FRE1120 - Elementary French I – Multiple Sessions

Oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are stressed. May not be taken by native speakers. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1121 and/or 2211.

FRE1121 Elementary French I – Multiple Sessions

Prerequisite: FRE 1120 or its equivalent. Further emphasis on oral comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. May not be taken by native speakers. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1120 and/or 2211.

FRE2211 - Intermediate French – Multiple Sessions

Prerequisite: FRE 1121 or equivalent. Completes language requirement for baccalaureate degree. May not be taken by native speakers. Rapid review of basic French structures and introduction of some of the finer points of French grammar. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1120 and/or 1121.

FRE2220 - Reading and Conversation – Multiple Sessions

Prerequisite: FRE2211 or equivalent. May not be taken by native speakers. Expansion of French reading skills while introducing the student to oral expression through a discussion of the readings. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1120 and/or 1121.

FRE3420 - French Grammar and Composition I – Multiple Sessions

Prerequisite: FRE 2211 or its equivalent. An in-depth study of French grammar emphasizing some subtleties of written expression.

FRE3421 - French Grammar and Composition II

Prerequisite FRE 3420 or its equivalent. Further study of the subtleties of written expression in the French language.

FRE4410 - Advanced Conversation

Prerequisite FRE 3421 or equivalent. Based on contemporary materials, this course is intended to develop near-native fluency.

FRE4422 - Advanced Grammar and Composition

In this course students will improve their command of French grammar and stylistics by doing workbook exercises, by writing a series of short compositions and a final paper. They will also apply their newly acquired grammatical and stylistic know-how through class discussion.

FRE 4500 - Civilization of Contemporary France - Ivy Dyckman

How do the French throw a dinner party? How do they consider work and leisure? What is the role of the president in French politics? How do you ask someone to go out on a date with you in France? How do the French see the United States? What are the rules of conversation in France? How does immigration change French culture? Etc. These are but a few of the many questions that this course will attempt to answer in an in-depth exploration of contemporary French culture and civilization. This course will consider both culture with a small “c” (everyday life, conversation, popular and youth culture), and culture with a capital “C” (arts, politics, religion, immigration, etc.). Apart from a course book, there will be a wide range of materials to help you grasp the variety of modern French culture: films, web resources, music, newspaper articles, TV and radio-broadcastings, etc. The course will give you an understanding of: a) the evolution of French society since 1968; b) France’s social, religious, political, artistic and technological aspects; c) France in its international context: its role in the European community, the relationship with the US, and its post-colonial identity; and d) this course will facilitate your adaptation to French culture in view of a future stay in France.

Some of the themes that will be studied in the course are:

• Daily life of the French, in the city, in the country: work, leisure, sport, housing, holiday, cooking, etc. etc.
• Gender relations in modern French society
• Social layers of the French society
• Immigration and the multi-cultural society
• French ‘manners’: ways of conversing, gestures, « do’s and don’ts » of social interaction, the dynamics of professional, personal, affective and family relationships
• Cultural life: literature, medias, the « intellos », the difference between popular and high culture
• Religious life
• The institutions of France: politics, the “état social”, the European Union
• The US as seen by the French
• France’s economy: technology, centralization and decentralization

 

FRE4780 Phonetics - Dr. James Tarpley
This class is designed to be an introduction to French Phonetics. You have already studied French for several years, and you are at the point where a reevaluation of you pronunciation of the sounds of the French language can help you to fine-tune that production. In this class we will learn the phonetic alphabet in order to carefully study standard French pronunciation. We will systematically study the principal sounds of the French language, how they are formed, and how they are linked together, in the goal of improving the pronunciation of each student in the class. Theoretical sessions will alternate with guided practical sessions in a multimedia lab, where the latest technologies will help you master the studied sounds. At the end of the semester, you will be able to transcribe the sounds of the French language using the phonetic alphabet. You will have learned to better formulate the sounds of French. Recognizing the existence of a great variety of styles of spoken French, your oral production in French will be more similar to models of standard French. Finally, you will have learned to better distinguish the elements of your production that are not yet perfectly adapted to the standard models in order to work on improving them as you continue to deepen your experience with the French language.

