Undergraduate Courses in French

SPRING 2002

(Course information subject to change)
(Cross-reference with Department Roster)

French 110 
Elementary French
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied French before or who have taken the placement test and received a score that places them in the 110 level.  All students who have previously studied French are required to take the placement test.  Class work emphasizes the development of speaking and listening comprehension with training in reading and writing.  Work outside of class with audio and video cassettes required for additional practice and preparation.

French 120
Elementary French
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

The continuation of the elementary level sequence (French 110) designed to develop functional proficiency in the four skills.  The primary emphasis is on the development of the oral/aural skills, speaking and listening.  Reading on topics in French culture as well as frequent writing practice are also included in the course.

French 130
Intermediate French
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

The first part of intermediate level sequence designed to develop functional proficiency in the four skills.  For students who have completed French 120 or 121 or have a placement score within the range set for the 130 level.  The primary emphasis is on the development of the oral/aural skills, speaking and listening.  Review of the basic structures learned in elementary French.  Regular readings on topics in French culture as well as frequent writing practice are also included in the course.

French 134
Intermediate French: Accelerated
Staff
MWF 9-10; TR 9-10:30

Permission needed from the department.
An intensive two-credit third- and fourth-semester course designed to enable students to attain a functional level of proficiency in French.  The FRENCH IN ACTION video series will be used as the basis for developing listening and speaking skills. There will be a review of the basic grammatical structures learned in elementary French; other structures will be introduced systematically.  The primary emphasis is on the development of the oral/aural skills, speaking and listening. Regular readings on topics in French culture as well as frequent writing practice are also included in the course.  Normally Spring sections are open only to students who have completed French 112.  Also offered in the summer Penn-in-Tours program in France.

French 140
Intermediate French
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

The continuation of French 130.  Designed to enable students to attain a functional level of proficiency in French.  Considerable emphasis is placed on developing listening and speaking skills.  There will be a review of the basic grammatical structures learned in elementary French; other structures will be introduced systematically.  Regular readings on topics in French culture as well as frequent writing practice are also included in the course.

French 180
Advanced French in Residence
Staff

Open only to residents in La Maison Francaise

French 202
Advanced French
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

French 202 is a one-semester third-year level French course designed to prepare students for subsequent study in upper level courses in literature, language, or civilization.  It is also the appropriate course for those students who have time for only one more French course and wish to solidify their knowledge of the language by continuing to work on all four skills--speaking, listening, reading, and writing-- together with a selective review of grammar.

The class will study a series of thematic units dealing with a wide variety of literary texts, films, TV shows, songs, comedy sketches, and "bandes dessinées."  Each unit takes as its theme a particular aspect of French culture, and within this context work will be done on all four skills.  Student work will be evaluated both in terms of progress in language skills and ability to handle and engage in the content areas.

French 211
French for Professions I
Slowinski
(See Timetables for times)

Prerequisite:  Intermediate-high advanced level French.
This content-based language course, taught in French, introduces economic, business, and professional terminology through the study of the following topics: the French economy and monetary policy (transition to the Euro); financial institutions (banking and postal services, stock market and insurance); specificity of the French fiscal system; business practices (business letters and resumes); advertising and the internal structure and legal forms of French companies.  France's atypical system of industrial relations as well as cultural differences and their impact on the business world will also be explored.

On completion of the course, students will have the opportunity to take the Certificat Pratique de Francais Commercial et Economique, administered by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

French 212
Advanced French Grammar and Composition
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Intensive review of grammar integrated into writing practice.  A good knowledge of basic French grammar is a prerequisite (French 202 or equivalent is recommended).  Conducted entirely in French, the course will study selected grammatical difficulties of the French verbal and nominal systems including colloquial usage.  Frequent oral and written assignments with opportunity for rewrites.  There will also be a reading component (magazine and newspaper articles as well as selections from Camus's L'Etranger).

French 214
Advanced French Composition and Conversation
Boudard
MWF 10-11

This is a course aimed at improving writing and conversational skills.  It is based on the study and discussion of short extracts from a variety of texts (literary, journalistic, advertising, etc.) which are used as models for writing and as a basis for oral discussion.  Students will write frequent short compositions based on these extracts and will be asked to present a series of short oral  reports.  After the presentation of their oral reports, students will then lead a discussion on the report.  Videos of French news broadcasts and films will be used to stimulate discussion and to aid in improving students' comprehension of contemporary spoken French.

French 222
Perspectives in French Literature
Gen Req III: Arts & Letters
Richman TR 1:30-3
Donaldson-EvansTR 10:30-12
Roulin TR 12-1:30

This basic course in literature provides an overview of French literature and acquaints students with major literary trends through the study of representative works from each period. Students are expected to take an active part in class discussion in French. Majors are required to take either French 221 or 222. Any student who has completed French 140 or the equivalent may, of course, take both 221 and 222.

This term we will read:
La Chanson de Roland; Molière, Dom Juan; Voltaire, Candide; Balzac, Le Colonel Chabert; Gide, L'Immoraliste, and a selection of poems (photocopies).

French 227
Modern France
Distribution II: History & Tradition
Samuels
MWF 11-12

French political, cultural, and social history from the Revolution of 1789 to the present. Readings in primary and secondary sources, including literary texts, political documents, speeches, letters, etc., as well as analysis of visual material, especially painting and architecture. Short quizzes, papers, and oral presentations will be expected. Required for French majors; also of particular interest to majors in history, international relations, architecture, economics (Wharton), etc. All readings and discussions in French.

