This class is built on active practice of grammar and vocabulary related to communicative skills. This course requires significant in-class participation and personal work outside the classroom.
Research has demonstrated that study abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability. One of the most important general findings of this research is, however, that study abroad is most beneficial for the development of abilities related to social interaction. Students who go abroad are able to learn how to produce language in a variety of situations, such as the making of requests, the use of compliments and apologies, and they also may develop skills to interpret such interactions within the local cultural context…In short, and logically, study abroad has been show to enhance the aspects of communicative competence that are most difficult to foster in classroom settings (IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, p. 6).
Student Profile
This course is designed for students with little prior knowledge of the language. Students who can already use a few basic words and phrases, and who can understand very simple requests and responses are appropriate for this level. Students entering this course are also able to read and interpret the basic meaning of simple sentences and phrases. Students who have studied basic language in high school or in college but never continued to build their skills may find this level appropriate. Students who have studied or speak another Romance language may also be capable of entering this level. The language assessment process will determine the appropriate level for each individual student.
By the end of the course, the successful student will have built a solid foundation in the five skills: intercultural communication, reading, writing, listening, and speaking to accomplish a variety of everyday needs in the host culture as described in the learning outcomes below and should be capable of entering the Emerging Independent Abroad level.
Prerequisites:
Proficiency at a level equivalent to the outcomes mastered through IES Abroad’s FR 101i, as determined by placement test.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will be able to achieve some of the outcomes for the Novice Abroad level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:
I.Intercultural Communication:
A. Students will be able to meet simple everyday needs with increasing confidence using verbal and nonverbal communication, and they will be able to use compensatory strategies when they do not know the word or expression (paraphrasing, repetition, talking around the point, body language, etc.
B. Students can recognize a variety of appropriate and inappropriate expressions, topics, and behaviors in the host language.
C. Students will be able to distinguish between simple representations of formality and informality in the language.
D. Students will identify some differences between cultural stereotypes and generalizations between the home culture and the host culture
E. Students will make some informed comparisons between their host culture and the home culture.
II. Listening
A. Students will be able to understand some statements, requests, descriptions, and questions in specific cultural context relevant to them (interactions with hosts, Center interactions, activities with friends, studying, shopping, transportation, meals).
B. Students will be able to use context to understand the gist of some spoken language they overhear, including the media, conversations between others, and announcements.
III. Speaking
A. Students will be able to use simple phrases appropriately and with some confidence in everyday situations with increasing accuracy (home, friends, the IES Abroad Center, and the community).
B. Students will be able to express simple needs by asking and answering questions, and get what they need in everyday situations.
IV. Reading
A. Students will be able to understand simple sentences and deduce meaning from context if it is relevant to their studies.
B. Students will be able to interpret main ideas in short texts (news articles and headlines, leaflets, simple website materials, etc.), if they are relevant to them.
V. Writing
A. Students will be able to write short texts about concrete topics, such as themselves, their families, their friends, their likes, dislikes, plans, experiences and their daily routines.
B. Students will be able to send simple emails, text messages, and fill out some simple forms, and they can complete short essays on familiar subjects.
C. Students will be able to write with increased accuracy, although using some native language structures.
Method of presentation:
The course is based on a communicative student-centered methodology implying a strong and lively interaction between the teacher and the students as well as among students. Students will work individually and in groups in order to acquire and to practice (written and orally) the new structures and vocabulary. Also, homework will be assigned at each session so that the students can systematize, practice, and progress.
