Rassias

Methodâ’s
anthology

Introductory Workshop

Coordinators
Teacher Estefanny M. Preza López
Teacher Josué Bonilla López
The pages that follow are an attempt to describe the
Rassias Method in a systematic way. But before you begin
to read it, please understand that no one can really
describe the Rassias Method; the Method truly defies this
kind of document.
Understanding
the Method via a
series of written
paragraphs is a
little like trying to
hear a baby laugh
by looking at a
photograph or
trying to smell a
fresh spring
morning by
reading a book.
Because the
Rassias Method is
multidimensional
and affects all human senses, its explosive power cannot
be expressed in a single dimension such as a written
document. Please treat this as one glimpse at the Rassias
Method. To understand it More fully, be prepared to
experience it yourself.

The mainly propose of these pages is to motivate you to use

these techniques, for you as a teacher, and your students.
Index
Rassias Techniques
1) Ball Game ...................................................... 5
2) Wave .............................................................. 5
3) Paired interviews (2 students) or (5
students): ........................................................... 6
4) Drill Backward Buildup ............................ 7
5) Air Traffic Controller: ............................... 8
6) Detective Work: .......................................... 8
7) Ideograms:.................................................... 9
8) Pyramid: ..................................................... 10
9) Substitution Drills .................................... 11
10) Illustrated vocabulary: .......................... 12
Contact ............................................................... 13
Give them a great teacher and
you will give them the world
Rassias Techniques
1) Ball Game

Start to tell a story, say, in the present tense. Ask the students to continue the
story as logically as possible and to use their imagination. Designate the
student who is to continue the narration by tossing a soft handball at him/her.
When the student adds the sentence, he/she
then tosses the ball back at you. Determine the
next person to continue the narration by
tossing the ball to him/her. If someone makes a
mistake, throw the ball back to that person,
indicating thereby than an error has been
committed. If the person cannot offer the
correct sequence, toss the ball to another
student. When you find the correct respondent,
have him/her toss the ball to a student of the
person’s choice. Switch tenses whenever it
seems appropriate. Continue the game as
before. (Don’t forget the letters too!)

Benefit: Impromptu use of learned concepts and vocabulary in controlled

circumstances.

2) Wave
Select five students to stand in from of the class. Assign a verb (or a short
sentence) to each student and demonstrate its meaning to each one through
gestures. The firs student is told to say
his/her short sentence and then to act
it out. The second student repeats and
mimes the first verb, offers his/her
own the same way, and on to the third
student in the same manner until each
student will have presented all
preceding sentences, as well as
his/her own. (A cumulative process).
Lots of “lights, camera, action” can go
on here!

I.e. There is too much noise.

There is too much pollution.
There is too much traffic.
There are too many cars. (Note the change in the verb -this must be correct
and is part of the exercise to achieve fluidity)
:I love Paris in the Springtime...” (So, something like this can be done in
song...)

3) Paired interviews (2 students) or (5 students):

At the end of the first week in a beginning course, pair students off to
interview each other. Have them ask basic questions: name, age, family, home
town, friends, interests, etc. At a more advanced level, assign questions such
as: What would your epitaph read? Who would you be if you were not you?
Etc. At the end of the interviews have each one rise and speak of his/her
classmate.

Choose 5 students and ask them to

leave the classroom. Once they are
outside, they will answer 5 questions
about their personal preferences. For
example: Favorite book, favorite food,
favorite sport, etc. Once they have
answered all questions, they will give
them to their teacher and enter the
classroom. They set in line in front of
the class and the teacher reads their
answers. The students have to guess
whose answers they are.

Benefits: Mode of communications.

4) Drill Backward Buildup

• Begin with the first line of your dialogue.

• Say the entire line (so they see what they are building toward)
Immediately repeat the last breath group of that first line.
• Do 2 choral repetitions of the
last breath group of the 1st
line.
You always say the phrase
before the GROUP repeats.
• Say the breath group and make
a clear upward sweeping
orchestral arm motion
indicating all should repeat in
unison.
• Say the breath group again and
make a clear arm motion for
them to repeat-
• Individualized randomized
testing:
DO NOT say the phrase before
each student repeats
Snap or hit a drill card (close to your own body, maintain the rhythm)
Point (open handed gesture beckoning student to respond is probably
best and certainly inoffensive) Look at the person who is answering and
smile acknowledgement of a good response. Keep looking at the student
who responded and then:

o Snap, Point, and Look at another student

About 7 individual responses on average is best.
o 2 Choral repetitions of that same breath group which you model
(see above)
o Then link the next to last breath group to the final breath group
and repeat the entire process as described above.
o Then add the first breath group to the last two completing the
entire sentence and repeat the above process with the entire
sentence.
 5) Air Traffic Controller:

After commands have been understood, have the students

quiz you or a colleague. The “airplane” must be blindfolded
and the class will “guide them to a landing” through a
maze in the classroom created by the students. (The
airplane should be you or a colleague).

Benefit: Introduction of Command Forms and acting out

requests
NB: Often nice to drill commands as a refresher right
before.

