French

This is a tutorial course for the course FRENCH LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY. This course provides a broad overview of modern French society in the 21st century. In each session, a different French song or aspect of French civilization is discussed followed by a presentation. The topics of the presentation are: ecology in France; media in France; political parties in France; press in France; cinema in France; French literature; languages in France; immigration in France and more. 

This course is the tutorial for FR 126. It is a study of poetry with an emphasis on poetic structures and their evolution to strengthen skills in line-by-line textual analysis. The course focuses on sonnets and studies the authors Louise Losé and Rimbaud.

This course focuses on intensive instruction in written and oral French. The oral part of the course studies pronunciation, vocabulary, and simple sentence structure. Written work includes grammatical basics, syntax, and spelling. The course includes regular exercises to train comprehension and expression.

This course represents additional work for the course FR 129, LITERARY TEXTS. 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 on nineteenth and twentieth century literary samples of poetry, novels, and theater.

This course covers the history of Islam in France. It explores the great influence of Islam and Islamic nations on the French language and terminology used in France and Francophone cultures as well as the diversity among nations within the Islamic culture and religion. The general focus of this course is the impact that Islam has had in France from long ago to today and how Islamic culture in France is largely underrepresented in French history.

The city and language course introduces students to French history, culture, and language through team-taught instruction. In the “City as Public Forum” sessions, students are introduced to French history and culture through a series of lectures and site visits. Students discover some of the fascinating ways the core principles of social justice were tested in theory and practice on the streets of Paris in the past and explore how they evolved into the pillars of French society today. The course focuses on just how an ideal society should be forged, where all are free individuals and members of a cohesive community at the same time. Trying to make individuals believe—as religions do—in the primacy of the collective, and in its concomitant goal of protecting human rights, is at the core of social justice in France. From 52 B.C.E to today, France has been an exemplar of how—and how not—to construct a just society. To render these values visible, and therefore legible, to all by adding a physical dimension—whether constructive or destructive—to the usual means of establishing laws or setting policies, is what distinguishes the history of France's capital city of Paris. Those who control Paris—be they monarchs, revolutionaries, or presidents, past and present—believe that erecting all kinds of physical structures will render their values concrete and immutable. The ideal French society did not always necessarily mean a democratic or inclusive one. Since the French Revolution, however, institutionalizing the concept of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” has been France's greatest universal achievement and a source of constant upheaval, eliciting a unique form of secular activism that has led to targeting buildings and monuments that no longer reflect the collective's values. Students discuss how the diverse social actors, who constitute “the French,” continue to thrust their bodies and minds into the physical spaces of the public sphere in the pursuit of social justice. In the “Unlocking French” sessions, students learn targeted language skills through situational communication, so they have the opportunity to use everything they learn as they go about their daily activities. Advanced French students will participate in conversation courses on the program’s theme. This is the spring semester version of the course.

This course is a survey of the changes in French society from a macro-sociological perspective, focusing on the three spheres of school, work, and culture. It examines the ways in which social order changes and is maintained, incorporating the teachings of sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber.

This course consists of three segments. The first part of this course focuses on grammar: logical analysis, tenses, modes, style, and spelling; accompanied by regular dictation and vocabulary building. The second part focuses on writing skills to develop competence in French written expression. The third part focuses on written comprehension and understanding various kinds of texts: informative, argumentative, or authoritative.

This course focuses on fiction and imagination in Renaissance and Baroque romantic poetry. It is taught in French and focuses on French poetry; however, the course also analyzes myths from many different cultures that are referenced throughout the studied poems.