French

Taking advantage of the fresh perspective that being abroad offers, this course explores writing in another language, using the specific format of short stories. Themes, places, and formal constraints are given to guide students in discovering the city and producing their own short stories, to make this semester in Lyon not a tourist trip but a unique opportunity to reflect. The workshop, led by a teacher-researcher who is also an author, literary translator, and collection director, provides precise information on the French literary and publishing scene, professions, must-know places, important events, and more. Students are first asked to research stories in their own language, and then to share them with others, each bringing examples from their own cultural background to understand the structure of these short stories. Students then produce their own short stories in French and sharpen them. Lastly, students hand in a portfolio that includes their readings and analysis of literary devices, short stories they have written themselves, and proposals for creative ways of sharing their work. This is not a French writing course but a creative writing workshop; thus, an interest in reading literature (in any language) and an artistic sensibility (in any field) is necessary. 

This course introduces French literature and cinema.

The course is composed of 3 parts: phonetics, communication, and comprehension. The phonetics section covers: International Phonetic Alphabet, sounds of French language, notions of systems, combinatory phonetics, standard and regional accents, prosodic phenomena, contrastive and corrective phonetics, phonetic and musical transcription. The communication section covers: oral expression and oral presentation, argumentation. The comprehension section covers: exercises of note taking, technics of summary.

This course is for students with either no or very little previous knowledge of the French language. It provides students with a sound knowledge of essential French grammar and vocabulary and develops the four key language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It presents and covers all the basic elements of the French language, including its pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. The course is well balanced between the presentation of the main grammatical concepts by the tutor in seminars and by activity-based, mixed-skills classes which incorporate oral expression and comprehension as well as reading comprehension and written expression. Translation is also used from time to time as a way to practice grammar in context and to expand one's lexis. 

This course takes students on a journey from the seemingly familiar surroundings of everyday France to a more complex and enriched understanding of the key debates and issues which have defined French and Francophone identities over the centuries. Using source material in French (also available in translation for ab initio students), it focuses on figures and places that seem easily recognizable to many students and scholars of France and explores the networks of often competing ideas and values that have shaped who or what they are perceived to be today.

This course is a communicative course aimed at developing students' understanding and production of the language at CEFR level A2/B1. The course consolidates knowledge of French grammar and develops reading and writing skills. Students work on listening and speaking skills and students have the opportunity to practice the language with their peers on a variety of everyday topics such as talking about past experiences and events and expressing opinion, as well as discussing selected movies.

This course covers French literary works from the seventeenth to twenty-first centuries, focusing on poetry and "factual" genres, a terminology encompassing a wide range of text forms and types of writing (essays, chronicles, historical accounts, reports, diaries, epistolary texts, speeches, etc.). The course is divided into two parts, one devoted to the history of poetic genres and their problematics; the other to a diachronic survey of "factual" texts, exposing their diversity and the difficulties of generic apprehension they give rise to. Each section studies different works and authors in relation with the theme.

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.

This course provides a better understanding of France, its population, their characteristics, and the country’s political life. The curriculum focuses on current French society and its evolution in relation to the weight of history, its territorial dynamics, and cultural and political ideals.

This course improves conversational French at some of the highest levels of French grammar, such as the subjective, conditional, and simple forms. Grammar worksheets, in-class videos, debates, and class discussions are used to improve oral and reading comprehension to reach proficiency goals and prepare for language competency certification at the B2/C1 level. Emphasis is placed on the field and vocabulary of the Sciences.