Military personnel get training on the Queen’s language

A two-week Intensive Military English Language Training that targeted the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) and Navy officers concluded last week in Windhoek. The training was delivered by the British Council and funded by the British Peace Support Team (South Africa).

Participants from the army and navy undertook 50 hours of intensive English Language lessons which focused on improving grammatical accuracy and developing vocabulary as well as practising and extending communication skills in a variety of situation and tasks.
A total number of 40 participants were trained and this was the 3rd consecutive year where defence force members were trained in Peace Keeping English.
The training is conducted in recognition of the need for effective communication in English regionally, nationally and internationally and the need to work towards ensuring human security and human rights, and supporting international peace keeping throughout the world and it is vital that the Namibian Military be able to use English accurately.
Political and Press Officer British High Commission, Hans-Christian Mahnke said, “The British Council is a world leader in English Language Teaching. With over 2,000 teachers employed in 80 centres worldwide and providing lessons for 300,000 learners each year, the council provides courses for teachers and English language improvement classes for adult professionals.”
“In Sub Saharan Africa in 2012 we delivered direct teaching to over 15,000 students of English in 16 Countries. In addition, we have excellent track record in teaching the Military through our Peacekeeping English Projects in Ethiopia, Rwanda, DRC, Burundi, Senegal, Djibouti, Mozambique and Namibia,” he added.
The closing ceremony for the training last week was attended by the British High Commissioner, H.E Ms Marianne Young, Colonel John McCardle, Defence Advisor for Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom, based in South Africa and Mr Edward Hauanga, Deputy Director in the Directorate for Education and Civil Training at the Ministry of Defence, Namibia.
“We would like to thank the British Government for availing themselves in setting up this great initiative to provide training opportunities to members of the Ministry of Defence,” said Hauanga.