TRADOC Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Harris, observed two Chinese Mandarin classes at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center March 4.
The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command senior enlisted leader, Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Harris, observed two Chinese Mandarin classes at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center March 4, while engaged on a tour to visit TRADOC installations Army-wide.
Harris said he was impressed with the foreign language training program and could visibly see the difference between five days per week intensive studies at the Presidio of Monterey, in comparison to four-year colleges that offer degrees, but teach foreign language courses on average twice per week.
“This is my first time out here and it blew my mind. I don’t know how they do it. The instructors didn’t break stride in Chinese, and I can hardly speak English,” said Harris with a chuckle. “My son is studying Russian in college and there is no way he will be as fluent as these students,” upon graduation, he noted.
DLIFLC Provost Sgt. Maj. Rebecca Ann invited Harris to stop by an ongoing new Instructor Observation Workshop conducted by Ms. Jackie Moran, a training specialist from the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, Arizona. The workshop trains supervisors how to evaluate instructors and provide feedback, which allows them to continue honing their teaching skills.
“The reason we can graduate such competent linguists is because we invest heavily in our faculty,” said Ann.
Harris also took the opportunity to address Army cadre at the Institute to inform them of what changes are taking place at higher levels in the Army. “We have to mold what it means to wear this uniform every day…we are charged with doing this because we are enlisted.”
