Areas of Expertise

• Linguistics
• International Proficiency Scales for Curricular Design/Testing
• Curriculum Design and Development
• English Skills Preparation for PME courses
• Women, Peace and Security (WPS)

Academic Degrees

• Master of Arts in Education - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
• Bachelor of Science in Journalism – News-Editorial
• University of Cambridge Certificate of Teaching English to Adults (CELTA), Moscow, Russia

Government/Military Training

• Master of Arts in Education - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
• Bachelor of Science in Journalism – News-Editorial
• University of Cambridge Certificate of Teaching English to Adults (CELTA), Moscow, Russia

Ms. Christine Whittemore-Rodriguez is the Language Project Manager for English Language Programs at Partner Language Training Center Europe (PLTCE), a NATO Partner Training and Education Center at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany. Her responsibilities include updating and improving programs and materials, as well as teaching, in PLTCE’s NATO standardization courses for English language teachers and test developers, and in PLTCE’s courses in specialized English. She also serves as a subject matter expert for testing and assessment.

Ms. Whittemore-Rodriguez has 27 years of experience in the field. Prior to her appointment at PLTCE, she worked at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC) for nearly 14 years developing and delivering instructional materials for international military students for both the CONUS and OCONUS missions. She is especially skilled at using the instructional systems design process (ADDIE) to produce impactful English language courses, integrating US Government and DOD Strategic Guidance, such as Women, Peace, and Security, into DOD Education and Training Curriculum

She set the standard for modernizing curriculum at DLIELC by evolving the training platform to a 100% learning management system for the Professional Military Education Preparation (PME Prep) and Air Force ROTC Oral Proficiency Skills (OPS) courses. As part of this work, Mrs. Whittemore-Rodriguez aligned the skills-based curricula to international proficiency scales, developing a variety of formative and summative assessments to measure progress and outcomes along the Interagency Roundtable Scale (ILR) for all four language modalities. Her work has impacted the future of curriculum design and development at DLIELC.In addition, Mrs. Whittemore-Rodriguez was instrumental in bringing WPS to DLIELC, integrating WPS language and concepts into several curricular products.

In addition, Ms. Whittemore-Rodriguez contributed to numerous overseas missions during her time at DLIELC, including:

• Four months at the National Defense University (NDU) in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, preparing English students to ECL qualify and training English instructors;
• Six months at the Ministry of Defense Language Institute (MODLI) in Cairo, Egypt, training military students to ECL qualify;
• Two months in Vilnius, Lithuania, partnering with US Cadet Command to facilitate a cross-cultural exchange between US ROTC cadets and their Lithuanian counterparts;
• Six months in Tbilisi, Georgia, training military interpreters deploying to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF);
• One month at the COSEDE military academy in Guatemala City, Guatemala, training English instructors;
• Six months in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, providing English instruction to future PC-3 pilots and flight crews to achieve their ECL and OPI scores; and
• Five weeks in Puerto Rico, USA, administering Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) exams to Puerto Rican ROTC cadets.

In 2023, she was awarded the 4th Quarter 2022 637 TRG Award – Civilian Non-Supervisory Cat III and 4th Quarter 2022 332 TRS Award – Civilian Non-Supervisory Cat III for her contributions.

Finally, prior to her work in the public sector, Ms. Whittemore-Rodriguez spent several years working in the positions of English language instructor, supervisor, or program manager at universities and private language institutes in South Korea, Russia, Japan, Mexico, and the United States.