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Course Description:
French 110 is a first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied French before or who have had very little exposure to the language. Most students with previous French should be in French 121 (elementary French for "false beginners"). All students who have already studied French elsewhere are required to take the placement test to determine which elementary course is appropriate for them. Students with a score of less than 380 on the SAT II or below 18 on the online placement exam may enroll in French 110.

As in other French courses, class will be conducted entirely in French. You will be guided through a variety of communicative activities in class which will expose you to a rich input of spoken French and lead you from structured practice to free expression. You will be given frequent opportunity to practice your newly acquired vocabulary and grammatical structures in small group and pair work which simulate real-life situations. The course will introduce you to French and Francophone culture through authentic materials including written documents, simple articles, songs, films, videos, and taped conversations between native speakers. Out-of-class homework will require practice with audiocassettes (or CDs) as well as regular writing practice. The course will also invite you to explore the Francophone world on the Internet.

Goals:
By the end of this course you can expect to be able to handle some basic needs and courtesies in a French speaking setting, such as greeting people and making introductions, ordering food and beverages, purchasing things in stores, using the phone in France, giving and understanding directions to get around a city, taking the subway or bus. You will also be able to engage in very simple conversations about familiar topics such as your family, and you will begin to learn to speak about things that happened in the past and to express plans for the immediate future. You can also expect to be able to make some sense of spoken French when it is clearly articulated and when the topic is familiar. In simple written texts you will be able to extract discrete pieces of information.

Required Texts: (Available in the textbook section of the Penn Bookstore - 36th and Walnut)

Required Work
Attendance: Regular attendance in class is required. Roll will be taken on a daily basis. You are allowed a maximum of five absences during the semester. Your instructor will talk to you after three absences and send a note of warning to your school office after four absences. After five absences your grade will be lowered. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out assignments and be prepared for class. Students are expected to come to class on time. Repeated tardiness will be counted towards an absence.
Oral Preparation: Because of the heavy emphasis on the development of oral and listening comprehension skills in this course, it will not be sufficient to study the assignments silently from the book at home. Oral exercises will be assigned regularly and these should be prepared out loud before coming to class. A student cassette or CD is included with the Manuel de Préparation which will enable you to do most of your listening assignments at home. You may also be required to prepare some additional assignments at the Multi-Media Center. You can expect to do up to 1 -2 hours of work outside of class for every hour in class. Your performance on these prepared exercises will be graded.
Written Homework: Written homework will consist of both grammar exercises in the Manuel de préparation as well as some longer compositions. All compositions must be handed in on time. They will be accepted late only if you are ill.

Tests
Quizzes: You will have 10 short, weekly, in-class quizzes on Fridays. Your lowest quiz will not count towards your course grade. You may also have unannounced quizzes.
Chapter Tests: There will be a total of 3 written tests.
Oral tests: You will have two orals which will be individually scheduled with your instructor, one midway through the semester, and the other at the end of the semester.
Listening tests: You will have three listening tests.
Final Exam: The final exam will be scheduled during finals period.
NOTE: THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP TESTS. IF YOU MISS ONE YOU WILL RECEIVE A 0.

Final Grade:
Written tests (3) - 15%
Quizzes - 25%
Final exam - 15%
Composition - 10%
Oral and listening tests - 15%
Class preparation and participation - 20%