 

FRW3101 Survey French Literature 18th Century – Present Day – Dr. Aimée Boutin

This course will introduce you to a selection of well-known works of modern French/Francophone Literature and their cultural contexts. The readings have been chosen to exemplify the most significant literary movements of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including le siècle des Lumières, le romantisme, le réalisme, la modernité, dada et le surréalisme, l’existentialisme, and le nouveau roman. This course will be taught in French. By reading, writing and participating in French, you will increase your comprehension and oral proficiency in the language.

 

 

FRW3391 French Cinema – Dr. Reinier Leushuis

This course, taught in English, will introduce students to the rich history and development of the French cinema, from the first films of the Lumière brothers in 1895 until the youngest generation of French filmmakers. Within a chronological and thematic framework, we will analyze films from the major directors and movements of French filmmaking. One of the leading questions of this course will be: what makes French cinema particularly “French”? In order to answer this question, we will keep two sets of objectives in mind throughout the course: 1) to reach an understanding of French cinema in its relationship to modern France. What is the social, historical, and political context of the film? How does the film reflect this context and address its audience accordingly? 2) to study the contribution of French cinema to film as an art form. What was the unique creative vision of the director, screenwriter, producer, etc., and/or the ‘school’ to which they belonged? What were the esthetical and theoretical concerns of French cinema, how did these develop over time and how did the directors try to give shape to these concerns in the artistical elements of the movie. Please note: 1) this course fulfills credit toward the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics minor in World Literature & World Film; 2) this course fulfills credit toward a minor in French if this is your only French course taught in English. Otherwise, in order to let this course count toward a minor in French the rule for credit toward the French major applies (see #3); 3) this course fulfills credit toward a major (or minor in certain cases) in French if a substantial amount of the written work is done in French. Please see the instructor in the first week of classes to discuss this issue.

FRE4930 Immigration and National Identity in France - Dr. Alec Hargreaves

Immigration is one of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary France. The Islamic headscarf affair, the rise of the extreme-right National Front and the urban riots of 2005 are just some of the issues which have emerged in the last twenty years. In exploring these developments, this course examines the ways in which immigration and ethnicity have been helping to reshape the contours of French society. Working within an inter-disciplinary and comparative framework, students are invited to consider how far France can be said to display a distinctive profile in the field of ethnic relations compared with other countries such as the United States and Great Britain. After a theoretical and historical introduction, the course focuses on the period between the 1980s and the present, when minorities originating in Third World, especially Islamic, countries, have been at the center of key debates in French politics, society and culture. Among the topics covered are minority ethnic settlement, multiculturalism, nationality and citizenship, racism, extreme-right politics and anti-discrimination policy. The course is taught in English and may be taken by students without a reading knowledge of French. The core reading list (in English) is complemented by a reading list in French which students with a reading knowledge of that language are encouraged to use. The course may count for major or minor credit in French provided the written work is done in French.

FOW4540 Franco-American Cultural Wars - Dr. William Cloonan

Through the study of literary texts and examples selected from the visual arts this course will trace a shift in the cultural balance of power between the United States and France. The course begins with an examination of the nineteenth-century American sense of inferiority before the France's achievements in literature and painting, and then will trace how a variety of aesthetic developments and political events will precipitate the slow decline of French preeminence and the inexorable rise of twentieth-century American dominance in the cultural as well as political realms.

FRW4460 Studies in 19th Century Literature - Dr. Aimée Boutin

Charles Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil 150 Years After / Charles Baudelaire et Les Fleurs du Mal 150 ans après.

This seminar will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal. Considered by many to be the father of modern poetry and an undisputed precursor of Modernism, Baudelaire modernized the sonnet, developed the prose poem and wrote important essays (on his contemporaries, on intoxicants, on music), translations (of E. A. Poe) and art criticism. We will examine Baudelaire’s Fleurs du Mal in their broader literary, historical and critical context, relating the poems to his prose writings, comparing them to his contemporaries’ works and situating them in relation to figurative or critical concepts such as self and other, love and suffering, good and evil, memory and loss, time and space, spleen and ideal, flânerie and modernity. In the words of Claude Pichois, one of the foremost Baudelaire scholars: « L’œuvre de Baudelaire n’est pas une œuvre poétique parmi d’autres ; elle est une révolution, la plus importante de toutes celles qui ont marqué le siècle ; elle décide de ce qui désormais portera à nos yeux les couleurs de la poésie ».