"Okay, how do I say this again? The past tense always kills me, and I'm pretty sure it's an irregular verb form," I thought to myself, as I did my best to translate what I wanted to say into French. Anyone who has been on a Language Study Abroad or a Foreign Study Program has probably had a similar conversation. But my these internal musings happened while I was eating lunch during a Summer Accelerated Language Program offered through the Rassias Center for World Languages and Culture. The ALPs is just one brilliant aspect of the foreign language programs at Dartmouth, yet however great they are, the College can and should do better.
Having never taken French before, I found myself struggling to keep up with my peers. I was fortunate to have a wonderful professor for French II, Brigitte Mosenthal, who recommended ALPs as a way to reinforce what I had learned while providing the opportunity to continue my French studies over the summer. Had it not been for her, I doubt I would have known that this program existed.
ALPs is a 10-day crash course geared to get students to speak as quickly and proficiently as possible. To say that the environment is intensive would be a gross understatement. On the first evening, you pledge to speak only in your target language. You eat all meals with the people in your class and instructors are dispersed throughout the tables to ensure that conversations keep going. A typical day has three classes and five drills and ends with a cultural activity. The drills are typically kept to small groups, so you are forced to hang on the edge of your seat. By the end of the course, you will have spent as much time in ALP learning a language as you do in a typical Dartmouth term.
At the center of the program is the contagious spirit of French and Italian professor John Rassias. Rassias inspires his students to speak and imbues them with the confidence that they can succeed. During my internal debates, Rassias would be in my ear telling me to go. If I didn't remember the correct word use the English one. If I made mistakes, so what? But "Just speak!"
The first few days of ALPs were daunting, but by the fourth day, I had spent so much time in courses and drill that I would wake up conjugating French verbs in my head. By the end of my 10 days, I was comfortable speaking French to another person, mistakes and all.
This newfound confidence helped me greatly in France. I was ready to speak to my host family from day one. When I made mistakes, I would catch them in my head, note them and keep talking. Speaking French presented a series of hurdles, but I surmounted them with the help of ALPs.Many Dartmouth students are like me new to learning a language, behind their peers and daunted by a seemingly Sisyphean task. Unfortunately, many of them have no idea that ALPs exists.
The College should throw its full support behind the programs. It is worth noting that Fairfield University offers course credit to students who successfully complete the course. However, ALPs could be tailored with a series of exams, both oral and written, to provide Dartmouth students with credit. The College could also award scholarships to those students who would most benefit by the recommendations of their professors. Furthermore, the College could utilize the periods before LSAs and FSPs to provide a version of the program for students preparing to embark for a foreign country.
This would go a long way toward fostering a higher level of student coverage. ALPs is one small but amazing part of Dartmouth's language program that could be used to increase the efficacy and renown of the whole.
