French

The course has two parts: the first consists of presenting the different fields and history of linguistics, as well as certain fundamental concepts and theories in language sciences (structuralism, generativism, functions of language). The second part focuses on traditional grammar, covering topics such as classification into grammatical categories (parts of speech) and grammatical functions, as well as the concepts of simple and complex sentences.

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.

This course focuses on the history of communication, starting with Greece and Rome, and continuing on to more present development in the area. Some examples include: Antique, The Reform, Renaudot, telegraph, and photo. In the second part of the course, students are presented with theories such as Cybernetics, School of Frankfurt, Structuralism, School of Chicago, Lasswell and propaganda, Functionalists, and the work of Lazarsfeld.

This course uses a literary approach to political themes founded on the reflective and aesthetic values of certain works. This approach is supplemented by a philosophical, moral, and political reading of the works from an internal and external viewpoint which place them in their historical context and measure their weight outside of that context. This course develops a reflection on the political fable genre. After a general introduction (overview of Rabelais, Boccalini, Swift, Voltaire, Orwell, Huxley), the course centers on a formal, structural, and moral analysis of two famous collections of fables which use a philosophical and ironical approach: the 12 books of La Fontaine's fables and the 33 chapters of Tchouang-tseu as an art on the variation. In these different philosophical, satirical, didactic fables, the course studies the following double dimensions: political/moral, lucidity/illusion, wisdom/folly, animal/human, direct allusion/indirect allusion, and irony/humor. The art of the variation is defined in the different arts and contexts.

This literary research course surveys works from the French Middle Ages to the Renaissance in France through the 17th century.  The course examines French literary works as well as international scholars' critiques on works, authors, and eras and literary movements.

This course studies collections of poetry, including Louise Labé's OEUVRES COMPLÈTES and Charles Baudelaire's LE SPLEEN DE PARIS. The course focuses on poetic structures and their evolution.

French 53B is the second part of the three-part 53ABC intensive advanced beginning conversation and grammar course sequence. The course immerses students in the French language and culture through daily class sessions and occasional instructor-led site visits. The 53ABC course sequence includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing with a focus on communication. Students have the opportunity to use everything they learn in class as they go about their daily activities. Students can expect to be able to talk about daily life, food, travelling, Paris, and a wide variety of activities. While students are learning how to speak the language, they continue their introduction to the culture of the French-speaking world. To immerse students in the language, only French is spoken in class. Although students are not expected to understand every word, they should try to follow the gist by paying attention to the context. Students find their comprehension increasing as the course progresses. The goal of the 53ABC course sequence is to help students develop the ability to communicate in spoken and written French. By the end of the course sequence, students should be able to understand the following at a level appropriate to a novice-high learner. Engage in short conversations with a sympathetic interlocutor in French, using simple sentences and basic vocabulary, with occasional use of past and future tenses, on familiar topics (such as the academic environment, family, food, and the home environment, habitual activities, memories, travelling and accommodations, facts and beliefs, opinions and emotions, health and illness, friendship, love and romance, etc.) and express their basic everyday needs. Use the present, and use occasionally the past, near future, and future, of high-frequency regular and irregular verbs, use reflexive verbs to talk about their daily routines, use reciprocal verbs, and use occasionally the imperative, conditional and subjunctive moods, as well as use subject, object, and relative pronouns, articles, prepositions, possessive and demonstrative adjectives, adverbs, interrogative expressions, negative expressions, idiomatic expressions, expressions of quantity, and time and weather expressions. Read, understand, and discuss short, non-complex, and highly predictable texts, for which there is contextual/extralinguistic support, on very familiar topics. Write with some accuracy on familiar topics in simple French, using the recombination of practiced vocabulary and structures to construct sentences. Understand basic French spoken by someone who is sympathetic to non-native and beginning students of French on familiar topics, using context and extralinguistic support to determine meaning. Reflect upon basic cultural differences as reflected in a variety of French and Francophone contexts, such as varying levels of familiarity/formality, etiquette, cuisine and dietary habits, family structures, commerce and the professional world, etc., as well as in cultural products such as film, performances, news, and music.