Kenyon College - Reveille Yearbook (Gambier, OH)

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16 Intensive Language Program Hursts Into Lite at Kenyon Imagine this: you're silling ut the desk in an Ascension classroom, listen- ing intently lo your instructor. (Lnimaginuhle. you say? Shut up. there more . . .) Kneeling, the teacher rattles off a phrase, in a foreign language no less, then with a brisk finger snap, points in your direc- tion, then whirls around and looks up directly into your eyes for a response. Somewhul surprised, but not in- timidated, you repeal the phrase without a stutter. With a look of pleasure and pride (and perhaps a tinge of relief), your teacher embraces you momentarily, then snaps, points, and looks to another. Not your typical classroom ex- perience? Well, incredible as it sounds, the above scene is actually typical, as of this year. It’ called the Kenyon In- tensive Language Model (KILM) and, by virtue of a sizeable grant from the Gund Foundation, was implemented for the 1980-81 school year in French, German. Italian, and Spanish intensive courses. KILM is Kenyon’s version of the Hassias Method of language learning, first developed by Dr. John Kussias at Dartmouth University. Its main features are fast-paced action, dramatization, and constant use of the “target language in class. Including daily sessions with a Master Teacher, in drill sessions, and in the language lab, the program calls for roughly twelve hours per week of language im- mersion. but requires very little addi- tional work. The result, as standardiz- ed testing here and elsewhere has prov- ed, is a program which enables students lo attain in a single year the proficiency of two years' study by con- ventional methods. An important part of the method, in fact, what KILM director Peter Seymour calls “the backbone of the program,” is the AT (Assistant Teacher), who lends the drill sessions. In this second hour of class each day, the student is subjected lo rapid-fire repetition drills, grammar exercises and games by his AT, in order to prac- tice what he has been taught in his Master Glass. For maximum effect, AT sessions are limited to eight to ten students. The student tutors are chosen after a training workshop held here each semester. A major objective in all teaching ses- sions is to keep the students interested, thinking, nnd ready lo respond quickly when called upon. To do this. MTs and AT often engage in some rather ex- hausting histrionics to drumalize dialogues and lead drills. A one AT lamented, “After a full day of classes, the only thing tougher than getting yourself psyched lo teach them is gel- ling psyched to listen. “It's a great way for me to review,” remarked another AT, “and it really is fun, too — I’ll never be able to work food ser- vice ngain.