French, Italian, and Spanish Placement Tests
If you are planning to take an elementary French, Italian, or Spanish class and you are a new student, freshman or transfer student, or you have not yet begun the elementary language sequence on the Ann Arbor campus, you must take the placement test in order to register for the correct course. You must register for the class into which you have been placed.
If you have registered for a class prior to taking the test, you will still be required to take the test in order to verify that you are in the appropriate level class.
If you have already taken French, Italian, or Spanish 101-232 on the Ann Arbor campus, or if you have already taken the placement test once, you are not eligible to take the test again. For questions regarding the LS&A language requirement, please see a general academic advisor or call POINT-10 (764-6810).
Please Note: With the reduction in the number of classrooms throughout LS&A, departments must limit the number of classes offered between 10 am and 4 pm. There will be more classes open before 10 am and after 4 pm. Please take advantage of the opportunity to register for these classes and avoid the "Lottery" (see 2b below).
Instructions for students requesting overrides for French or Spanish 101, 103, 231, or 232.
1. Try to find a section that will fit into your schedule, since the Department cannot guarantee every student a space in a section of his/her own choice.
However, do not register for a class that you cannot attend. You will not be eligible to override into the section of your choice if you are registered for any section of 101-232, even if you cannot attend that section.
2. As it states in the Time Schedule any registered student who misses one of the first four class meetings will be dropped from the course, thereby leaving some open spaces for those students who have been closed out.
If there is absolutely no section open which will fit your schedule, you should follow this procedure:
(a) Start attending the section you would like to get into on the first day of class. You will receive a Proof of Attendance form which must be signed by your instructor every day. You must attend a class every day, but it does not need to be the same section. All students must take action through T-T Registration to make sure their official schedule of courses matches the courses they are taking.
(b) On Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m., there will be a meeting in the basement of the MLB, rooms to be announced later, for each of the above courses. At these meetings, students will be assigned to remaining vacated spaces in the most fair and equitable manner possible, using a lottery system. At no time, however, will any class be allowed to exceed 25 students. Students must bring their printout of classes and the Proof of Attendance form to the meeting!
3. Please note that you will not be allowed to change sections at these meetings. Beginning Wednesday, September 11, Elementary French Language Supervisors will hear requests for section changes and fill those requests to whatever degree is possible.
4. Please ensure when adding with the override that you also add modifiers for pass/fail, etc.
Take me to the Fall Time Schedule
Cultural and Literary Studies
270. French and Francophone Literature and Culture. French 232. (4). (HU). May be repeated for a total of eight credits.
Section 003 - The Computer And The Rainbow: Science and Literature. This course, which will encourage open and group discussion, will move from the infinitesimal world of DNA and genetic replication to the measureless realms of the big bang and the expanding universe and explore some scientific concepts that occur in literature. We will consider some basic differences between the cultures of 'science' and 'literature', why there appears to be a 'language barrier' in literature but not in science, and why it is easier to translate a scientific text than a literary one.
Science explores and discovers 'external reality' while literature deals with the internal world of imagination and memory. Is it true that science discovers that which already exists but literature creates that which does not, or might never, exist? We assume that if Watson and Crick had not discovered the double helix of DNA, or Newton the law of gravitation someone else would have. But if Shakespeare had not written Romeo and Juliet or Hugo Les misirables would these texts ever exist?
Chance or serendipity plays an important role in scientific discovery
and is an important theme in literature. We will explore this theme in Voltaire's
Candide and Privost's Manon Lescaut. We will also discuss and read about
discoveries in French science from Louis Pasteur to the present day where
chance was an important factor, as well as read selections from James Watson's
La double hilice and Jacques Monod's Le hasard et la nicessiti. The course
will end with readings from Marcel Proust's Combray, and we will view videos
dealing with Voltaire and Proust. The course will be in French and there
are NO SCIENTIFIC PREREQUISITES. Grade based on regular and active class
participation, an oral presentation and a short term paper. (Maxwell)
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Times, Location, and Availability
364. African Studies (Maghreb).
French 232, and 8 credits in courses numbered between French
250 and 299. (3). (Excl).
