Dartmouth's Student Cops

New York's subway police learn un poco de espanol

A man clutches his chest and falls to the floor, as if from a stroke. Bystanders do nothing as two men swoop down and begin to pick the victim's pockets. From the shadows, three subway cops lunge at the thieves, shouting "iNo se muevan!" (Spanish for "Don't move!").

Such underground violence is the dread of many urbanites, but this particular example took place last week in rural New Hampshire. The participants were 26 New York City transit police who went to Dartmouth College for 14 days of total immersion in Spanish. Of the city's 2,900 subway police, only 135 speak Spanish --in a city with 2.6 million Hispanics.

The histrionic lessons were devised by Romance Languages Professor John A. Rassias, 53, an actor turned scholar who pioneered the Dartmouth Intensive Language Model now used to teach languages in 58 U.S. schools. In regular courses for undergraduates, Rassias and his followers frequently teach by play acting, as well as by pats on the head for good students. "The method brings emotions into the classroom," explains the professor. "Unless you feel a new language emotionally, the words won't come out when you need them." For the transit police project whose $18,000 cost was paid by private foundations, Rassias based classroom exercises on subway situations: passengers asking for directions, youths jumping across turnstiles, men molesting women. The daily eight-hour sessions were taught by four Spanish-speaking subway policemen who took a four-day cram course in Rassias' method, plus four Dartmouth students. To prevent distractions, the New Yorkers were isolated most of the time at Brown Hall, but there was still some wide-eyed mixing between students and police.

Said Dartmouth Senior John Rich, 20: "When people found out the police were coming up, they made jokes like 'How can you teach them Spanish when they need to learn English first?' Their visit helped us see them as people." Added Dartmouth Junior Anthony Lotson: "They're very eager to learn."

Indeed, the men voluntarily gave up two weeks of their vacation for the trip to Dartmouth without their wives and children. After 14 days of nonstop classes, plus evenings devoted to Spanish movies, music and Spanish bingo games, some of the New Yorkers found their enthusiasm for sylvan New England dwindling. I've had enough of rural America," said Officer David Weaver, 36. Added Officer Marino Cesarini, 33: "It's like living in a plastic bubble up here. They may have only one murder in 100 years."

Still, the policemen applauded their course work, which touched on barrio savvy as well as verbal skills. They learned, for example, that it can be a sign of respect, not belligerence or guilt, when a Hispanic youth looks down rather than directly at a policeman in conversation. Said Officer Cesarini: "Before, when they'd come up to us and ask us something, we'd wonder what they were asking. Now I feel like I can help." Added Student Apprentice Rich: "I thought these policemen would want to learn stuff like 'Halt, put up your hands.' But they're more concerned about their interactions with other people."

As the program came to an end last week, Rassias said his pupils were midway between fluency and total ignorance of the language. Their ability to communicate got higher marks. The officers' Spanish grammar isn't perfect, and their vocabulary totals only some 1,000 words, but as Sergeant Edward Spinola, 39, explains: "I can communicate, where before I was totally lost." That is good enough for Transit Police Chief Sanford Garelik, who said last week that he was looking for funds for more Rassias-style training in languages besides Spanish that have become native to New York City--including Greek, Italian, Russian and Chinese. qed

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