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First-Year Courses in FrenchThis page was created at 12:12 PM on Thu, Oct 4, 2001. Fall Academic Term, 2001 (September 5 - December 21)Open courses in French Wolverine Access Subject listing for FRENCH Fall Term '01Time Schedule for French. FRENCH 101. Elementary French.Elementary Language CoursesInstructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: Students with any prior study of French must take the Placement Test. Credit is not granted for more than two courses from French 101, 102, and 103. (4). (LR). 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.
FRENCH 103. Review of Elementary French.Elementary Language CoursesInstructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: Assignment by placement test. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in 102. (4). (LR). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. French 103 is a course for students with some prior language study in French, and covers the same material presented in French 101 and 102. Entrance into the course is by placement or with the permission of the coordinator. Because students placed in French 103 are already familiar with some of the material, the course moves at a rapid pace. Students will need to plan on spending at least 8 to 10 hours each week preparing for daily lessons. Tests and quizzes (with both aural and written components) will be administered to check students' assimilation of the material covered in class. There will be two hourly exams, three 25 minutes quizzes, a final exam, compositions, and two 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 some French-speaking cultures. Technology (multi-media, the web) will be used to aid in developing writing, reading, and listening skills as well as cultural competency. Since active participation is essential to the development of strong communicative skills, regular attendance is required and participation will be included in the final grade.
FRENCH 231. Second-Year French.Elementary Language CoursesInstructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: French 102 or 103; or assignment by placement test. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in 112 or 230. (4). (LR). 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:
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.
FRENCH 232. Second-Year French, Continued.Elementary Language CoursesInstructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: French 231; or assignment by placement test. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in 112 or 230. (4). (LR). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In French 232, we will use literature, magazine articles, movies, videos, and songs to explore the history of France and several other Francophone countries from the 1940's until the present. We will begin by studying life in France during the Second World War. Then, through some videos and the literature of several other Francophone cultures, we will examine the effects of colonization and decolonization on language use, culture and identity. The last part of the course will focus on the politics and social climate in modern French society. Throughout the course of the term, students will be expected to review and learn various grammatical elements and vocabulary in order to participate in classroom activities and discussions. Linguistically, we will focus on supporting opinions, making comparisons, hypothesizing, and composing more and more sophisticated sentences. 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 and will be included in the final grade. There will be several short writing assignments, two compositions, two tests, and a final examination.
FRENCH 235. Advanced Practice in French.Other Language CoursesSection 001, 003 – Contemporary Social IssuesInstructor(s): Yannick A Viers (yannick@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: French 232. Prerequisite to the concentration and academic minor. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: http://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/fall/french/235/001.nsf In this course we will be dealing with some of the most recent issues and problems facing today's French/Francophone society through readings (press and textbook articles), videos (documentaries, news program exposes, film) and CDs:
This “cultural” approach will offer us a jumping-off point for oral and written communication (respectively 50% and 50% of the final grade): three individual oral presentations (30%), three medium-length essays (30%) and a number of written exercises (20%). Active class participation and regular attendance (20%) are expected. Required texts: Course pack (French 235, Dollar Bill) and a French grammar book.
FRENCH 235. Advanced Practice in French.Other Language CoursesSection 002, 004 – Contemporary Social IssuesInstructor(s): Roger E Butler-Borruat (rebb@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: French 232. Prerequisite to the concentration and academic minor. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: http://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/fall/french/235/001.nsf In this course we will be dealing with some of the most recent issues and problems facing today's French/Francophone society through readings (press and textbook articles), videos (documentaries, news program exposes, film) and CDs:
This “cultural” approach will offer us a jumping-off point for oral and written communication (respectively 50% and 50% of the final grade): three individual oral presentations (30%), three medium-length essays (30%) and a number of written exercises (20%). Active class participation and regular attendance (20%) are expected. Required texts: Course pack (French 235, Dollar Bill) and a French grammar book.
FRENCH 235. Advanced Practice in French.Other Language CoursesSection 005 – Contemporary Social Issues.Instructor(s): Rachel Criso (rcriso@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: French 232. Prerequisite to the concentration and academic minor. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: http://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/fall/french/235/001.nsf This course will be dealing with some of the most recent issues facing today's French/Francophone society through readings, videos and CDs:
Your final grade will be based on three oral presentations (30%), three essays (30%), several written exercises (20%) and very active class participation (20%).
FRENCH 244. Issues in Race and Cultural Diversity in the Francophone World.Courses Taught in English (without language prerequisite)Section 001.Instructor(s): Frieda Ekotto (ekotto@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Taught in English. A knowledge of French is not required. Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU).