6) Detective Work:

The five senses are used to progress through the "Bingo Board." Students are
given a
sheet that has been prepared for them to question. This technique can focus
on greetings and conversation and the students should be reminded that they
must greet each person they question in a way that is culturally appropriate
to the language they are studying.

There are, of course many ways to

use the BINGO board. In one
iteration, students use a "Bingo" type
board, and seek out people who
might have done, seen, smelled,
tasted or touched something in an
area of study. i.e.: "Have you ever
seen a lunar eclipse?" If the answer
is "yes," the student ask, what that
looked like, evoking an adjective
from the person they are
questioning, i.e.: "It was
magnificent." If the answer is no, the
other person asks a question of the
first person. If the answer is "yes,"
the detective crosses out the
category, writes in the person's name, including the adjective and continues
the sequence with another person. The goal is also to achieve Bingo! This
should be an enthusiastic questioning format, the hope is help students listen
to each other and then continue enthusiastically to question others in the
class.

In another form, this exercise may be used to review a story or book before a
class
discussion. i.e.: "Describe Winnie the Pooh's house.”

Benefit: Spontaneous investigations to questions involving senses. .Excellent

way to approach to one another.

7) Ideograms:

Create a 3 x 4 grid (modify as needed). Within

the top row, write the tenses you wish to
practice. In the columns, place picture
representations of verbs. Indicate the person (I,
you, we, she, they, etc.) who you want to be the
subject of a sentence and then indicate a verb
from the columns. The student will then quickly
create a sentence using the person and verb
indicated. You can add an extra column to have
the students create questions, negatives or
other forms.

Benefits: Discourages need to visualize the

written words by using picture representations
 8) Pyramid:

Write a series of numbers on the board. Indicate as many numbers as you have
areas you want to cover. Each number corresponds to a category not
immediately known to the students. Some categories are relatively simple and
others quite difficult. Pair off students in teams. Two teams compete against
each other in each round and send representatives to the front of the room in
pairs.

A student player on Team A may choose

number “3”. That number represents,
say, the category: Things that are sweet.
The other team member must elicit the
word listed by giving his/her partner
any number of verbal cues, as well as
gestures. (One loses a point if the cue
actually contains the word being
sought).

The purpose here is to utilize vocabulary

as much as possible and to accomplish
the task within a set period of time,
perhaps as few as 30-second. The words
one has to identify (and are visible to all on the board, except the students
who has to guess them) in this category may be:
1. Honey
2. Chocolate
3. Sugar
4. Love
5. Victory

Obvious cues for the above could be:

1. Bees make it.
2. It’s dark and it covers candy.
3. You put it into coffee.
4. Two people who are very happy are in...
5. The opposite of defeat.

Benefits: Language in motion and a fun manipulation.

9) Substitution Drills

• Great for vocabulary practice and mastery, and for introducing

grammar forms.
• Teacher models (through example) what s/he wants students to do 3-
step model: Teacher says entire sentence.
• Teacher says new word(s) and snaps and points to self
• Teacher says new sentence with new word(s).
• 2 Choral repetitions of original sentence which you model
• Say the entire sentence (normal conversational speed and intonation)
and make upward orchestral arm motion so all will repeat in unison.
• Say the entire sentence again and make arm motion.
• Say new word(s) Voice (Same
word you modeled, now for 1st
individual student)
o Snap (close to your own body)
o Point with open hand (without
looking where you are pointing)
Look at the student who is
answering and smile, say good or
tap approval
o Voice Say the next cue (word/s)
while you keep looking at the
person who just answered.
o Snap, Point, Look
o Continue this procedure through
all seven-word(s) replacements
returning to the original word that was replaced and giving it to
an individual student and then,
o 2 choral repetitions of that original sentence just given to you by
a student.
o You always say the sentence before the choral responses (see
above).
10) Illustrated vocabulary:

Illustrations, consisting of line drawings, cartoons, or simple photographs, are

prepared in advance of the class with the word in the language appearing or
otherwise connected to the object which it represents. The class is presented
with both the pictures of the objects and the words which represent the
objects. The instructor can either duplicate these materials and pass them out
or can use visual media to display them to
the entire class.
The instructor reads the different words
and points to the corresponding pictures.
Words are presented as simple
substitutions and will be reinforced later
in other drills. The illustrated words
prevent the students from visualizing the
word in English and avoid direct
translation. In other words, the picture
takes the place of the meaning of the
word in the native language.

Duration: Five to ten minutes.

Benefit: This is an excellent way of introducing new vocabulary and
having it relate in the students’ minds directly to the object it represents
without passing through the needless step of translation from the native
language. No more than 12 to 15 new vocabulary words maximum should be
introduced in any one illustrated vocabulary.
 Contact
Teacher Estefanny Marien Preza López

Escuela Telesecundaria “María Enriqueta Camarillo”

San Miguel Tlalpoalan, Altotonga, Veracruz
CCT: 30ETV0266W
Cell: 2281774942

Teacher Josué Bonilla López

Escuela “Telesecundaria “Fernando Montes de Oca”

Ignacio Zaragoza, Altotonga, Veracruz
CCT: 30ETV0487G
Cell: 2821055982

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