First-Year Courses in French (Division 371)

Winter Term, 2000 (September 8 - December 22, 1999)

Registration and Waitlist Policies: French & Spanish Elementary Courses (101-232)

On the first day of classes, instructors will receive a class list for each section of a class showing the names of students currently registered. They will also receive a list of students registered for the waitlist for the section, if applicable.

Instructors should take attendance at the first two class meetings, using the class list, the waitlist, and writing down the names and Social Security Numbers of any students attending class whose names are not on either list. Instructors should ask LSA seniors who wish to add the class to identify themselves, and to produce proof of their class standing.

After the first two meetings of the class, the instructors will meet with the course coordinators, and fill any openings in the class sections. Any student who has not attended the first two class meetings may be dropped from the registration list or from the waitlist, at the course coordinator's discretion.

Openings will be filled, in order of priority, by:

1. LSA seniors who are registered on the waitlist and have attended the first two class meetings.
2. LSA seniors who have attended the first two class meetings, but are not registered on the waitlist. If the number of eligible students in this group exceeds the remaining number of spaces, the course coordinator will make the selection by a random method.
3. Others registered on the waitlist, in the order in which they are listed on the waitlist, provided they have attended the first two class meetings.
4. Others not registered on the waitlist, but who have attended the first two class meetings. If the number of eligible students in this group exceeds the remaining number of spaces, the course coordinator will make the selection by a random method.
5. Coordinators will provide a list of students (and their Social Security Numbers) who are to be issued overrides, to the department office staff. Staff will provide confirmation of overrides issued to coordinators or instructors on request.

Elementary Language Courses

Students who intend to continue a language begun in high school must take the Placement Test to determine the language course in which they should enroll. French 102 is NOT open to students who have begun instruction in high school. It is strongly recommended that students who began French at another college or university also take the placement test. Students must check with the Course Coordinator for any exceptions to the Placement Test level.

Placement Exams

Tue., Nov. 16, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Spanish 2440 Mason Hall
French 3410 Mason Hall
Italian 3447 Mason Hall

Wed., Nov. 17, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Spanish 3442 Mason Hall
French 3410 Mason Hall
Italian 3415 Mason Hall

The following are additional Placement Exam dates:

Tue., Dec. 14, Wed., Dec. 15, Thur., Dec. 16, Fri., Dec. 17 - *10:00AM - 11:30AM

Spanish Angell Hall Aud. C
French 3439 Mason Hall
Italian 3435 Mason Hall

Monday, December 20*10:00AM - 11:30AM

Spanish Angell Hall Aud. D
French 3439 Mason Hall
Italian 3435 Mason Hall

Tuesday, January 4*10:00AM - 11:30AM

Spanish Angell Hall Aud. C
French Angell Hall Aud. D
Italian 3402 Mason Hall

Additionally, we will have 2 make up exams. One will be January 6th and the other January 10. Time and place still to be determined.

Elementary Language Courses

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

The sequence of French 101/102 presents the essential elements of French grammar, vocabulary, and culture which are needed in everyday life to understand French spoken at a moderate speed and to be understood by sympathetic native speakers. Vocabulary and structures are practiced in class primarily through communicative activities stressing listening and speaking. Authentic documents are used to develop reading skills and culture. Cultural awareness and listening skills are further developed through listening and video materials. Classes meet four hours per week in sections of 20-25 students. Daily homework assignments involve studying vocabulary and grammar, writing exercises or short compositions, and practice in listening comprehension. There are several quizzes and tests, as well as midterm and final examinations and speaking tests. Class participation is graded. Credit is not granted for more than two courses from French 101, 102 and 103.

Elementary Language Courses

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pascal/French103.html

French 103 is a course for students with some prior language study in French, and covers the same material presented in French 101/102. Entrance into the course is by placement or with the permission of the course coordinator. Because students are expected to be already familiar with some of the material, the course moves at a rapid pace, and students will need to plan on spending at least 8-10 hours each week preparing daily lessons. The objectives and methods of instruction are similar to those of French 101/102. Quizzes (with both oral and written components) are administered to check students’ assimilation of material. There are three hourly exams, a final, compositions, and speaking tests. By the end of the course, students will have a good working vocabulary and strong listening comprehension skills; they should be able to express themselves in French (both in writing and orally) using most of the basic structural patterns in the language. Students will also have a general knowledge of French-speaking cultures. Technology (multi-media, computer-based writing programs, the web) will be used to aid in acquiring listening and writing skills, and cultural competency.