-the French family: working women /mothers; share of daily tasks with husband; importance of family (Sunday meals, family reunions,…)
-Exercises: pronouns, vocabulary
-Describe a French person you recently met or a host family member (physical appearance and personality)
-Write about a love story (friends or family)
I. B, C, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. A, B
Week 5
1.Functional:
-commanding / advising
-explaining a medical problem: describing a pain or a symptom
2.Grammatical:
-imperative
-personal pronouns: “y”, “en” / with past tense, futur proche and imperative; with questions
-common adverbs (place and usage)
3.Vocabulary:
-body
-health: benign health problems (coughing, sneezing, stomachache, being tired…) / self and safe medication
4.Culture:
-French health system; pharmacists, doctors and hospitals
-Exercises: pronouns, imperative, vocabulary
-Create riddles with a pronoun
I. A, E
II. A
III. A, B
IV. B
V. A
Week 6
2.Grammatical:
-review on passé composé and pronouns
-midterm correction
3.Vocabulary:
-review on physical description, personality, body and traveling
Mid-term exam
(grammar, vocabulary, oral and written understanding, written expression)
“CORE” project: mid-semester check
Week 7
1.Functional:
-exchanging with French students about different university systems
2.Grammatical:
-comparative and superlative
-comparative expressions
-“recent past” : “venir de “ + infinitive verb
3.Vocabulary:
-university
4.Culture:
-comparing the French and the American university system
-Exercises: comparison, vocabulary
-Compare your home university with the Paris university campuses
I. E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. B
Week 8
1.Functional:
-expressing a simple opinion, agreement and disagreement
2.Grammatical:
-relative pronouns (qui, que, où, dont)
3.Vocabulary:
-connecteurs logiques
-the media and cultural activities (arts, literature)
-main conversational words (agreeing and disagreeing)
4.Culture:
-socializing with French people, exchanging ideas and opinions with the French: importance of general knowledge and culture (literature / cinema / music / theater / opera / radio / media)
-French newspapers / free newspapers
-stereotypes about French and Americans
-Exercises: relative pronouns, vocabulary
-Present a small newspaper article
Graded paper: Write about cultural differences between France and your home country
I. A, D, E
II. B
III. A
IV. B
V. A, C
Week 9
1.Functional:
-expressing a condition
-making projects
2.Grammatical:
-future tense
-condition: si + present / present, future, imperative
-quand + future / future
3.Vocabulary:
-labor world (internship, TA, recruitment)
4.Culture:
-working in France / in America
-Exercises: future tense, vocabulary
-Where do you wish to be and what do you wish to do in 5 years?
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. B
Week 10
1.Functional:
-relating and describing a personal experience or a story
2.Grammatical:
-past tense: imparfait
-voix passive
3.Vocabulary:
sports
4.Culture:
-France before and nowadays: evolution of mentalities and of society
-Exercises: imparfait and voix passive, vocabulary
“CORE” project: Oral presentation of half of the students
I. A, B, C, D, E
II. B
III. A
IV. B
V. C
Week 11
1.Functional:
-relating and describing a personal experience or a story
2.Grammatical:
-passé composé et imparfait
-textual connectors for the past
3.Vocabulary:
-stages of life
4.Culture:
-conclusion of the semester abroad
-Exercises: past tenses, vocabulary
-Write about your semester in Paris
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. A, C
Week 12
2.Grammatical:
-review on everything
3.Vocabulary:
-review on everything
Final exam
Required readings:
Grammaire progressive du français,niveau débutant,(2ème édition, CD included), éditions CLE International, Paris, 2005.
Vocabulaire progressif du français, niveau débutant, (2ème édition, CD included), éditions CLE International, Paris, 2010.
This class is built on active practice of grammar and vocabulary related to communicative skills. This course requires significant in-class participation and personal work outside the classroom.
Research has demonstrated that study abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability. One of the most important general findings of this research is, however, that study abroad is most beneficial for the development of abilities related to social interaction. Students who go abroad are able to learn how to produce language in a variety of situations, such as the making of requests, the use of compliments and apologies, and they also may develop skills to interpret such interactions within the local cultural context…In short, and logically, study abroad has been show to enhance the aspects of communicative competence that are most difficult to foster in classroom settings (IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, p. 6).