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In this course we shall study cultural productions and social issues related to race, racism and ethnicity in French-speaking societies. At one level of the presentation we shall discuss how discourses on race function within the general ideological state apparatuses that reproduce a given social order. At another level we shall analyze how discourses on race, racism, ethnicity, gender and social class are inscribed in the texts and films selected for the course. We shall also examine the implications of cultural diversity in different parts of the Francophone world. Selected examples of specific texts and films be used to put in context our examination of these issues.
FRENCH 270. French and Francophone Literature and Culture.Cultural and Literary StudiesSection 001 – Les Pensees Cachees: Censorship During World War II.Instructor(s): Rachael Criso (rcriso@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: French 235. (3). (HU). May be elected for a total of six credits. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. During the Vichy Regime, life in war-torn France was difficult on many levels. Collaboration with the Nazis was the only acceptable way to act in the open. Behind closed doors and on the printed page, it was another matter. Patriotism, although repressed, was rife; and in many instances it was members of the literary elite who were able to fool the censors and reach out to their compatriots in this time of confused allegiences. During the academic term, we will study texts and films written and produced under German censorship. We will try to discover just what and how was slipped by the watchful eyes of the censors – discovering the specific literary and artistic elements that helped the French maintain their patriotism and eventually triumph over the occupation of their beloved land. Modern censorship theory will lay the groundwork and provide us with a springboard from which to approach our texts. We will watch 2-3 films and read works or excerpts from authors such as: Sartre, DeBeauvoir, Saint-Exupery, Camus, Prevert, Valery, and Duras. Taught in French.
FRENCH 270. French and Francophone Literature and Culture.Cultural and Literary StudiesSection 002 – Nineteenth Century: The Era of RevolutionsInstructor(s): Yannick A Viers (yannick@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: French 235. (3). (HU). May be elected for a total of six credits. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. As the European nineteenth-century became known as "the age of revolution", the word 'revolution' was simultaneously associated with one country, France, and a privileged space of origin, Paris, where the founding event occurred: the 1789 French Revolution. With its succession of regimes and social uprisings, the influential 19th-century French political history can indeed be read as a constant "struggle between Revolution and Restoration" (Furet) aimed at repeating, completing, or eradicating the aftermath of the 1789 Revolution that was both admired and hated. Leaning on these pro- and counter-revolutionary perspectives, this course will use as landmarks the most important revolutions, revolts, civil war, and political coups of 19th-century France, while presenting a selection of political, cultural discourses and practices reflecting these conflicting views. It will also evoke another revolution, industrial this time, an indispensable component to our understanding of the socioeconomic characteristics of this era. This course will proceed as follows: Introduction: 1. Survey of 19th-century French political and cultural history. I. The 1789 French Revolution: First "modern" revolution (Tocqueville, Michelet, Furet) a. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (National Assembly, 1789) II. The Coup d'Etat of Napoleon Bonaparte: November 9, 1799 ("18th Brumaire Year VIII"): The First Empire and the Bourbon Restoration: 1804-1830 (Stendhal) III. The "July Days": The 1830 Revolution The Barricade (Delacroix, Hugo) IV. The "Beautiful" Revolution: February 1848 Socialism, Feminism, Utopia (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Tristan, Sand) V. The "Class Struggle": June 1848 (Marx, Tocqueville) VI. The Coup d'Etat of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte: December 2, 1851
The "New Paris" of the Second Empire: Napoleon III's and Haussmann's urban renovation and "strategic embellishment" (Benjamin) VII. "The Terrible Year": 1871 Civil War The Commune (Vallés, Michel) / Crowd psychology (Taine, Le Bon, Freud, Zola) VIII. The Centennial of the French Revolution and the 1889 Universal Exhibit: The Eiffel Tower (Barthes) Audiovisual material will be presented in class. A course pack and a French grammar book will be required. Final grade: one small oral presentation, two journals, two quizzes, one final essay (3-5 pages), and very active class participation.
FRENCH 270. French and Francophone Literature and Culture.
