By Patrick Bray
DLIFLC Public Affairs
Tech Sgt. Ryan Best received the Military Language Instructor of the Year award from the Kiwanis Club of Monterey Sept. 13. (U.S. Army photo by Patrick Bray/Released)
MONTEREY, Calif. – The Kiwanis Club of Monterey honored two Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center faculty at their monthly meeting in downtown Monterey Sept. 13.
Dr. Gamal Kalini received the Civilian Instructor of the Year award and Tech Sgt. Ryan Best received the Military Language Instructor of the Year award. The awards are representative of the partnership between the Institute and the greater Monterey community.
Kalini, originally from Cairo, Egypt, has worked for the Institute since 2007.
“Dr. Kalini is so dedicated to his profession that he regularly shares his research and work with colleagues through workshops and presentations at various faculty development events at DLIFLC and beyond,” said Col. Phil Deppert, commandant of the Institute.
Dr. Gamal Kalini received the Civilian Instructor of the Year award from the Kiwanis Club of Monterey Sept. 13. (U.S. Army photo by Patrick Bray/Released)
Best, who joined the U.S. Air Force in 2006, studied both basic and intermediate Mandarin Chinese at the Institute before becoming the Chief Military Language Instructor at the Institute’s Asian School I, the Chinese School.
“Aside from all his accomplishments, Tech. Sgt. Best also holds the highest DLPT score within the Air Force, with a 3+/3/2+ in Chinese Mandarin – which puts him in the top one percent of Air Force linguists,” said Deppert.
Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 by a group of businessmen in Detroit, Michigan. The name “Kiwanis” was coined from an expression in a Native American language of the Detroit area, “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means, “We trade.” In 1920, the motto of Kiwanis became “We Build.” It remained the motto until 2005, when members voted to change it to “serving the children of the world.”
Col. Phil Deppert, commandant of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, addresses the Kiwanis Club of Monterey Sept. 13. (U.S. Army photo by Patrick Bray/Released)
The Kiwanis Club of Monterey, founded in 1926, has donated more than $1 million in college scholarships and grants to local charities such as the Boys and Girls Club, the Salvation Army, Boy and Girl Scouts, the Rape Crisis Center, and more.
DLIFLC provides resident instruction in 17 languages at the Presidio of Monterey, California, with the capacity to instruct another 65 languages in Washington, D.C. The Institute has graduated more than 220,000 linguists since 1941.
In addition, multiple language training detachments exists at sites in the U.S., Europe, Hawaii and Korea, spanning all the U.S. geographic combatant commands in support of the total force.
