<div dir="ltr"><div><div>All: the attached obit made me think of my own experience teaching a language in a Peace Corps Project, back in 1965. I taught Kannada for three months at UCDavis, but didn't have Prof. Rassias' method at my disposal, so I used what was then called the "Army language method" which involved memorizing conversations, and very little grammar. (I cheated and taught grammar, too.)<br><br></div>Di anybody else on this list teach in the Peace Corps?<br><br></div>HS<br><div><div><div><br><div id="slug_tiffany_tile" class="" style="display:block;padding-left:20px!important;height:auto;max-height:60px;overflow:hidden"> </div> <div class="" id="fQTFEp1zQC1Evp"> </div> <div class=""> <span class="" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">By <span itemprop="name">Associated Press</span></span> <span class="" itemprop="datePublished" content="2015-12-03T11:33-500">December 3</span> </div> <p>HANOVER,
N.H. — John Rassias, a Dartmouth College professor who created a unique
method to teach languages that was adopted by the Peace Corps, has
died. He was 90.</p> <p>Rassias died Wednesday at his home in Norwich, Vermont, according to a statement from college President Philip Hanlon.</p> <p>Rassias
was a consultant and developer with the Peace Corps in 1966 when he
directed a pilot program to teach languages in Africa. The Rassias
Method, featuring rapid-fire drills, cultural immersion and a touch of
theater, was later adopted by the Peace Corps.</p> <p>He studied French
at the University of Bridgeport and then went to the Universite de Dijon
in France as a Fulbright Scholar, earning his Ph.D. From there, he
moved to Paris where he studied French drama, a skill that would serve
him well when he developed his teaching method, which relied on a
dramatic style designed to break down students’ inhibitions.</p> <p>He
joined Dartmouth in 1965, founded its Language Study Abroad programs and
directed the foreign study programs for several years.</p> <p>At
Dartmouth, he founded the Rassias Center for World Languages and
Cultures and became one of the founding partners of the Inter-American
Partnership for Education, a Clinton Global Initiative.</p> <p>His
daughter, Helene Rassias-Miles, brought the method to Mexico and in the
past few years it’s been taught to more than 2,000 English language
public school teachers who have instructed hundreds of thousands of
Mexican students.</p> <p>The method was also shared with the People’s
Republic of China, Bulgaria, France, Japan, Greece, Turkey and the city
of Baltimore school system, according to Dartmouth.</p> <p>Rassias grew
up in Manchester, New Hampshire, and served in the U.S. Marines,
piloting an amphibious tank during the Battle of Okinawa.</p> <p>His wife, Mary Evanstock Rassias, died in 2012. He is survived by three children and nine grandchildren.</p> <p>Funeral arrangements are pending.</p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/professor-who-created-peace-corps-language-method-dies-at-90/2015/12/03/47b867aa-99db-11e5-aca6-1ae3be6f06d2_story.html">https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/professor-who-created-peace-corps-language-method-dies-at-90/2015/12/03/47b867aa-99db-11e5-aca6-1ae3be6f06d2_story.html</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div></div></div></div>