History of the Institue of Foreign languages

History

The history of the present Institute of Foreign Languages (ÚCJ) goes back to the 1950s of the 20th century, when the Department of Languages was established at the University of Forestry and Wood Technology in Zvolen (VŠLD). 

1952

• The Department of Russian Language was established in the academic year 1952/53 as one of the first departments of the University of Forestry and Wood Technology (VŠLD) in Zvolen.

1955

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• In 1955, the Department extended its activity, was renamed as the Department of Languages and organisationally became a part of the Faculty of Wood Sciences of the VŠLD.

1973 

• Cooperation on the research activity English-Slovak Dictionary of Agriculture with the University of Agriculture (VŠP) in Nitra.

• Cooperation on the preparation of the international festival Academic Zvolen. The Institute of Foreign Languages cooperates to present day and provides interpretation and  accompanying of the foreign folk ensembles.

1976 - 1982

• Solving of the national research activity in the field of lexical and grammatical (morphological) means of the technical writing style of Russian language and Slovak language.

1990

• Since 1990 lecturers of English and German language have run the courses at the Department.
• The employees of the Department provided education of (foreign) languages at the Faculty of Forestry, the Faculty of Wood Sciences as well as the Faculty of Ecology.
• The Department trained approximately 30 to 40 aspirants of the VŠLD a year, as well as from other organisations and not only in the field of forestry and wood technology, but also in other specializations and subject fields.  

1991

• In the academic year 1991/92, the Department started the education in the postgraduate studies in the field of forestry and wood technology.
• The focus of the Department activity was language education. In full-time and part-time form of education, the Department provided teaching of English, German, French, Spanish, Russian languages and for foreign students also education of Slovak language at all three Faculties: the LF, the DF and the FEE.
• The Department organised intensive courses of English and German language for students and employees of the TU also in recreational facilities Šachtičky.
• Strengthened cooperation with Alliance Française. Various services were provided not only for the employees of the University, but also for the inhabitants of Zvolen and its surrounding areas.
• The employees of the Department were engaged in systematic research work focused on the issue of technical writing resulting in lexicographical elaboration of the seven-language dictionary of wood technology (Slovak – Czech – English – German – French – Spanish – Russian). The dictionary became a useful tool in the wood technology practice and achieved a positive response from abroad.
• Slovak – German – English – French – Russian lexicographical elaboration of forestry terminology in the work Definition Dictionary of Forestry. Silviculture.
• Translation and interpretation activities of the Department employees at conferences and symposiums.

1997

• Publication of teh Dictionary: Slovak – English – German – french  Russian Dictionary of Ecology – nature and Environmental Protection

1998

• In 1998 – 2003, the volunteer member of American Peace Corps Judy Hansen brought the idea of  the programme called Odyssey of the Mind, which was set up in the USA in the 1970´s of the 20th century. The programme was aimed at the development of creative thinking of young people. PhDr. Jana Luptáková was the director of the association in its initial years. In 1999, the students of the TU won the second place in world final in Knoxville, Tennessee. The director of the international meeting of the creative youth in 2003 in Komárno was Mgr. Jaroslava Štefková, PhD. (née Horičková).

1999

• The Institute of Foreign Languages (also known as ÚCJ)  as a university workplace was established in 1999. PhDr. Danica Dvořáková was the head of the ÚCJ until 2010. Since 2010 Dr. phil. Mgr. Marek Ľupták has been the head of the Institute.

2000

• The beginnig of the cooperation with the French organisation GREF (Groupement des Educateurs sans Frontières), within which French lecturers performed and taught every year at the ÚCJ.