French 301
Changing Places: Identity in France since WW II
Distribution I: Society
Richman
TR 10:30-12

The central theme guiding this exploration of identity in France today is place. Film, autobiographical narratives, and sociological documents explore the effects of a particular social milieu, regional locus, ethnic, religious, or cultural group in the formation of identity and the consequences as well as challenges of changing that initial formation through education, immigration, career and/or marriage. Requirements: 6 films outside class, 5 short texts/excerpts, a bulkpack with documents. Several papers, a mid-term, one final exam. Conducted entirely in French. Recommended: at least two 200-level courses or equivalent.

French 313 
French for Professions II
Babanoury
TR 10:30-12

Foreign Language Across the Curriculum
This content course has four components: 1) Using a video method, based on interviews with 30 businessmen and women at seven French companies, students will have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of authentic business situations by using the professional language acquired in French 211; 2) As culture and commerce overlap, students will explore the following topics and their impact on the French business world: communication styles (French notion of space and time); individualism and hierarchical structures; attitudes towards money and business; intellectual elitism and formality; educational system and training of managers; women in the workplace--the new law on sexual harassment; study of a socio-professional category: the cadres; 3) The French model of socio-market economy will be analyzed, emphasizing the present debate on state-industry relationship and social protection (health care debate). Some key industrial sectors, such as the high-tech industry and French investments in the U.S., will also be discussed; 4) Finally, the role of France in the European integration (from Common Market to European Community and European Union) will be explored. Students will have access to the instructor's research library.  Students taking both courses 211 and 313 are advised to take the CCIP exam on completion of the second course.

French-322 
France and the European Union
Slowinski
TR 3-4:30

Foreign Language Across the Curriculum
The following topics will be addressed:
1) A brief history of European integration:  The Franco-German couple-The hesitations of Great Britain;  Debate:  neutrality, sovereignty and identity
2) The Community's institutions: Necessity for reform before enlargement.  Debate:  intergovernmental cooperation vs. federation (a European constitution?)
3) The European single market:  Europe becomes the biggest market in the world (the beef and banana war with the United States)
4) Economic and monetary union:  Introduction of the EURO; Debate:  From an economic community to a political community?
5) Political union and defense-Relations between France, Europe and NATO; Debate:  Eurocentrism vs. Atlanticism
6) Is there a social Europe?  Analysis of the cultural and social European model;  Debate:  its future vs. American or Japanese liberalism (the unemployment problem)
7) A people's Europe:  Education and training;  Debate:  Is there a European civilization?
8) Common programs (agriculture, fishing and environment); Debate:  Impact of the common agricultural policy on France
9) The Community and its neighbors:  Debate:  a wider vs. a deeper Community
10) Europe and its relations with the rest of the world (US, Asia and the developing countries);  Debate:  Euro vs. dollar and yen
Presence and participation in class are important.  Three short papers during the semester and one final paper of the students' choice are required.

French 360
The Age of Enlightenment
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
DeJean
TR 12-1:30

We will read works by several philosophers without whom the Enlightenment would not have been possible: Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu. We will center our discussions around two questions: 1) We will ask ourselves why these writers so often chose to express their revolutionary social and political ideas in fictional form. We will ask in particular why the novel played such a key role in the dissemination of Enlightenment ideas. To this end, we will read certain of the best known novels of the 18th century, for example, Laclos's Liaisons dangereuses and Montesquieu's Lettres persanes. 2) We will explore the issue of why so much of Enlightenment thought was based on the discovery of the foreign other. We will read works such as Graffigny's Lettres d'une Péruvienne, in which the arrival of a foreign heroine on French soil makes possible a wide-ranging critique of French society, even a meditation on what it means to be French.

French 370
French Literature of the 19th Century
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Roulin
TR 1:30-3

French Romanticism developed a specific image of the woman, torn in two extreme figures, the angel (Virginie) or the prostitute ("La Dame aux Camélias"). Usually love leads the romantic heroine to death; not marriage, but suicide, fatal illness, or murder are the usual endings of relationships. We will thus explore the reasons why the male writer has to kill his heroine, and see how one female writer (George Sand) tries to subvert these roles. We will read five representative texts (novels and plays) of French Romantic (or "Pre-romantic") literature and raise issues such as the erotic, eroticised and decayed body, questions of gender, the dream of a paradise lost, death and mourning.

Texts: Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Paul et Virginie; Balzac, La Duchesse de Langeais; Musset, On ne badine pas avec l'amour; Dumas, La Dame aux camélias; G. Sand, Indiana.

French 380
Representation and Remembering: The Occupation Years in French Literature, Film, and Mass Media
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Sobanet
MWF 12-1

This seminar explores the treatment of the Nazi Occupation in post-war French literature, film, and news media. We will investigate the complexity of the construction of memory and forgetting in selected works. Discussions will also focus on the ideological implications of the variety of forms chosen--allegorical representation, testimonial narratives, autobiographical narratives, or documentary cinema--to depict remembrance and/or forgetting. Finally, we will examine the mediatization of recent political events in France, particularly the trial of Maurice Papon.