French

This course explores the difference between the language of literature and the language of general communication. The course examines these topics by conducting close textual analyses from 17th to 20th century literary samples of poetry, novels, and theater.

This course is for absolute beginners. The course introduces students to the fundamentals of French grammar, reading, and writing while developing some basic communicative skills. The course teaches students simple structures, lexis and phrases which enable them to communicate in a limited number of common everyday situations in French-speaking countries. 

French Beginners is a French task-based language course for students with no knowledge of the French language. This course involves sets of grammatical, lexical, and phonological items. Communicative tasks are used to develop speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills. An important aspect of the course is the culture knowledge of French and other French-speaking countries. The French language course for beginners aims at the A1/A2 level of the Common European Framework (CEFR). By the end of this course, students are able to: understand and use familiar everyday expressions and basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type; introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows, and things he/she has; can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

This course studies the great Latin American figures from cultural and political history. The course is conducted in Spanish and French with an emphasis on translating and transcribing texts between both languages. The course focuses on how heroes stand between myth and reality, and how they relate to the individual and the collective. It analyzes the processes of heroization carried out since the Latin American independences to highlight the ruptures and continuities in their contemporary political uses.  Written sources, territorial marks, and iconography constitute the main materials used to approach heroic cults from a critical perspective.

This course is a practical workshop where students create a methodological reading grid to allow them to decode with certainty what news is factual and what can sometimes be used for propaganda purposes. The course covers how to review images, sources, publication dates, itineraries, virality, and context to authenticate the veracity of content.

This course explores cultures of the French-speaking countries of the south (Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa), in their plural identities and their universes of reference, in order to better understand them. It studies literary texts and the analysis of films and audiovisual documentaries. Writers from these French-speaking countries accompany readers in discovering the other through literary strategies that prepare for the reception of difference. The course offers readings that will be like intercultural adventures in which the literary technique of the child narrator-character is decisive.

This is an advanced level French course for students who have completed three semesters of university level French. Certain fundamentals of the language are reinforced and completed in this course. Building on good comprehension skills, the course improves the ability to communicate in speaking and writing. The following skills are acquired within listening comprehension: understanding important points when clear, standard language is used on familiar subjects related to work, school, leisure activities; understanding the main point of a range of radio or television broadcasts related to current events or subjects of personal or professional importance provided that speech is relatively slow and distinct. The following skills are acquired within reading comprehension: understanding texts written in routine, daily language and/or related to studies or work; understanding descriptions of events, expressions of sentiments, or wishes expressed in personal letters and emails. The following is accomplished within expression: communication and interaction, ability to confront most situations that can be encountered during a trip in a region in which the target language is spoken, taking part without preparation in a conversation on familiar subjects or subjects of personal interest or that are related to daily life (for example, family, leisure, work, traveling, or current events). The following is accomplished within speaking skills: articulating expressions in a simple way to relate experiences or events, dreams, hopes, and objectives; briefly describing the reasons or explanations for opinions and plans; re-telling a story or plot of a book or movie and expressing reactions to them. Finally, the following writing skills are obtained: writing clear, detailed texts about a wide range of subjects related to personal interests; writing an essay or report by transmitting information or describing reasons for or against a given opinion; composing letters that emphasize the meanings that are personally attributed to events and experiences.