Medical students speed-learn Spanish with Rassias method

Posted 10/28/00

The Rassias Foundation at Dartmouth College is doing its part to promote high-quality health care through a three-year-old program that teaches Spanish to the medical residents at the Greater Lawrence (Mass.) Family Practice Center.

Located in an area where Spanish is the first language for nearly half the population, the family practice center has added Spanish to its residency program's required curriculum. While most residency programs suggest that doctors pursue foreign language or offer it as an elective, it is unusual for language study to be mandatory, according to Sally Pruszenski, Business Manager at the Rassias Foundation.

First-year residents begin their residency with the 10-day long Accelerated Language Program (ALPS) at Dartmouth to learn basic Spanish before they begin work at the family practice center. The combination of drama-based techniques and intensive drilling which form the core of the Rassias Method of language instruction prepare the new doctors to communicate with their Spanish-speaking patients. First and second-year residents continue their language instruction in Lawrence with weekly classes in medical Spanish taught by a master teacher.

Approximately 40 doctors and staff members from Lawrence have participated in the program since it began three years ago, said Pruszenski. The program has been so successful that the clinic opened the program up to other staff members in addition to the doctors, she added.

While the Greater Lawrence Spanish program is unique to residency programs, the Rassias Foundation has done similar programs with the New York City Transit Police, Citibank Corp., municipal and federal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Army, among other organizations.

The Rassias Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of Dartmouth College, assists schools, corporations, government agencies, and individuals in their efforts to learn foreign languages through the Rassias Method of language instruction. The Rassias Method is an innovative and highly effective approach to teaching languages created by John Rassias, a professor at Dartmouth and the original director of language programs at the Peace Corps. The method relies on the belief that language acquisition and retention are better achieved when students are continuously physically and emotionally involved in classroom activities.