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Alumnus Develops English Program for Turkish Journalists

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Vincent Lauter with Turkish collaborators
Institute alumnus Vincent Lauter (third from left) and colleagues developed a special course to help Turkish journalists improve their English so that they can more effectively interact with international media.
 

Middlebury Institute alumnus Vincent Lauter MATESOL ’13 combined his English language teaching skills with his background in journalism and online content development by developing a special course for professional journalists in Turkey. The English for Modern Media Skills course for journalists in Ankara and Istanbul grew out of work Lauter did with Turkish journalists, university communications faculty, and students in the U.S. Department of State’s American English E-Teacher Program.

Lauter’s journalism background served him well as he researched the project, before his TESOL curriculum design skills came into play in the development stage. He told a reporter for the State Department that “Turkish journalists are very dedicated professionals who have endured a lot of politically and economically motivated stress in the last decade.” He found the journalists enthusiastic about learning English and received support from the U.S. Embassy in Istanbul, with all agreed that “the primary goal of the project should be to raise the journalists’ English language proficiency in order to support interaction with international media outlets and to provide the Turkish public with objective reporting.”

The full story as reported by the State Department can be found here.

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For More Information

Jason Warburg
jwarburg@middlebury.edu
831-647-3516

Eva Gudbergsdottir
evag@middlebury.edu
831-647-6606