Cultural and Literary StudiesSection 003 – Possession: poets, prophecy and property in French cultureInstructor(s): Katherine AlmquistPrerequisites & Distribution: French 235. (3). (HU). May be elected for a total of six credits. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. What is divine inspiration? Where does it come from? Can we sell it? Since the Renaissance, writers have claimed their sources of inspiration to be from the outside; muse or lady, god or demon, patron or market. This originating source overtakes them and produces a work of art which becomes the writer's literary heritage. The question then arises as to who can claim ownership. Does the work belong to the source of inspiration who overtook the poet, giving him or her words as a 'ghost writer', or does it belong to the writer alone? How does the source of inspiration, whether god, human or demon, change the legitimacy of the work? How does a divinely inspired writer position himself inside or outside a market economy? In this course we will examine sources of poetic inspiration in French culture from the Renaissance to the present day in poetry, novels, drama and cinema. We will place the writer in the context of French property laws that define ownership: classic, feudal and modern. We will see how French society has arrived at the rights and responsibilities of poetic authorship, whether the author be possessed by a poetic muse, by a demon, or by an object of love. This course is intended to be an introduction to French literary and cultural values and an opportunity to build vocabulary, written and oral expression. Students will write one page weekly papers and deliver one, short oral presentation. The final exam will be fact-based. Our study will include the works of Ronsard, DuBellay, Montaigne, Racine, Rosset, Voltaire, Nerval, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Proust, Valery, and the films "Dangerous Liaisons" and "With Friends Like Harry".
FRENCH 274. French and Francophone Societies and Culture.Cultural and Literary StudiesSection 001 – Small Change: Childhood Narratives and the Politics of Learning FrenchInstructor(s): Jarrod L Hayes (hayesj@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: French 235. (3). (HU). May be elected for a total of six credits. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The purpose of this course is twofold, to introduce students to French and Francophone societies and cultures and to allow students to develop their reading, writing, and speaking skills in French, skills they will need in more advanced courses in French and Francophone studies. We shall concentrate on French and Francophone childhood narratives (to be distinguished from literature written for children) in both novels and film and consider what these childhood narratives teach us about their cultural context and, especially, about the role (political, social, economic) of teaching and learning French in France and the French colonies (during the colonial period). The texts will be studied from the interdisciplinary perspective of cultural studies, which encourages intertextual analyses that incorporate literary as well as extra-literary texts (history, anthropology, popular culture, politics, etc.). We shall read two Francophone novels to consider the relation between teaching French and colonization. Throughout the course we shall view French and Francophone films to study the representation of events such as the Algerian Revolution through childhood narratives, with special attention to how childhood narratives are sometimes allegories of the political conflicts to which children are sometimes thought to be immune. Finally students will have the opportunity to think about how their own experiences of learning French might relate to the narratives they will have studied. The objectives of the course will be to envision ways of learning French that empower students rather than alienate them. Required Texts: Films:
FRENCH 274. French and Francophone Societies and Culture.
Cultural and Literary StudiesSection 002 – The Politics of TheaterInstructor(s): Rececca GravesPrerequisites & Distribution: French 235. (3). (HU). May be elected for a total of six credits. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Through the investigation of French theater as social practice, this course will introduce students to the major philosophical and political movements of the twentieth century, as well as providing them with the opportunity to develop their spoken and written French. Emphasis will be placed on dramaturgical innovations in the last century, the philosophical underpinnings of particular plays, and the political implications of individual productions. After a brief introduction to the conventions of Neoclassical and Romantic theater, we will read a number of modern plays and analyze their relationship to contemporaneous philosophical schools (e.g., existentialism) and to their socio-political contexts (e.g., World War II, anti-colonialism, May 68, feminism). An overarching theme of the course will be the question of how and to what purpose twentieth-century theater makes use of classical mythology: why are essentially modern situations repeatedly transposed into the mythological past by twentieth-century dramatists, and, consequently, how is the classical notion of ‘fate’ redefined in this period? Student assessment will be based on class participation, one-page weekly responses to particular texts, and two short papers. A list of possible authors includes: Jarry, Anouilh, Artaud, Cocteau, Camus, Sartre, Ionesco, Césaire, Genet, Beckett, Cixous, and the contemporary theater practice of Peter Brook and Ariane Mouchkine.
FRENCH 276. Spoken and Written Performance in French.
Cultural and Literary StudiesSection 001.Instructor(s): William R PaulsonPrerequisites & Distribution: French 235. (3). (HU). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course is based on the idea that literature and culture in French are things that students should create and perform, not just learn or analyze. So literature will be treated not as a group of texts to be studied, but as something to be produced, transformed, read aloud, played with, and invented. The main activities will be creative writing, oral interpretation, and small-scale theatrical performances, all of which will provide diverse opportunities for using and practicing the French language. Writing projects will often involve pastiche, parody, and other forms that emphasize creative responses to readings, as well as techniques such as those of the French group OuLiPo for producing original writing when one is not necessarily inspired. There will also be Web-based projects, especially exchanges and collaborative activities on the course Web site (not yet open). Authors encountered, exploited, and performed, largely in brief works or excerpts, will include Molière, Diderot, Rousseau, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Queneau, Perec, and Pennac. Assignments will be frequent and generally not long. Grading will be based on written work and on class participation, which is extremely important. No final examination.
This page was created at 12:12 PM on Thu, Oct 4, 2001.
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