Student Profile
This course is designed for students with little prior knowledge of the language. Students who can already use a few basic words and phrases, and who can understand very simple requests and responses are appropriate for this level. Students entering this course are also able to read and interpret the basic meaning of simple sentences and phrases. Students who have studied basic language in high school or in college but never continued to build their skills may find this level appropriate. Students who have studied or speak another Romance language may also be capable of entering this level. The language assessment process will determine the appropriate level for each individual student.
By the end of the course, the successful student will have built a solid foundation in the five skills: intercultural communication, reading, writing, listening, and speaking to accomplish a variety of everyday needs in the host culture as described in the learning outcomes below and should be capable of entering the Emerging Independent Abroad level.
Proficiency at a level equivalent to the outcomes mastered through IES Abroad’s FR 101i, as determined by placement test.
By the end of the course, students will be able to achieve some of the outcomes for the Novice Abroad level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:
I.Intercultural Communication:
A. Students will be able to meet simple everyday needs with increasing confidence using verbal and nonverbal communication, and they will be able to use compensatory strategies when they do not know the word or expression (paraphrasing, repetition, talking around the point, body language, etc.
B. Students can recognize a variety of appropriate and inappropriate expressions, topics, and behaviors in the host language.
C. Students will be able to distinguish between simple representations of formality and informality in the language.
D. Students will identify some differences between cultural stereotypes and generalizations between the home culture and the host culture
E. Students will make some informed comparisons between their host culture and the home culture.
II. Listening
A. Students will be able to understand some statements, requests, descriptions, and questions in specific cultural context relevant to them (interactions with hosts, Center interactions, activities with friends, studying, shopping, transportation, meals).
B. Students will be able to use context to understand the gist of some spoken language they overhear, including the media, conversations between others, and announcements.
III. Speaking
A. Students will be able to use simple phrases appropriately and with some confidence in everyday situations with increasing accuracy (home, friends, the IES Abroad Center, and the community).
B. Students will be able to express simple needs by asking and answering questions, and get what they need in everyday situations.
IV. Reading
A. Students will be able to understand simple sentences and deduce meaning from context if it is relevant to their studies.
B. Students will be able to interpret main ideas in short texts (news articles and headlines, leaflets, simple website materials, etc.), if they are relevant to them.
V. Writing
A. Students will be able to write short texts about concrete topics, such as themselves, their families, their friends, their likes, dislikes, plans, experiences and their daily routines.
B. Students will be able to send simple emails, text messages, and fill out some simple forms, and they can complete short essays on familiar subjects.
C. Students will be able to write with increased accuracy, although using some native language structures.
The course is based on a communicative student-centered methodology implying a strong and lively interaction between the teacher and the students as well as among students. Students will work individually and in groups in order to acquire and to practice (written and orally) the new structures and vocabulary. Also, homework will be assigned at each session so that the students can systematize, practice, and progress.