This course will examine a number of novels and films from the Maghreb (Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia) written in French from the interdisciplinary approach
of Cultural Studies. We shall begin with the childhood narratives that mark
the birth of a Francophone Maghrebian literature distinct from the literature
of Metropolitan France. In the aftermath of World War II, this new literature
coincided with the consolidation of national identity producing the nationalists
movements that would end French colonial rule in the Maghreb. We shall consider
examples of "combat literature," which articulated this resistance
to colonialism in the form of the novel. And finally, we shall consider
how Maghrebian literature reflects on the post-independence conditions of
the Maghreb, what some have called the postcolonial condition, particularly
through consideration of the connection between gender and sexuality and
national identity. There will be two papers and class presentations. (Hayes)
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Times, Location, and Availability
450(460). Special Studies. Three
courses in French numbered 300 or above. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for
credit.
Section 001 - Women's Cinema: Film, Event, and Community. This undergraduate/graduate
seminar is organized around contemporary representations of gender and society
in film. We will focus our discussion on the themes of community and event
in film. Throughout the term we will question the notions of community and
event: what constitutes them? what maintains them? what regulates them?
We will study, among other topics, the relationship of gender to family,
to friendship, and to communities based on race and ethnicity from the 1960s
to the present. The course will place emphasis on films that address the
roles of women in society and the category of gender (femininity and masculinity)
in relation to community formation/maintenance at "eventful" moments
in contemporary history. Readings will address social movements, feminism,
and film theory and criticism. Some of the films, among others, to be studied
are by directors Chantal Akerman, Claire Denis, Assia Djebar, Martine Dugowson,
Marguerite Duras, Nelly Kaplan, Diane Kurys, Euzhan Palcy, Coline Serreau,
and Agnes Varda. This course will be offered in French. (Yervasi)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Other Language Courses
111. First Special Reading Course.
French 111 and 112 are designed for juniors, seniors, and graduate
students interested in gaining a reading knowledge of the language. Completion
of French 111-112 does not satisfy the LS&A language requirement. May
not be elected for credit by undergraduates who have received credit for
college French. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled
in 101, 102, or 103. (4). (Excl).
This course is for undergraduate and graduate students who would like to
gain a good reading knowledge of French in one term. The essentials of French
grammar as well as vocabulary and idioms are presented for passive recognition,
followed by translation and sight-reading exercises on materials taken from
both humanities and sciences. The skills gained in the course should enable
students to read technical writings of moderate difficulty. Toward the end
of the term students select a short article or a chapter of a book in their
field of interest for outside reading. Classes meet four times per week
in sections of 25 students. There are weekly quizzes as well as course-wide
midterm and final examinations.
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Times, Location, and Availability
438(428)/Rom. Ling. 456/Educ. D456.
Topics in Learning and Teaching French. French 232, and 8 credits
in courses numbered between French 250 and 299. (3). (Excl).
The purpose of this course is to present methods of teaching secondary
level foreign languages. The course is designed for prospective middle and
high school teachers who are competent in their language skills and now
seek to focus that competency into a personal teaching style in a foreign
language classroom. Issues such as curriculum development and instructional
models of teaching will be addressed. Throughout the course, student will
actively and reflectively practice their teaching skills in preparation
for effective student teaching. Please note that this course should be taken
by students enrolled in the teacher certification program at the school
of Education, and preferably the term just prior to student teaching. (Mangiafico)
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Times, Location, and Availability
465(455). Literature of the Nineteenth
Century. Three courses in French numbered 300 or above. (3).
(Excl).
Literature, History, and Revolutions. The French nineteenth century was
an era of intense political and social change, punctuated by the revolutions
of 1830, 1848, and 1871, all of which could be described as the aftershocks
of the French Revolution of 1789-1799. History and revolution loom large
in French fiction and poetry of the period, both as overt subject matter
and as points of reference for writing about everything from politics to
private life. In this course, we'll study short stories, novels, poems,
and a brief "Introduction to Universal History" by the romantic
historian Jules Michelet; our aim will be to understand better the culture
and history of France and the relations between literature and history.
Authors studied will include Madame de Duras, Stendhal, Balzac, Sand, Flaubert,
Hugo, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud. Two papers (6-8 pages); active participation
in class activities; one oral examination. Cost:2 WL:4 (Paulson)
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Times, Location, and Availability