French

This intensive language course focuses on oral and written French, review of grammar, language, and written expression. Oral French focuses on enhancing vocabulary of selected fields, and sentence structure. Written work includes intermediate grammar, syntax, and spelling, with a focus on academic writing for French universities. Texts on contemporary French society are used as a base for discussion topics.

This course, the second in our intensive summer language program sequences, with its contiguous course FR23B, is roughly equivalent to the second two quarters or to the second semester on students' home campuses. FR23A and FR23B combined seek to provide students who have some knowledge of the basic skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in French the opportunity to expand and improve these skills with an emphasis on new forms of grammar and communicative skills within a French-immersion context. Placement in this course is determined by students' previous experience and the results of a language assessment taken prior to arrival. Course material includes MOTIFS: AN INRODUCTION TO FRENCH by K. Jansma, Heinle, 5th Edition, 2011. Through the FR23AB course sequence, students develop the ability to communicate in spoken and written French and use basic structures of French grammar points and a basic working vocabulary including greetings, leisure activities and sports, vacation time, family structures, schooling and values of the French Republic, the distribution of household chores, environmental protection, cuisine, grocery shopping and eating habits, the workplace, café life, multiethnic society, youth culture, fashion trends, the education system, values, politics, French national identity, the geography and cultural aspects of France's regions, and the geography, music and cuisine of the francophone world. Following the FR23AB course sequence, students should be able to engage in short conversations in French, using simple sentences and basic vocabulary, with occasional use of past and future tenses, on familiar topics and express their basic everyday needs using the present, past, near future, and future tenses, and high-frequency regular irregular, reciprocal and reflexive verbs, in addition to the imperative, conditional and subjunctive moods, 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. Through the FR23AB sequence, students reflect upon basic cultural differences as 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. Assignments include class participation, small group and pair work, role play, games, and individual and group presentations, written exercises and grammar drills, dictation, presentation of cultural products such as songs, films, audio texts, a variety of short and simple texts on cultural perspectives, and writing activities.

This workshop studies how to read and analyze journalistic content on cultural themes in a professional manner. It provides an opportunity to question journalistic expression by analyzing the facts and data it provides, the credibility of the information transmitted, and the meaning of their publication on certain dates and distribution platforms. The course examines quality, balance, and relevance of the sources; tone, rigor, and atmosphere of the expression; precision of the information; point of view of the narration; identification of the news; typology of the publications; analysis of the formats; and platforms of distribution.

This course focuses on oral comprehension. Within this course, activities and assessments are centered on listening to texts and conversational methods employed by French speakers to then accurately determine the content and context of what is being spoken in real time.

Paris, the most visited city in the world, is both a historical city and a modern global capital that fashionably wears the old and the new on its sleeve. It is also home to Parisians, whose clichéd image has been shaped in cultural imaginaries from around the globe, but whose identities and cultures are increasingly plural. The city and language course poses this two-fold question: just who is this city for, and how does one unlock its levels? More than a picturesque concentration of streets and buildings, Paris's urban landscape provides a tableau upon which people have inscribed meaning, message, and significance to state, nation, and culture. To decipher these messages and gain an understanding of Paris's history and the French culture that has shaped it, this course examines the histories of the conception, construction, and public perception of Parisian sites and it places their stories within the larger context of the development of French identity. The city and language course introduces students to French history, culture, and language through team-taught instruction. In the “Pursuing Paris” sessions, students study French history and culture by visiting sites important to the evolution of the capital city—these sessions are taught in English. In the “Unlocking French” sessions, students practice targeted language skills through situational communication with opportunities to use everything they learn in daily activities.