Week
Content
Assignments
Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)
Week 1 Intensive Session
1.Functional:
-politeness
-buying food, ordering a meal in a restaurant; paying; prices
-giving key information about oneself (address, phone number, nationality)
-giving and understanding time
2.Grammatical:
-structure of a french sentence
-present tense of “être”, “avoir”; basic regular verbs + “aller”
-interrogatives (qui, où, comment, combien…)
-negation (ne…pas / ne…plus / ne…rien / ne…personne / ne…jamais)
-singular and plural (definite and indefinite articles)
-masculine and feminine (nouns and adjectives)
3.Vocabulary:
-politeness in various contexts
-food : main dishes, main drinks, main cheeses and breads, fruits and vegetables, main ingredients
-specialty stores
-numbers up to 100 / time
-“je voudrais” + noun / + infinitive common adjectives
4.Culture:
-French and American politeness
-table manners: how to behave in a host family
-giving a phone number and time the French way
-food in France: cafés, bakeries; bread and cheese testing in class
-Exercises: present tense, nouns, adjectives, vocabulary
-Prepare a scene at a restaurant or a café, at the bakery
-Work on a Picard (frozen foods store) catalogue
-Go to different bakeries and to a cheese store with a questionnaire about varieties and prices
-Questionnaire on food habits
Field trip in the neighborhood: discovering shops and specialty stores, open markets, transport system, cultural resources
I. A, B, D, E
II. A
III. A, B
IV. A
V. A
Week 2 Intensive Session
1.Functional:
-spelling a name
-making/changing an appointment
-complicated numbers (prices, phone numbers)
-asking for infos in a shop / getting by at the post office
-asking and understanding directions
-politeness : tu vs vous / “est-ce que vous pouvez…?” / “je voudrais…”
-talking about daily routine and activities
2.Grammatical:
-c’est / il y a
-expressing quantities (precise – specific or not - and not precise)
-reflexive verbs and common irregular verbs (pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, aller, faire, prendre, venir, partir) at the present tense
-basic adjectives and their agreement
-possessive adjectives
-“on”
3.Vocabulary:
-useful idiomatic usage of “prendre” and “faire”
-numbers up to 10 000
-family
-transportation
-directions / space prepositions
-city (streets, avenues, cross-roads…)
-daily activities
-activities (sports and hobbies)
4.Culture:
-thanking
-body language (common French gestures)
-structure of Paris, arrondissements, main monuments and stations
-French city / American city
-France as the 1st tourist destination: relationship between French people and their historical and cultural heritage
-basic French and European geography
-Exercises: present tense, vocabulary
-Write about yourself and your activities
-Write about your days in Paris
-Search on a specific arrondissement of Paris and make an itinerary for a visit
Graded quiz (vocabulary and grammar) ending the intensive session
Field trips to Le Marais, le Quartier latin and Montmartre
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A, B
IV. A, B
V. A
Week 1
1.Functional:
-traveling: booking a plane/train ticket booking hotel room ticket; asking for a schedule
-talking about lodging
-talking about the weather
-talking about foreign countries, their monuments, their culture, their assets
2.Grammatical:
-“near future” : “aller” + infinitive verb
-en/au + country / à + city
-connaître / savoir/ mettre
3.Vocabulary:
-traveling, sight-seeing, lamdscape
-countries and nationalities
-numéros ordinaux
-basic words for weather; use of “faire” and “il y a”
-preposition “chez”
4.Culture:
-main French holidays
-relationship between French People and other countries
-Exercises: near future, vocabulary
-Write about your next trip to an European country
or
-Plan on a possible visit in Paris of some family members
-Write an e-mail to confirm a hotel reservation
-Describe your hometown
I. A, E
II. A
III. A, B
IV. A, B
V. A, B
Week 2
1.Functional:
-relating what happened
-describing a place
2.Grammatical:
-past tense: passé recent: “venir de” + infinitive verb / passé composé (regular verbs)
3.Vocabulary:
-housing (rooms, furniture)
-review on daily activities (house cleaning)
4.Culture:
-living in France
-Exercises: passé composé, vocabulary
-Write about your day
-Describe your home (in Paris or back home)
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. A
V. A
Week 3
1.Functional:
-buying clothes / shoes
-relating an event; explaining a small problem
2.Grammatical:
-past tense: passé composé (irregular verbs / reflexive verbs / negation / agreements / 6 verbs with “être” or “avoir”)
