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Undergraduate Courses

Course Descriptions for the Spring 2012 semester

FREN 110 – ELEMENTARY FRENCH I     3 credits

An introduction to French with an emphasis on acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the language and an understanding of France and the Francophone world.  Speaking French from day one, students practice the language through listening comprehension/speaking activities, vocabulary and grammar exercises, meaningful readings, video segments, and Web activities devoted to French and Francophone language and culture.  Texts:  Voilà! (textbook/two audio CDs and workbook/lab manual, 5th edition), Heilenman, Kaplan, and Toussaint Tournier (Thomson/Heinle).

Requirements:  daily presence and participation, tests, compositions, and a final exam.

 FREN 120 – ELEMENTARY FRENCH II     3 credits

A second-semester elementary French course:  a continuation of FREN 110 with emphasis on acquiring basic level of proficiency in the language and understanding of the culture of France and the Francophone world.  Speaking French from day one, students practice the language through listening comprehension/speaking activities, vocabulary and grammar exercises, meaningful readings, video segments, and Web activities devoted to French and Francophone language and culture.  Texts:  Voilà! (textbook/two audio CDs and workbook/lab manual, 5th edition), Heilenman, Kaplan, and Toussaint Tournier (Thomson/Heinle).

Requirements:  daily presence and participation, tests, compositions, and a final exam

FREN 230 - INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I     3 credits

Course taught in French. Students review grammar points learned in elementary French and study more complex grammatical structures. The course is designed to improve: (1) listening comprehension, through class lecture and discussion; (2) speaking proficiency, through exercises on vocabulary and pronunciation; (3) reading comprehension, through analysis of cultural readings; and (4) writing ability, through frequent assignments.

Prerequisite: FREN 120, 126, or 2-3 years of high school French.

FREN 240 – Intermediate French II: Four Skills     3 credits

Course taught in French. Practice with the four skills: reading, writing, understanding, and speaking. Readings of contemporary literary texts. Review of grammar as questions arise. Requirements:  compositions, quizzes, midterm and final. Prerequisite: FREN 230 or equivalent.  Suitable for students who plan to continue beyond the 240 level. This course completes the CHFA Language Requirement.

FREN 250 – LANGUAGE & LITERATURE 3 credits Prof. Dianne Sears

Course taught in French. Four Skills course for students with four years of high school French or equivalent. Active and regular participation in class required. Introduction to literary analysis of short stories, plays, and poems. Review of grammar as questions arise. Requirements: written exercises, short papers, and hour exams.

FREN 273- ADVANCED CONVERSATION 3 credits

 Course taught in French. Conversation practice on assigned topics.  Dictation of prepared texts to improve listening comprehension.  Recitation of short passages of French poetry and prose to improve pronunciation.  Prerequisites:  Completion of a French 240 level course.

FREN 280- LOVE & SEX IN FRENCH CULTURE 4 credits Prof Patrick Mensah

Course taught in English. This course offers a broad historical overview of the ways in which love and erotic behavior in French culture have been represented and understood in the arts, especially in Literature and, more recently, in film, from the middle ages to the twentieth century. (Gen.Ed. AL)

FREN 285 – LANGUAGE SUITE CONVERSATION 2 credits  

Thatcher House, By Arrangement  

This course improves French with an emphasis on oral skills and a focus on French and Francophone societies and cultures. Students make regular presentations in class, participate in role-play, improvisation, and other creative activities. We attend relevant events off-campus in the Five Colleges, as well as hosting the Fête des Crèpes and other cooking events, and an annual trip to Montreal In order to participate, students must usually be resident in the Thatcher House dorm and are required to take a 3 credit course in the French department. Honors Colloquium (FREN HO1) available

FREN 289- ST: PARIS THROUGH THE CENTURIES 3 credits Prof. Philippe Baillargeon

Course taught in English.
The aim of this course is to provide an in-depth geographical, historical, and cultural perspective of the city of Paris beginning with the Gallo-Roman period and ending with the Paris of today.  Each lecture will focus on a historical event or trans-historical topic whose origins and unique aspects we learn about through an analysis of cultural, artistic, architectural, cinematographic, and literary references.

FREN  312 PHONETICS  3 credits  Prof. Magda Oiry

 Fun and interactive class to improve your pronunciation! Phonetic properties of French sounds, intensive lab use, theater plays as a tool to help master the interaction of challenging sounds.

