "After the '.var ended, the Army realized it had a shortage of trained linguists in many languages, including Persian. In 1948, Larson became one of the first enlisted Persian students at the Army Language School, the predecessor of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. In those days, classes had all male students, he mentioned. "I was in Persian Class P-12-3, which meant it was the third 12-month Persian-language course taught at the school. Wegraduated Sept. 9, 1949," Larson said. "Our native instructors were old fashioned and taught us from kindergarten and first-grade primers. That's all the material they had at the time. We had tests every two weeks with no typewriters or computers. All tests and notes were handwritten, while instructors wrote coursematerials on stencils and reproduced them on old mimeograph machines. Besides Persian, our section taught Turkish, Albanian and Greek languages." Larson considers attending the Army Language School and receiving his diploma in Persian the highlights of his military career.
On several occasions, he has addressed DLIFLC graduating classes and spoke of his own experience with this difficult language. "I graduated with a B-grade as a translator and C-grade as an interpreter. I became a better soldier with this language experience, discipline and knowledge of other cultures." He said graduates should use their new language skills constantly or they may lose their effectiveness. Although he earned his language proficiency from the Persian class at ALS, he remained a medic until his retirement. He only used his language skills twice, once in Germany and once in Ethiopia. After his ALS schooling in 1949, he was reassigned to the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. Shortly after his arrival, a Turkish general, the chief of the Turkish army medical service, visited his unit. During the visit, Larson conversed in English with a young Turkish officer. "I told him 1 had just graduated from our Army Language Schoolm Persian and was jealous of the Turkish section because they could write in Romanized letters while we learned Arabic script," Larson said. "The officer was surprised and approached the general, who then asked me to meet him. "We greeted each other in Persian when he asked me where I learned to speak the language so well," Larson continued. "I told him about the Army Language School. Then, the general explained he learned Persian as a young medical officer stationed on the Turkish-Persian frontier and enjoyed reading the poetry of Persian poets Saddi and Ferdosi in the original language. "Next, the general asked, through his interpreter, why I was in Germany and not in Iran as an interpreter," Larson mentioned. "Our European Command surgeon general replied that he never heard of the Army Language School before that time."
The medic's next chance using his language skills came in 1956 while
stationed in Kagnew Station, Eritrea, Ethopia. He accompanied a small medical
party looking for possible evacuation routes throughout the country during
the height of the Suez Canal crisis. The group stopped outside a native medical
compound asking for sanctuary from armed bandits. This was refused until the
native doctor came out and said he spoke French, but not English. Larson detected
a slight accent, took a chance and asked the citizen in Perrsian if he was
Iranian. "The doctor, taken by surprise, greeted me joyfully and invited
us inside his compound for the night," Larson said. "Speaking in
Persian, he told me he belonged to the Bahai religion founded in Persia. The
doctor mentioned he was sent to this remote region in Ethiopia to bring the
message of this religion." Larson had a third time using his language
abilities a few years after his Army retirement. He and his wife were dining
in Sacramento, Calif., when he happened by chance to learn the restaurant
manager was Persian. "I invited him over to our table," he continued.
"When he arrived, I stood up and greeted him in Persian. Tears filling
his eyes, he embraced me and said, 'I was adopted by a detachment of a railway
battalion operating between Qum and Tehran. An American soldier sponsored
me, I married an American, and you're the first person to speak Persian to
me in years.' Then my family had the best meal in the house."
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15. Serge
Issakow
(1919-2006), Russian Teacher, Supervisor, Chair, Dean.
By Ben De La Selva,
with input from Serge's niece, Irene Baratoff
Serge Issakow was born on June 26, 1919, in Ekaterinadar,
Russia. Not long after his birth, his mother moved with the infant Serge to
France, where he spent his early childhood. At age 13, he and his mother
immigrated to Poland, where he spent his teen years. During WWII
he moved to Austria, where he met an attractive young lady, Irene Mussin-Pushkin,
his future wife. In September 1944 they were married in Vienna, where
Irene gave birth to a baby girl. During that time, Serge worked as a
Russian translator for the French Occupation Army in Tyrol, Austria.
In July 1949, Serge immigrated to the United States with his wife and daughter
and they lived in New York State until the early 1950s. In February
1953 Serge joined the Russian faculty of Army Language School, becoming a
Russian instructor for the ensuing 10 years. Along with another Russian instructor,
Michael Chordas, Serge video-taped over 100 dialogues used in the old Russian
Basic Course for many years. All students who memorized those dialogues never
forgot one line in particular: "Don't shoot, it's I, not a duck."