3.Vocabulary:
-clothing, colours
4.Culture:
-fashion in Paris; social signs; Coco Chanel
-Exercises: passé composé, vocabulary
-Write about your weekend
-Relate a problem in a clothing store in Paris
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A, B
IV. B
V. B
Week 4
1.Functional:
-describing a person (physical appearance)
-talking about people, about their personality and their behavior
-expressing simple feelings and emotions
2.Grammatical:
-personal pronouns: direct (le, la, les, l’) / indirect (lui, leur) / me, te, nous, vous
3.Vocabulary:
-feelings and emotions
-personality
-physical description
-uses of the verb “aimer”
4.Culture:
-Jacques Prévert “déjeuner du matin”
-French youth and friendship
-the French family: working women /mothers; share of daily tasks with husband; importance of family (Sunday meals, family reunions,…)
-Exercises: pronouns, vocabulary
-Describe a French person you recently met or a host family member (physical appearance and personality)
-Write about a love story (friends or family)
I. B, C, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. A, B
Week 5
1.Functional:
-commanding / advising
-explaining a medical problem: describing a pain or a symptom
2.Grammatical:
-imperative
-personal pronouns: “y”, “en” / with past tense, futur proche and imperative; with questions
-common adverbs (place and usage)
3.Vocabulary:
-body
-health: benign health problems (coughing, sneezing, stomachache, being tired…) / self and safe medication
4.Culture:
-French health system; pharmacists, doctors and hospitals
-Exercises: pronouns, imperative, vocabulary
-Create riddles with a pronoun
I. A, E
II. A
III. A, B
IV. B
V. A
Week 6
2.Grammatical:
-review on passé composé and pronouns
-midterm correction
3.Vocabulary:
-review on physical description, personality, body and traveling
Mid-term exam
(grammar, vocabulary, oral and written understanding, written expression)
“CORE” project: mid-semester check
Week 7
1.Functional:
-exchanging with French students about different university systems
2.Grammatical:
-comparative and superlative
-comparative expressions
-“recent past” : “venir de “ + infinitive verb
3.Vocabulary:
-university
4.Culture:
-comparing the French and the American university system
-Exercises: comparison, vocabulary
-Compare your home university with the Paris university campuses
I. E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. B
Week 8
1.Functional:
-expressing a simple opinion, agreement and disagreement
2.Grammatical:
-relative pronouns (qui, que, où, dont)
3.Vocabulary:
-connecteurs logiques
-the media and cultural activities (arts, literature)
-main conversational words (agreeing and disagreeing)
4.Culture:
-socializing with French people, exchanging ideas and opinions with the French: importance of general knowledge and culture (literature / cinema / music / theater / opera / radio / media)
-French newspapers / free newspapers
-stereotypes about French and Americans
-Exercises: relative pronouns, vocabulary
-Present a small newspaper article
Graded paper: Write about cultural differences between France and your home country
I. A, D, E
II. B
III. A
IV. B
V. A, C
Week 9
1.Functional:
-expressing a condition
-making projects
2.Grammatical:
-future tense
-condition: si + present / present, future, imperative
-quand + future / future
3.Vocabulary:
-labor world (internship, TA, recruitment)
4.Culture:
-working in France / in America
-Exercises: future tense, vocabulary
-Where do you wish to be and what do you wish to do in 5 years?
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. B
Week 10
1.Functional:
-relating and describing a personal experience or a story
2.Grammatical:
-past tense: imparfait
-voix passive
3.Vocabulary:
sports
4.Culture:
-France before and nowadays: evolution of mentalities and of society
-Exercises: imparfait and voix passive, vocabulary
“CORE” project: Oral presentation of half of the students
I. A, B, C, D, E
II. B
III. A
IV. B
V. C
Week 11
1.Functional:
-relating and describing a personal experience or a story
2.Grammatical:
-passé composé et imparfait
-textual connectors for the past
3.Vocabulary:
-stages of life
4.Culture:
-conclusion of the semester abroad
-Exercises: past tenses, vocabulary
-Write about your semester in Paris
I. A, D, E
II. A
III. A
IV. B
V. A, C
Week 12
2.Grammatical:
-review on everything
3.Vocabulary:
-review on everything
Final exam
Grammaire progressive du français, niveau débutant,(2ème édition, CD included), éditions CLE International, Paris, 2005.
Vocabulaire progressif du français, niveau débutant, (2ème édition, CD included), éditions CLE International, Paris, 2010.