European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 25, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Leprous emperor is one of prof s favorite acts along with be wigged 18th-Century philosopher. Ted drills his Dartmouth language students Wall where it smashes to the s what sensitivity is All he says later Aste studies a note from the custodian imploring him not to break eggs on the furniture. He s lost count of students watch him intently since he May Chase kiss or beat them at any time. F How Many chairs he s busted. They Cost about s80 s such a simple proposition we try to cram into the Heads of these people the desire to really communicate with someone to be As sensitive to other people As Possi he draws parallels Between leaching and Mission of both is to reach the audience. If you Don t make that relationship the lesson is just mental acrobatics. The actor and the teacher both give themselves totally to the audience and then to the subject matter. Not surprisingly. Rasalas one toyed with the idea of becoming an a or and studied drama in Paris for a year but the urge to teach languages was stronger. His concern or communication and sensitivity began h boyhood in Manchester. . He grew up i m a Green Folly in a greek neighbourhood surrounded by a French neighbourhood and the kids from each would do daily. The cos Eumes and theatrics Are used in his advanced literature courses such As Creek mythology As seen in but Hele Augunas his own method for teaching vocabulary and conversation in lower level courses and ii is no 1978 less flamboyant. It grew out of his experiments with crash language program for peace corps volunteers in the Early 60s and is used today in All of Dartmouth Modem language departments. The Exxon education foundation has provided Money to publicize the method and several other universities Are now trying it. First term students undergo an hour a Day o rapid lire drilling by a master teacher then another hour of More drilling by an apprentice then an hour of lab work. This lasts 10 weeks. At the end students write and perform a play in the the second 10-week term the student can choose to study abroad living with a family and studying language five hours a Day. At the end each student is sent alone to a French Village without Money and told to return i three Days with a report on the town and its people. The Core of the method is uie drilling in which about 65 responses Are elicited irom each student in an hour by a loud snap of the teacher s Flingen. He likes to demonstrate the method by teaching a for eign language to a group already versed in a notifier. To ski i 2ci.French students some greek he draws a Square with four faces in it on the blackboard then Points this is the father. Witha sweep of his arms he invites the class to respond and they Echo asps inc Opatera " snap he Points to one student asps Rassias ends the student s mental fog with a vocal fog Horn and hurls an imaginary hand grenade his Way. The Finger will Point to him again and should he miss again he might see an imaginary Arrow shot through his heart. Snap Points to another. Asps Bravo Bravo Rassias descends on the startled girl and plants a kiss on her forehead. In half an hour he has them discussing the picture identifying themselves and counting to 10. In Creek. Dartmouth says its students achieve Oral fluency after Only 20 to 30 weeks of instruction. At Many other schools Dartmouth says Only one in 10 graduating language majors have even minimal fluency. Across the country enrolment in French courses declined 35 percent from 1968 to 1175, the modern language association says. At the same time enrolment in advanced courses at Dartmouth Dou bled. And Competition among advanced undergraduates for the so or so apprentice teaching positions is fierce. To qualify a candidate must show not Only a proficiency in the language but also a flair for the dramatic and the same Energy exerted by Rassias. People come into teaching seeking a mild life he says "1 think it ought to be the stars and stripes Page is