FREN 353- AFRICAN FILM   4 credits   Prof. Patrick Mensah

Course taught in English.  Histories and development of African Francophone and Caribbean film, from its inception to the present day. The sociocultural, economic, and political forces and imperatives defining its forms and directions. Questions this work raises in film aesthetics and theory as a whole. Screenings and analysis of films by Sembene, Achkar, Kabore, Mweze, Cisse, Drabo, Bekolo, Teno, Peck, Palcy, Lara, Haas, and others.  (Gen.Ed. AT, G)

FREN 371 – ADVANCED GRAMMAR     3 credits    Prof. Nancy Lamb

Course taught in French.

The first of two consecutive courses devoted to grammar review and composition (followed by French 473). Extensive written practice with various grammatical structures.  Three one-hour exams, plus chapter quizzes on-line through the OWL system.  Three longer compositions with rewrites, plus numerous shorter writing assignments.  Text: Ollivier and Beaudoin, Grammaire francaise (4th edition).

FREN 386- ORIGINS TO 1945

Course taught in French.  Introduction to the way the French look at their own political, social, and cultural history; a study of some institutions, events, and figures that help understand French people today. Prerequisite: FRENCHST 240 level or equivalent, preferably 250 level.  Non-majors may write papers and exams in English.  (Gen.Ed. HS)

FREN 397R- ST-MAJOR HUMAN CHALLENGES OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD 3 credits Prof. Lamb

FRENCHST 455-19th CENTURY NOVEL  3 credits  Prof. Luke Bouvier

Course taught in French. Celebration in France of the 200th birthday of George Sand (1804-2004) offers a timely moment to reflect on the achievements of Romantic Realism and Naturalism, in five representative novels: Honore de Balzac, Eugenie Grandet; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary; George Sand, La petite Fadette; Alexandre Dumas (fils), La Dame aux camelias; and Emile Zola, Therese Raquin. We shall consider how these authors variously contributed to an art of the novel, both as a dominant esthetic form and as a medium for the engagement of contemporary political, social and cultural issues. Particular emphasis will be on how, in each of these novels, a female protagonist becomes the focal point of conflict between a dysfunctional family and the social formation, in both urban and regional settings. We will also look at the legacy of each of these works in other media - painting, opera, the press, film, popular culture, etc. Although the course will be given in French, students in majors and minors other than French Studies may submit written work in English.

FREN 473 – COMPOSITION   3 credits  Prof. Luke Bouvier/Prof. Eva Valenta

Second course of the required sequence for the French and Francophone Studies major and minor. Study of French and Francophone stylistics incorporating advanced grammatical principles, culture and rehetorical concepts. Weekly writing exercises. Prerequisite: FRENCHST 371.

FREN 475- BUSINESS FRENCH   3 credits    Prof. Nancy Lamb

This course is taught in French.  Introduction to French business concepts, operations, documentation and correspondence in the rapidly changing contexts of the European Economic Community and the world. Prerequisites: FRENCHST 371 or equivalent.

FREN 493A- SENIOR SEMINAR   3 credits   Prof. Dianne Sears

 Course taught in French.  The quest for identity in French and Francophone fiction, theater, and film   Cases of mistaken identity, identity theft, and amnesia in comic and tragic contexts.  Prerequisites: FRENCHST 384.

FRENCHST 497E ST-COLETTE, DURAS & SARRAUTE 3 credits Prof. Eva Valenta

Colette, Marguerite Duras and Nathalie Sarraute are three of the most influential French women writers of the twentieth century. Each succeeded in developing her own highly unique and recognizably female writing voice and we will examine representative texts of these three writers in order to gain better insights into each writer's uniqueness of voice, purpose and place within French twentieth century literature. All reading and discussion in French.

FREN 498Y – Language Suite Conversation, 2 credits  

Thatcher House, By Arrangement  

This is a practicuum course designed as an apprenticeship for students interested in teaching and mentoring their peers and taking a leadership role in the residential Thatcher House French community. Eligible students must be proficient in French beyond the 300 level, ideally with native or near-native speaking, reading and writing ability. In peer group tutoring sessions, undergraduate TAs help fellow students with various areas including conversation, vocabulary, grammar, literary and cultural assignments. They are also responsible for facilitating joint projects such as the annual Thatcher Conference presentations, Photostory digital narration, cultural events such as the Fête des Crèpes and annual trip to Montreal.  Honors Colloquium (FREN HO3 – 1 credit) available

 

We also offer Independent Studies

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