"There is a high level of energy as students are asked questions rapidly in succession, and the attention level is extraordinary," he explains, adding that his Rassias Method is now used at more than 200 colleges nationwide.

Rivers partially attributes the success of the Harvard curriculum overhaul to a thorough training program for all doctoral candidate teaching fellows, in which they take a full-credit class on the methodology of language teaching and practice their own techniques in a classroom situation.

Prize

At the end of each year, the department also awards a $1,000 study prize to the best teaching fellow, "It's good incentive to see that their teaching is appreciated," Rivers says.

Another reason for the program's success, according to Rivers, is its flexibility. "I believe in giving people a chance to develop their own ideas," she says, adding that the writing requirements for language courses now focus on creativity--"things people will enjoy writing and discussing with other students."

Next year the four main sections of the department will continue revamping their curricula.

The French section will offer a new concentration in French culture and civilization, which will focus on literature and language while also starting new courses in French cinema and French feminist theory, for example.

"The concentration will be highly individualized, with a focus on France--but not just on languages and literature," explains Alice A. Jardine, the assistant professor in charge of the new concentration.

The Spanish section will introduce its "Spanish for Business" course, while Burzio says the Italian section will work on promoting its enrollment-starved intermediate level course.

Moniz adds that the Portuguese section may begin translating computer software already on the market into Portugese but that it will not offer any Portugese intensive course next year