Dartmouth sophomores taking "drill" as part of their language courses won't be the only ones on campus learning from John Rassias' innovative method of language instruction; a group of educators from Mexico will also endure the Rassias Method's quick-fire language sessions this week, as they participate in a program designed to improve English language instruction in low-resource Mexican schools.
The 10-day, 100-hour language education workshop has brought 20 English teachers from Mexico to campus to introduce the teachers to the Rassias Method for language instruction. The program will also train the group of educators in related education topics such as student-teacher interaction techniques and logistics for operating schools.
The Rassias Method, which French professor John Rassias developed at Dartmouth in the 1960s, uses fast-paced, intensive student-teacher interaction to master conjugations and vocabulary in the target language.
Through the program, Rassias hopes to train these educators in techniques for teaching English as a second language as well as provide them an understanding of how valuable English skills can be for Mexican students' futures. Rassias said he believes that English education is fundamental for students who seek socioeconomic mobility through jobs in sectors like tourism.
"[The program's] purpose is to heighten the presence of the English language [in Mexico], to have it spread," said Rassias. "The purpose is for them to be able to teach with a variety of techniques, and get the notion of why language is so terribly necessary for their survival."
Each day of the program, participants attend a four-hour workshop led by Rassias, followed by seminars with visiting professors from other institutions such as Columbia University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The workshop will focus on the importance of verbal, emotional and physical participation in teaching and learning a foreign language. Rassias stressed that this method takes language instruction above and beyond rote memorization and learning lists of words.
"Drama is the basis of it," he said of his method. "It invades people's zones, shatters crusts and blows them away. There's emotion and commitment, devotion, love and caring, humanity. And the teacher is given free reign to do that."
In addition to its use in drill sections for beginner language classes at Dartmouth, the program has been used at dozens of other institutions, as well as the Peace Corps and the United States Secret Service.
Rassias hopes that this group of teachers will spread his method to other educators in Mexico through what he called a "pyramid effect."
"They will leave here informed in 50 techniques," said Rassias. "What we do is concentrate on speaking. When you nurture that, it demystifies language -- it's no longer a labyrinth. You just open your mouth and speak."
Rassias cited global communication and inspiring teachers to be passionate about language instruction as fundamental goals of the workshop. He said that he views language education on an international scale, as a healing, peacemaking tool between countries such as the U.S. and Mexico.
"There are so many interferences that impact the lives of both sides," he said, referring to international conflicts and cultural misunderstandings. "We need to have something permanent, life-giving, something that is embracing, fulfilling -- a teacher's role is that."
While Rassias has organized and led similar workshops in countries such as Togo and Senegal for the United States Information Agency, this is the first time that he has hosted such a program at Dartmouth for English language educators. He plans to hold these on-campus training sessions for foreign teachers from educationally underdeveloped communities annually, as well as introduce his method to other nations, including Kuwait and Iceland.
The workshop is funded by the Rassias Foundation and Latin American media companies Nextel Mexico and Fundacin Televisa, as well as Worldfund, an educational organization founded by Luanne Zurlo '87.