2002

• In 2002-2007, the ÚCJ participated in the programme called Tandemlektorenprogramm of the Robert Bosch Foundation. Mgr. Zuzana Vyhnáliková, PhD. run the courses as a internal lecturer.
• In the years 2002-2003, the ÚCJ provided intense cooperation with Austrian visiting professor Dr.h.c. Wolfgang Haipl based on organisation of workshops for the students of design. The ÚCJ (represented by Mgr. Zuzana Vyhnáliková, PhD. and German lecturers of the Robert Bosch-Stiftung Foundation) co-organised the seminars Europäische Möbel - Design der Gegenwart a Jedes Positiv erfordert ein Negativ.
• Between 2002 and 2012, the employees of the Institute of Foreign Languages were working on the project DI 610/2610 entitled: Terminological vocabulary form the field of furniture production (person responsible: PhDr. Denisa Pauleová); the result of the institutional reseasrch was the publication of two-volume Furniture Dictionary (Slovak-Czech-English-German-French-Russian dictionary). I. part: Furniture Typology and II Part: Materials.  
• Six-language Dictionary (Slovak-Czech-English-German-French-Russian) from the field of fire protection (in the range of 2 368 expressions)

2005

• The ÚCJ became involved with students of the Department of Interior Design in the Swiss project Türen auf. The project was established  in the cooperation with the organisation MitOst e.V. and with the universities in the Central and Eastern Europe with the participation of six countries (Switzerland, Belarus, Slovakia, Romania, Latvia and Russia). The project resulted in the travelling exhibition Wie wohnen wir – wie wohnen andere ? (information at: http://www.tuerenauf.ch/)   

• In 2005-2014, the Centre of Continual Education (CĎV) and the ÚCJ organised the internationally recognized examinations of English language IESOL and ISESOL City&Guilds on the language levels A1 to C2 (classification of language levels according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).  The University held national seminars for directors of the City&Guilds centres and lecturers from Slovakia. The exams took altogether 481 students (231 students of the TU in Zvolen). The secretary of the Local Centre of the City& Guilds London at the University was PhDr. Jana Luptáková.

2012

• The ÚCJ received (obtained) a licence as the test centre of the German as a Foreign Language - Austrian diploma (Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch, the ÖSD). It has tested the language competence of German on the levels of B2, C1, C2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

2013 - 2015

• OPV-2012/I.2/04-SORO, The Institute of Foreign Languages provided language learning (education of languages) in the project entitled: Increasing Human Capacity for Transfer of Research and Development Knowledge of Biomass Production and Processing into Practice in the activity 2.1 Increasing of capacity and copetitiveness in the science and research (by means of / through) specialised courses. Co-ordinator: Dr. phil. Marek Ľupták

2016

• At the ÚCJ, the Confucius classroom of the Chinese language was established on the basis of the contractual cooperation with the Confucius Institute at the Faculty of Arts of the Comenius University in Bratislava under the direction of Prof. Mgr. Jana Benická, PhD. The mission task of the lecturers is the education and teaching of the Chinese language and the Chinese culture for the students and employees of the University in Zvolen and for the public.

2017-2019

• KEGA 010TU Z-4/2017

Developing the Reading Competency and Teaching Technical Foreign Languages at Technical Universities

Literatúra:

Priesol, Adolf. 1982.  Katedra jazykov. In Vysoká škola lesnícka a drevárska vo Zvolene 1807-1952-1992. VŠLD vo Zvolene, s. 120-121.

Paule, Ladislav; Horský, Dionýz; Konrád, Vladimír; Réh, Roman. 1992. Katedra jazykov. In Technická univerzita vo Zvolene 1807-1952-1992.  Príroda, a.s. : Bratislava, s.67-68. ISBN 80-7-00543-9

Dvořáková, Danica. 1997. Katedra jazykov. In Drevo. roč.52, s.164-165.

Technická univerzita vo Zvolene. 2007. Ústav cudzích jazykov. Zvolen 2007. s. 275-279. ISBN 978-80-228-1729-5

Ľupták, Marek. 2012.  Ústav cudzích jazykov. In Universitas Technica in Zvolen. Technická univerzita vo Zvolene, s. 186 – 187. ISBN 978-80-228-2376-0.

Ľupták, Marek. 2017. Ústav cudzích jazykov. In Universitas Technica in Zvolen. Technická univerzita vo Zvolene, s. 209 – 211. ISBN 978-80-228-2974-8.