Photo By Sgt. David Marquis | Xhenete Hasani and Erik Quvuelli, both 18-year-old students taking part in Teaching of...... read more read more
Subscribe
CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo – Language is a key to opening metaphorical doors that can lead to higher education, opportunities to travel, or a greater understanding of the world. Connecticut Army National Guard Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation Regiment, out of Windsor Locks, Connecticut, are reaching out to the youths of Ferizaj, Kosovo, and helping them prepare to pass the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language test.
The 1-169th Aviation Regiment is one of several U.S. Army units currently deployed to Kosovo as part of NATO’s peace support mission the region. The 1-169th serves as Multinational Battle Group-East’s Southern Command Post headquarters, and is based out of Camp Bondsteel in southeastern Kosovo—just minutes down the road from Ferizaj.
“The TOEFL test is a certification accepted by over 9,000 English-speaking universities,” said Sgt. 1st Class Steve Leach, an aviation mechanic shop noncommissioned officer in charge with the 1-169th. “Not only will this give the students the required certification to go to those schools, but the certificate is also accepted for many government positions.”
“I can’t even fathom the amount of doors this test opens,” he said.
The TOEFL test gauges a student’s understanding of English at the university level for individuals whose first language is not English. In this case, the students are native Albanian speakers, which is the majority language spoken in Kosovo.
“I’ve been studying English since the sixth grade,” said Diellza Krasmigi, a 19-year-old student, currently studying law at Pristina University. “After passing the TOEFL, I will go to England, finish school, and then I will come home and go into politics.”
“Politics is the fastest way that I can have an effect on things here,” he said. “I will at least try.”
Spc. Samman Shrestha, a 1-169th Aviation Regiment tech supply specialist, said the Soldiers teaching the class bring their own experiences into the instruction as well. He can relate to students trying not only to speak in English, but also to think in English, because Shrestha’s first language is Nepali.
“I understand where they are coming from,” Shrestha said. “For example, when they are trying to saying something, it may start out in English, but then they get confused and in their head they are thinking in Albanian.”
“I can relate to them and they can relate to me, because I had the same problems learning English,” he said.
As each Soldier brings in different skills and backgrounds, so does each student. Leach says one of his students suffered from a birth defect until she was 12 years old, when a U.S. Army doctor saw her and performed surgery to heal her condition. That student now seeks to pass the TOEFL exam so she can study in the United States with the final goal of becoming a surgeon to help people internationally.
“U.S. Army Soldiers and what they are doing is absolutely awesome for us,” Krasmigi said. “I am extremely thankful because we need it.”
“The TOEFL is really good, because if you finish it with high scores you can study abroad, gain knowledge, then come back and improve our country,” she said.
The TOEFL program is improving the lives of everyone involved, from the students to the Soldiers instructing it, both groups taking pride in bettering themselves in a profound way.
“The program has had such an effect on not just Ferizaj, but all of Kosovo,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jay Soukiassian, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot who coordinates the Soldiers’ volunteer participation in the TOEFL program. “Just the knowledge that we are able to do something on a deployment that really impacts people, it’s such an amazing achievement to be able to pull that off.”
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2015 05:13 |
| Story ID: | 174515 |
| Location: | FERIZAJ, ZZ |
| Hometown: | WINDSOR LOCKS, CT, US |
| Web Views: | 745 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Opening doors: Bondsteel Soldiers prepare Kosovo teens for English certification test, by SGT David Marquis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT