When language students file into a 7:45 a.m. “drill” class, they step into a practice that has defined Dartmouth’s language teaching for generations. The small, fast-paced sessions — part performance, part repetition — are typically led by student instructors, creating a tradition of peer mentoring.
Today, the College’s Italian program is hosting student focus groups in an effort to reimagine that tradition. The department is looking to hold on to the founder’s theatrical energy while also making drill more collaborative, flexible and student-centered, according to Italian professor and Italian Language Program director Tania Convertini.
Instructor Grace Wilkins ’26 explained that every Italian drill section has generated and tested an early prototype, from film clip discussions to short collaborative stories, combining the repetition of classic drill with the spontaneity of real conversation. She said that students are finding the new format “more helpful” than before.
“Drill has endured at Dartmouth because it gives students repeated, low-stakes chances to speak aloud and receive immediate feedback,” Wilkins said. “The task now is to keep that strength while making drill more inclusive and responsive to student needs.”
Italian professor Giorgio Alberti, who also helped coordinate the redesign, said the effort combines tradition with modern pedagogy.
“We want to preserve what has always made drill distinctive — collaboration and student-driven energy — while making it more inclusive, adaptive and intentional in meeting today’s learners’ needs,” Alberti said.
Dartmouth’s modern drill model took shape in the 1960s, when charismatic professor John Rassias transformed traditional language recitation into a high-energy, immersive classroom experience. Through dramatic gestures and rapid dialogue, he revolutionized language learning at Dartmouth and beyond, turning practice into performance and anxiety into confidence.
“It’s all about respect and trust, and from there, you find your humanity,” Rassias Center director and the late professor’s daughter Helene Rassias-Miles said. “Teaching is an art. It’s hard to teach, it’s hard to learn, but what’s essential to its spirit is giving of yourself completely every single time.”
That emphasis on humanity and trust continues to resonate with students today.
“Drill gives you a chance to actually learn how to speak — just to speak — without worrying so much about being perfect,” said Taylor Gushee ’29, who is enrolled in FREN 2: “Introductory French.” “It’s more relaxed, and it lets you connect with classmates.”
For Convertini, Rassias’s legacy remains central to how Dartmouth teaches, and to how it evolves.
“He was an innovator; he was a cutting-edge thinker; he was incredible,” Convertini said. “All of this has been inspired by him, but over the years, people have adjusted it.”
Students have voiced discomfort with “kneeling down, snapping [and] pointing,” asking instead for “more of a peer communication” dynamic, Convertini said. They have also urged instructors to reduce the traditional “backward build-up” repetition exercises, once a hallmark of the Rassias drills, and to add more conversational, collaborative practice.
Italian professor Matteo Gilebbi explained in an email to The Dartmouth that he has helped guide the Italian team through the design-thinking process. Gilebbi also organized focus groups and created a shared database of findings from student feedback.
“We’re still in the early stages and haven’t rolled out a new drill model yet,” Gilebbi wrote. “Right now, we’re following the design thinking framework to guide our process. We’re also experimenting.”
Over the past several years, Convertini and her colleagues, including Gilebbi and Alberti, had heard recurring concerns from students: drills felt rigid, hard to schedule and at times inaccessible to learners with different needs.
“We heard from students that they wanted the drill to be more inclusive, more flexible, more student-centered,” Convertini said. “There are a number of obstacles attached to drill, like scheduling, which tends to be rigid, and athletes find it a nightmare … The way it’s structured makes it exclude a good number of students who receive accommodation.”
The Italian program was awarded initial pilot grants to restructure its drill program in 2023. The redesign builds on more than three years of experimentation in language instruction, supported by the Design Initiative at Dartmouth and the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, according to Convertini.
Wilkins said that she coordinates the flow of feedback between students and instructors.
“Day to day, I organize weekly feedback from students, help instructors pilot changes that fit a short drill class and report results so faculty can make informed decisions,” Wilkins said. “We are still in the discovery phase of this redesign, and my role is to keep the process honest and inclusive: students and drill instructors lead the way, and we adapt accordingly.”
As the Italian team continues testing through 2026, it plans to share results with other departments across campus, according to Convertini.
“We hope to share with other languages all the knowledge we will gain in this process,” she said. “In the most humble possible way, because what works for a program doesn’t necessarily work for another.”
