Prof. Nancy Mellerski

Bosler 205 
Office hours: MWF 10:00-11:00

x 1248

e-mail: mellersk

automne 2000

French 230 is the "gateway" course in the French major or minor. You will be working intensively on your oral and written skills this semester in a cross-cultural context.  The "texts" for this class are primarily cinematic ones: pairs of French films and their Hollywood remakes. We will be using these films as cultural documents which we can explore in an attempt to understand the different ways in which French and American societies portray themselves. In a sense, watching a foreign film is a bit like traveling to another culture: our goal here is to make that trip in order to understand and analyze what Raymonde Carroll calls the "cultural logic of differences." Films will be supplemented by readings in a variety of sources, fiction and non-fiction.

Texts (required):

Laurence Wylie & J.F. Brière,  Les Français

Harper Collins  French College Dictionary
+ handouts distributed or assigned

Grammar Review Text (suggested): Nouvelle Grammaire Communicative

Dictionnaire des synonymes et des équivalences (Larousse) - suggested
 

Films:

• Jean-Loup Hubert, Le Grand Chemin (1987)
• Mary Agnes Donoghue, Paradise (1991)
• Coline Serreau, Trois hommes et un couffin (1985)
• Leonard Nimoy, Three Men and a Baby (1987)
• Daniel Vigne, Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982)
• Jon Amiel, Sommersby (1993)

Because your goal this semester will be to improve your speaking and writing skills, all assignments will be geared to working on strategies to help you do this.  Remember that French 230 is writing-intensive, and counts toward  the all-college W requirement.  In your written work there will be writing-to-learn exercises, drafting, peer editing, and sessions with the assistants from Toulouse and our own French department Writing Center tutors. In addition, each week or so we'll spend some time working on refining more advanced grammatical concepts.  While there is no specific grammar text required for the course, you are encouraged to use the links at French Grammar Central to hundreds of discrete grammar point explanations and many exercises, some interactive.  I will supply other links to grammar sites on the Web, but if you would prefer to work from a traditional text, please purchase the review book suggested above.  Oral participation will be facilitated by e-journal assignments (using Blackboard) designed to let you share your thoughts with others before discussions in class of the readings and films. 

Evaluation

• Writing assignments (50%)
• Reading & Cinema e-Journal (20%)
• Class discussion & participation (30%)

"It is French and Italian Department policy that students in classes in the Department are permitted to consult tutors, more experienced peers, the foreign assistants, and other faculty members on ungraded assignments only. With their instructor's permission, outside help is permitted if students wish to go over ungraded homework assignments, practice their pronunciation, engage in informal conversation, work on improving vocabulary or control of grammatical structures, do listening and reading comprehension activities, or hone their writing. They may not seek outside help from any other person in the preparation of written or oral work submitted under their name for a grade. If they have questions about this policy or their interpretation of it in a given situation, they should consult with the course instructor."

This syllabus and the linked <<plan du cours>> may be modified, with due notice, to serve the needs of the course.

In order to pass French 230, you must complete ALL assignments.