Yesterday marked the graduation of students attending the final session of this summer's Accelerated Language Program.
This was the 17th summer for ALPs, according to Program Manager Mark Schiffman. Like the College's foreign language classes, ALPs uses the Rassias Method to teach conversational language skills quickly.
The Method, developed by French and Italian Professor John Rassias, who founded ALPs, involves grammar classes, taught by a professor, and quick-response oral drill sessions led by an assistant teacher.
Language professors from Dartmouth and other colleges teach the grammar classes. Dartmouth students and recent graduates serve as assistant teachers and drill instructors.
Instead of lasting an entire 10-week term, each session of ALPs lasts 10 days, Schiffman said. Students attend three grammar classes a day and five drill sessions.
Classes begin at 8 a.m., and end at 5:30 p.m., with an hour-and-45-minute break for lunch at noon. Students eat together, using meals as an informal setting for language practice, he said.
ALPs is open "to anyone who wants to come," Schiffman said. He added the program is usually for students 17 and older, but occasionally accepts local participants under 17 as day students. Some students are in their early 80s.
Schiffman said ALPs students come from all over the country. People attend for business and academic reasons, or to learn a language before traveling.
"Sometimes they come because they have a new in-law who speaks Portuguese, French or Spanish," Schiffman said.
He said just over 300 students participated in the two 10-day sessions. Schiffman said it was the largest participation in over a decade.
The first session of ALPs lasted from June 27 through July 7, and the second session started July 11, ending yesterday. During the first session, participants attended classes in Spanish, Italian, Greek, Japanese and Chinese. In the second session, ALPs students learned French, German or Portuguese. In addition, a course in English as a Second Language was offered.
Most ALPs students spent their time in Hanover living in College residence halls. ALPs participants lived in Ripley, Woodward, Smith, Russell-Sage and the Lodge, Schiffman said.
Other students lived in the Hanover Inn or other local hotels. Several Upper Valley residents also participated in ALPs classes.
ALPs appeals to students of varying skill levels, Schiffman said. Some participants have never spoken a word of their new language, and some are teachers.
"Everyone's looking for something different in the program," Schiffman said. "But they all leave with great improvement in their ability to speak the language."
The Rassias Foundation, which attempts to spread learning of foreign languages, is planning other events this summer to foster language education.