Serge was promoted to Class Supervisor in 1963. At that time it was common
for a supervisor to be in charge of 20 to 30 teachers. Peter Aikman,
who came to DLI as a Russian student, and later became a teacher and supervisor,
remembers that Serge was a great inspiration to students in the Foreign Area
Officer (FAO) Program. Accordingly, Serge was supervisor of the FAO
classes for several years. In late 1973 and early 1974 Serge became Chairperson
of the Lower school. After the death of Valery Postovsky, Serge was selected
Slavic Group Chief (Dean). As such, in the early 1980s he made frequent
trips to the newly created Russian branch at Lackland Air Force Base, near
San Antonio, Texas. - Serge retired in the spring of 1984 after 31 years of
faithful service. He spoke 5 languages fluently: Russian, French, Polish,
German, and English. During his journey from instructor to dean, Serge instilled
the love of languages and cultures, especially Russian, to his students and
teachers, and to his children and extended family. Serge moved to Rohnert
Park, California in 1990 to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren.
Most of all Serge enjoyed being an instructor and supervisor because that's
when he was closely involved with students. He often met with
students at the Officer's Club (now the Weckerling Center), where they spoke
only Russian. Serge passed away on February 17, 2006, surrounded by his family.
Of the 60 instructors that joined the Russian faculty in Feb.'53 only 3 remain
living: George Bogatirev, Michael Chordas and Mr. Alexandrovsky. Irene
Baratoff, his niece, who joined DLI as a Russian instructor in 1973, reports
that Serge worked with her every evening for a year on how best explain to
American students the complexities of Russian Grammar.
That was a typical
gesture of Serge, who served as a mentor and a role model to several generations
of Russian teachers. Everyone who knew him misses him very much.
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16.
Han Yuan "Harry" Lee, Chinese Teacher, Tester, Course Developer,
Chair
By Ben De La Selva
Harry
Lee was born in Tianjing (mainland) China in March 1924. He served in
the Chinese Army during Second World War and emigrated to America in 1949
at the age of 25. He earned a BA degree in liberal arts at Northeastern
University in Boston and in 1953, while in graduate school, was hired by the
Army Language School (ALS). Harry worked with dozen other Chinese instructors
who pioneered the teaching of Chinese in the early ALS/DLI years. Always
trying to improve his education, in 1973 he obtained an MA in Foreign Studies
from the Monterey Institute of Interational Studies (MIIS). After some
20 years in the classroom, Harry was trained as a Chinese Oral Proficiency
Tester and worked briefly as a Faculty Trainer. In the early 1980's
Harry was assigned as course writer for the Chinese Basic Course development
project, later becoming its Project Officer. As such, Harry began the
revision of the commercially developed Chinese course known as "Standard
Chinese, a Modular Approach" or "SCAMA". A year later,
Harry was asked to served as Chinese department chairperson in the Asian School,
position he occupied until his retirement in 1989. During his tenure
as department chair, Harry gave impetus to the then "team teaching"
program being advanced by Col Monte Bullard, DLI Commandant. Accordingly,
he established the first "teams" in the Chinese department.
In the summer of 1989 Harry retired at the age of 65, after 36 years faithful
federal service.
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17.
Your Alumni Association at work - Past, present, and future accomplishments
- Maintained alumni website and database
- Published quarterly newsletter
- Requested and published faculty, staff, and alumni articles.
- Provided specific and general information to DLIAA members upon request
- Assisted DLIAA members in contacting former classmates and teachers
- Assisted DLI in organizing and carrying out group reunions
- Provided DLI with escorts for alumni visiting the Presidio
- Made available speakers for graduations
- Contributed with articles for the Globe
- Established a monthly DLIAA student graduation award
- Organized and funded the Berlin Wall Dedication reception in November 2005
- Is donating a bronze plaque memorializing linguists killed in action in the war on terror
- Is assisting DLI in organizing its 65th Anniversary, scheduled for November 2006
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18. DLI Memorabilia ( below is a sample of our most popular t-shirt)
View language t-shirts, mugs, license plate holders, and lapel pins at: http://www.dli-alumni.org/dliaa_memorabilia.htm
.GIF)