Practice of the chair of foreign languages aimed at uniting the processes of training and education

The main goal of educating cadets at the Military academy of the Republic of Belarus is the formation of the personality of an officer possessing a highly-developed personal and spiritual potential, the qualities of a patriot, a citizen ready for the armed defense of his Motherland and for the active participation in the social life of the country.  The graduate qualities (officer’s personality) formed at the academy include: readiness and ability to perform independently the service responsibilities of an engineer, leader, educator; conviction, ideological fortitude, loyalty to the people and the Motherland; high professional training, general professional culture, discipline and diligence; ability to think and work in modern conditions, to see the perspective; commander’s will, initiative and independence; ability to take responsibility, to think and act in the conditions of limited time, enormous moral, psychological and physical stress, etc. More specifically, the personal qualities of an officer are defined in the qualification characteristics of the specialists trained at the academy, the requirements of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, and governing documents.

One of the main types of pedagogical activity of a teacher is educating during the practical classes (PC). First of all, it should be mentioned that, on the one hand, the teacher provides his influence on the cadets through the content of his subject, the topic of each class, equipping the students with knowledge, forming their worldview that determines the nature of human’s behavior. On the other hand, it is carried out through the form of classes (external influence), the order in the classroom, meeting the requirements of the military regulations, use of advanced techniques, speech, providing personal examples in the uniform, following the regulations, authority, etc. The chair staff is intolerant of such vices as untidy appearance, idle talk, discrepancies between words and deeds, etc. It has a great educational impact on the cadets.

PC is the main weapon of a teacher. Its educational impact is stronger if it has a deep content, is more reasoned, more individual, and contains novelty and discoveries. The formulation and analysis in the context of practical studies of topical problems of the internal life of the country, the Armed Forces, international issues, and the latest discoveries in the field of science and technology enhance not only its methodological, but also its ideological educational impact.

The value of PC is also determined by the strength of the impact of the teacher’s word. The teacher’s confidence during the lesson is transmitted to the students. The emotional form of the teacher’s statement plays here a significant role. The teaching staff of the chair pays a significant attention to this issue. Thus, our teachers use the following techniques:

1. For attracting cadets’ attention at the beginning of the classes:

• personal statements;
• questions about the cadets’ life, facts and events concerning the audience;
• paradoxical incident, joke, spectacular story.

2. For maintaining contact with the audience:

• congratulations on the cadets’ birthday, promotion to the higher military rank and other events in their lives;
• dialogue, conversation, story.

3. For a short rest during the class:

• deviation from the main topic, digressions;
• appeal to the cadets’ lives;
• quotes from fiction;
• humor, jokes, aphorisms, exclamatory final phrases.

4. For forming creativity atmosphere in the classroom:

• deliberate mistake, questions that activate attention.

PC contributes to the formation of the qualities the cadets need in practical activities in the troops, facilitated by the widespread use of game forms and teaching methods, which are aimed at ensuring a gradual transition from the study activities during the academic subjects to work close to the real activities of our graduates in the military units.

It should be mentioned that in modern conditions the role of PC in the educational process is significantly increasing. It is provided, firstly, by the need to intensify the process of forming the scientific worldview of the military personnel, the need to give them more profound knowledge on scientific methodology. Secondly, and it is especially important today – nowadays people live in an increasingly uncertain situation, when there are no ready-made solutions, when these solutions need to be found, accepted and taken responsibility for them. Therefore, the tasks of teaching creativity, cultivating an independent personality who can think critically, conduct a discussion, argue and take into account the opponent’s arguments are put forward to one of the first places in the educational process. But a person can learn to be creative only when he is actually put in a situation that requires a creative solution. This is achieved by introducing active forms of teaching into the educational process.

The most intense cognitive activity of cadets is provided by PC in the form of a “brain storm”. The goal of such classes is to solve the problem posed on the basis of the acquired ideological, methodological knowledge and professional skills in an operationally short period of time. For this, an acute problem situation which requires intellectual search and can be resolved with the help of previously acquired knowledge is created.

The chair also widely uses other active forms of teaching: business games, express control, round tables, including participation in conferences, competitions and olympiads.

