Course Syllabus

FREN 1020 Elementary French II

Course Description

This course is a continuation of FREN 1010 and provides additional exposure to the French language and the cultures of French-speaking peoples. It is designed for students who have completed FREN 1010 with a C- or better, or for students with equivalent experience. During the course, students continue to develop basic oral and listening communication skills by participating in activities that require them to use French in a variety of situations. As a result of developing these skills, they also acquire the ability to read and write French at a basic level. Students learn to communicate about topics that are most familiar to them (e.g., self, family, home, school, daily and recent activities), and they learn to appreciate ways of life different from their own. This course is interactive with a focus on learner participation, basic conversation practice in French, and additional focus on reading and writing. Successful completion of this course fulfills the foreign language requirement for the Associate of Arts degree at Snow College.

Justification

This course satisfies the foreign language requirement for the Associate of Arts degree at Snow College. It is also a prerequisite for intermediate and advanced study of the language. Students are introduced to the language, cultures, and values of French-speaking peoples, one of the largest linguistic groups in the world and a major contributor to Western thought and culture. Learning French, particularly in combination with studies in other fields, such as art, music, philosophy, history, business, medicine, political science, social science, and technology, can provide a valuable and employable life resource.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to understand everyday French words and phrases. They will be able to answer questions about themselves, their personal experiences, and their surroundings with greater capacity.
2. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to understand familiar words, phrases, and some more advanced sentences, building upon those reading skills acquired in FREN 1010.
3. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to interact with each other using words, phrases, and some memorized expressions. They will be able to answer simple questions on familiar topics and form questions to create a more realistic dialogue, while expanding the range of their ability beyond the beginner level. They will be capable of describing events not only in the present, but in the past as well, with the ability to speak with anticipation of future events, as well as conjecture upon things that would happen given a certain set of circumstances.
4. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to provide information about themselves and their immediate surroundings using words, phrases, and some memorized expressions. They will also acquire information from others by forming proper sentences and questions, including topics that address events in the present, past, and future.
5. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to provide some basic information on familiar topics in lists, phrases, and memorized expressions.
6. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to seek opportunities to learn about and experience new cultures outside of class.
7. Upon successful completion of FREN 1020, students will be able to demonstrate a basic knowledge of cultural traditions, customs, and values in one or more of French-speaking countries.

Course Content

Through lecture, one-on-one sessions with the instructor, class discussion, and activities, students will learn to demonstrate: Basic interactions like greeting, asking and answering questions, describing people and things, expressing preferences, inviting, accepting, refusing, making purchases, giving directions, requesting information, telling time, and recounting past events; interpretation of basic or simplified texts (e.g., calendars, biographical information, menus, cultural information, poems/songs, maps, advertisements, film reviews, instructions, schedules, websites, surveys); Basic expressions and vocabulary (e.g., greetings, school, home, family, possessions, numbers, days, months, public buildings, food, weather, sports); demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, future tense, imperfect tense, passive constructions, present perfect tense, preterit tense of irregular verbs, the subjunctive mood, and the use of prepositions; agreement (e.g., subject-verb, adjective-noun); cultural practices and products of France (e.g., food, music, transportation, film, housing, media); cultural perspectives in France; regional identities; and daily life in France. This content is delivered through interactive lecture, multimedia presentation, partner and group work, and instructor modeling concepts.