Elementary Language Courses

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Students whose last French course was NOT at U of M Ann Arbor must take the placement test. French 231 builds and expands upon the work done in French 101/102 or French 103. The primary goals of French 231 are to:

• develop and refine your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills;
• provide you with strategies that allow you to communicate and read more effectively;
• help you review previously learned grammatical structures and acquire new structures and uses;
• develop an awareness of French-speaking cultures the world over, and to discover both similarities and differences between the way French-speaking people live, think, and express themselves as compared to the way you live, think, and express yourselves;
• utilize technology to help you in your study of French and to have greater access to Francophone cultural documents.

Classes meet four times per week in sections of 20-25 students. Since communicative skills are emphasized daily, regular attendance and active participation are essential. Homework consists of CD-ROM activities, writing exercises, and laboratory work, both audio and video. There are comprehensive course-wide tests as well as final examinations.

Other Language Courses

Section 001, 002 – Advanced Practice in French Through Contemporary Social Issues

Instructor(s): Yannick Viers (yannick@umich.edu)

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

In this course we will be dealing with some of the issues and problems facing today's French/Francophone society through readings (press and textbook articles), videos (documentaries, news program exposes, film) and CDs:

• What is the “French Republic?” (l'Hexagone et les DOM/TOM)
• The European Union (Transparency and opacity of the governing powers)
• France and “the crisis of authority”
• Unemployment and exclusion
• The “family” (traditional and new models)
• Young people (suicide, violence, AIDS)
• Women (Vers la parité?)
• Colonization and its sequels (the “immigrants”, France and Sub-Saharan Africa, Islam in France, the Algeria, Raï music)
• Racism and xenophobia (le FN)
• Fighting racism (“Ras l'front”, hardcore Rap, etc.)

This “cultural” approach will offer us a jumping-off point for oral and written communication (respectively 40% and 60% of the final grade): three individual oral presentations (30%), three medium-length essays (30%), and a number of written exercises (30%). Active class participation (10%) and regular attendance are expected. (Coursepack French 235, 2 vols., Viers) at Dollar Bill [611 Church Street, (734-665-9200)]; French Grammar Usage by Hawkins and Towell and a good bilingual dictionary (bookstores).

Other Language Courses

Section 003.

Instructor(s): Roger Butler-Borruat (rebb@umich.edu)

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

In this course we will be dealing with some of the issues and problems facing today's French/Francophone society through readings (press and textbook articles), videos (documentaries, news program exposes, film) and CDs:

• What is the “French Republic?” (l'Hexagone et les DOM/TOM)
• The European Union (Transparency and opacity of the governing powers)
• France and “the crisis of authority”
• Unemployment and exclusion
• The “family” (traditional and new models)
• Young people (suicide, violence, AIDS)
• Women (Vers la parité?)
• Colonization and its sequels (the “immigrants”, France and Sub-Saharan Africa, Islam in France, the Algeria, Raï music)
• Racism and xenophobia (le FN)
• Fighting racism (“Ras l'front”, hardcore Rap, etc.)

This “cultural” approach will offer us a jumping-off point for oral and written communication (respectively 40% and 60% of the final grade): three individual oral presentations (30%), three medium-length essays (30%), and a number of written exercises (30%). Active class participation (10%) and regular attendance are expected. (Coursepack French 235, 2 vols., Viers) at Dollar Bill [611 Church Street, (734-665-9200)]; French Grammar Usage by Hawkins and Towell and a good bilingual dictionary (bookstores).

Cultural and Literary Studies

Section 002 – The Gargoyle in the Church: Laughter and Literature in the Middle Ages

Instructor(s): Liz Fackelman (facklelm@umich.edu)

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This introductory course features a sampling of medieval French literature (in modern French translation), juxtaposing the various themes of "high literature" with their comic and paradoic counterparts and placing both in their historical and cultural context. We will meet the noble kings, brave knights, the saints, beautiful ladies and damsels in distress, but we will also meet their shadow selves: the peasant who would be a knight, the unfaithful ladies, a gambling Saint Peter disguised in a long black beard, a shepherd who outfoxes a lawyer and the Fox himself, Renard who gave his name to the animal with the bushy tail. No prior knowledge of the Middle Ages is assumed, and we will review language as needed. The course is taught in French.