Such classes are characterized by democracy, an active discussion of issues, incentives for independent creative thinking, and connection between the problems under consideration and the practice of the military life. In the process of collective work, together with the teacher, the cadets exchange information, acquire new knowledge, learn to argue, convince, to be leaders, make decisions and take responsibility for them. Delivering such forms of PC facilitates the transformation of knowledge into strong personal beliefs; instills oral presentation skills on theoretical issues, teaches to operate the social and political terminology, scientific concepts and categories; develops the qualities of a leader, educator, and propagandist.

When considering the problems of war, peace and army, during self-study and weekends the teachers of the Chair of Foreign Languages organize visits to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, meetings with participants of the Second World War and internationalist soldiers, veterans of the Armed Forces. This contributes to the formation of a scientific worldview and patriotism of the future officer.

The analysis shows that the educational side of teaching foreign languages is expressed in the transfer by teachers and the assimilation by cadets of a certain amount of knowledge in languages. The activities of cadets in this regard are nothing more than a process of cognition with all its inherent laws. The main indicator of this process is the degree to which the cadets master the objective truth. Whether he knows or he does not know, whether he knows correctly or he knows incorrectly, whether he understands or he does not understand - this is an approximate range of indicators that determine this cognitive process.

The educational side of teaching foreign languages is something else. The main thing here is the extent to which the knowledge acquired by the cadets becomes his operational and value social attitude, the program of his practical behavior. The measure of correspondence between the theoretical material being studied and the cadets’ actual actions is the main criterion for measuring the effectiveness of the teacher’s educational work.

In this regard, at the chair, all educational programs of the disciplines studied are developed from the point of view of the internal logic of the education of cadets in the teaching process. The logic of education means the identification and consistent effective use of those educational opportunities that are contained in the training course, in each of its topics. For this purpose, an education strategy is planned in advance, i.e. general educational goals, as well as technical tasks of education.

So, what are the educational areas provided by the chair? They include the following:

• forming patriotism;
• teaching skills of objective assessment and forecasting of the military and political situation in the state and the world;
• forming the professional competence and awareness, general culture, discipline and diligence, high demands on oneself and on colleagues, dedication;
• developing the creative thinking and a sense of the new, combat independence and activity;
• developing a personal responsibility for the accurate implementation of orders and instructions of the command, decision-making and assessment of their social and economic consequences;
• forming a pedagogical direction, high methodological level, determination in mastering the art of education, etc.

Of course, the given list of the educational areas, forms and methods of their implementation is brief and schematic. It contains only the main contours and guidelines of this complex process. But if while preparing for his classes each teacher systematically prepares not only for teaching cadets, but also thinks how to use the content, form and methodology of classes for educational purposes more effectively, we will ensure the fulfillment of the requirements for officer personnel, we will form a harmoniously developed personality of an officer of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus.

Thus, to form the personality of an officer, it is necessary to consider the following:

1. Conducting regular conversations with cadets about the quality requirements for professional training of military specialists imposed by military practice of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus;

2. Meetings with the experienced and young officers (graduates of the Military Academy), conversations about the problems of professional activities at the current stage of reform and development of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus;

3. Creating a social and psychological service at the academy, which would not only deal with professional selection, but also work with cadets throughout the entire period of training. Moreover, I would suggest to maintain a close contact with the cadets’ parents;

4. Professional selection should be started at the early stages, i.e. at secondary schools, professional and technical schools, etc., including through military registration and enlistment offices;

5. Expanding cooperation with museums, theaters and other cultural institutions;

6. Creating the atmosphere for the cadets to be personally interested in excellent studies and discipline. To achieve this, it is necessary to create an incentive system to study well and be disciplined. The cadets should accept these incentives as really valuable. The examples of the incentives may be as follows – for the cadets:

• of the 1^st and the 2^nd years – if they study excellent and show exemplary discipline – two leaves a week;
• of the 3^rd and the 4th years – on the same terms – free self-studies schedule with the possibility to work in the libraries outside the academy.

7. Holding meetings with the representatives of law enforcement agencies discussing the problems of the young people “in the civilian life”, including the invitation of neurologists, psychotherapists and other specialists.

8. Raising the prestige of military service as a whole, increasing the status of an officer, so that the cadet has something to lose in the event of expulsion from the academy.