Language Instruction at DCLCP
Our organization has taught critical language, regional expertise, and culture (LREC) courses for U.S. government students as well as university students since 2008.
We pride ourselves on being agile and flexible in tailoring instruction to any partner-defined needs in timing, length, location, delivery, levels, and number of students. We provide interactive, immersive, student-centered learning.
College Credit: For courses above 30 hours we provide transferrable college credit awarded by UM.
Course Delivery: Robust technology backbone and Canvas LMS supports in-person, virtual, iso-immersion, and hybrid formats.
We employ native-fluency faculty with advanced degrees, extensive experience instructing government professionals and with national security concepts; ACTFL and OPI Testers.
Facility clearance at Top Secret level
Teaching Approach
Our approach to language acquisition pivots on the following principle: we facilitate through student-centered activities. This does not mean our instructors are passive players in the language learning process; on the contrary, they devote considerable time before each class to organizing and preparing a learning environment that is focused on the student, not the instructor.
We understand that learning success is based on an accurate appraisal of the student’s language ability and learning preferences. Consequently, before language training begins, students take placement tests which evaluate reading, listening, and oral proficiency. This intensive process helps us gauge the individual language learner’s proficiency; it also enables us to craft our course to meet a specific student’s needs.
The benefits of extensive instructor preparation and the initial evaluation process are readily apparent when the language course begins. From day one students enter a novel classroom setting where target language use is imperative. Even for beginning language learners, our instructors strive to use the target language to explain grammatical concepts, pronunciation principles, and cultural nuances. We emphasize language use not endless repetition of verb conjugation tables or word memorization drills. Our students build and expand their vocabulary through role-playing scenarios, games, and by listening to or reading from authentic texts that are matched to students’ professional needs.
In addition to their academic training, most of our native-speaking instructors have directly experienced the joys and frustrations of adapting to foreign cultures and learning new languages. They appreciate that different students learn in different ways. Therefore, movies, games, and television shows are employed to enhance language acquisition and ensure that each day is not a predictable repetition of the previous one. In short, we believe that learning languages should be fun and interactive not dull and inflexible.