FREN321

Italian Food Cultures

Italy is world-renowned for its food cultures and Italians put great care into food preparation, consumption, and appreciation. It’s no wonder that Italian food-related themes permeate the country’s cultural life and beyond. This course will examine representations of Italian or Italian-derived foodways and the role they play in articulating larger issues concerning contemporary Italy, including regionalism, anti-globalization, family history, gender and sexual identities, Italian American food, tourism in Italy, and immigration to Italy. Students will form a complex picture of Italy’s relationships with food cultures in a global context. Class assignments and final projects will allow students to explore their critical and/or creative views of class materials. The course assumes no prior knowledge of Italian. But it requires a passion for Italian food and culture!

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Language of instruction: English

Cinéma français

Ce cours a pour objectif d’initier les étudiant(e)s à l’histoire du cinéma français, du début du siècle dernier jusqu’à nos jours, en fonction de ses grandes lignes d’évolution esthétique et idéologique. En guise d’introduction, nous aborderons les principales étapes qui ont marqué le cinéma français avant 1945: l’âge d’or du cinéma muet, la naissance et les premiers classiques du cinéma parlant, le réalisme poétique de la fin des années 1930, le cinéma sous l’Occupation et à l’époque de la Libération. Cela fait, nous aborderons le cinéma de la Nouvelle vague et celui des années 1960 à 2000. Finalement, nous consacrerons la dernière partie du cours à l’étude des principaux aspects de la cinématographie française plus contemporaine (2000-2015).

Lecture obligatoire: René Prédal. 2018. Histoire du cinéma français. Paris: Nouveau Monde Éditions.

Prerequisites: One of FREN 321, FREN 328, FREN 329 and one of FREN 225, FREN 402.

Language of instruction: French

Upper-Intermediate French I

Kittie Bruneau, Cercle éternel, 1981.

The Department of FHIS offers a series of eight courses designed to build students’ skills progressively in the four basic communicative functions of listening, reading, writing, and speaking. FREN 401 is the first of a pair of Upper-Intermediate courses—401 and 402—aligned with level B2 objectives of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

The course is open to all students with a sufficient level of French, whether they are in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year.

With an approach that is communicative and collaborative, inductive and interactive, the course aims to refine the skills acquired in Intermediate French I & II or equivalent courses and to enhance students’ knowledge of French and the Francophone world. Students will be able to consolidate and expand their writing, reading, comprehension, and speaking skills in French.

The course is devoted to providing students with tools for interacting with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction in French possible without strain.

The course is focused on:

• grammatical analysis, vocabulary enrichment, and socio-cultural competency using a wide variety of authentic documents of the French-Speaking world (news, literature, songs, etc.);
• the deep understanding of both concrete and abstract topics in a complex document (written or oral);
• the ability to research Francophone relevant resources and synthesize them;
• the production of clear, detailed, nuanced, and well-structured written and oral communication on a number of topics (use of critical thinking and creativity, construction of arguments to defend one’s opinion and explain one’s viewpoint, use of rhetorical strategies);
• the ability to correct one’s own mistakes (when writing or speaking) and constantly improve;
• the development of learner’s autonomy.

Both individually and in collaborative small groups, students will produce and share ideas in workshops, whole class discussions, oral presentations, debates, or other writing assignments. French grammatical structures such as relative pronouns, the passive form, the subjunctive, and logic connectors will be studied within a task-based approach so that students reach a greater degree of complexity and sophistication when expressing themselves.

Language of instruction: French

Recommended prerequisites: one of FREN 123, FREN 302, or French Immersion 12, or assignment based on placement test

Intermediate French I

With an approach that is communicative and collaborative, inductive and interactive, the course develops understanding of the French language and the Francophone world and refines writing and reading, speaking and listening skills through diverse activities:

• an interactive approach to the review of French grammar, stressing communicative competence;
• an emphasis on group work and task-based activities;
• an introduction to essay-writing in French;
• an emphasis on the expression one’s opinion on different topics (work and studies, leisure activities, social topics, news);
• a study of contemporary literature and other authentic documents (newspapers, blogs, music, etc.) of the French-Speaking world.

FREN301 syllabus follows the Common European Framework of Reference guideline for B1 level (first half).

Three hours a week will be devoted to providing students with tools for dealing with situations that they are likely to encounter in a French speaking region. Students will be able to understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar subjects in work, school and leisure activities; to produce a simple and cohesive text on familiar subjects or subjects of personal interest and to narrate an event or an experience.

Language of instruction: French

Recommended prerequisites: one of FREN 12, FREN 112, FREN 202, or assignment based on placement test

Elementary French I

A course for non-specialists based on the A2 level of the European Framework and focused on the understanding and production of detached sentences and expressions related to everyday life (such as personal and familial information and one’s immediate environment including transportation, recreation, and shopping).

French grammatical structures such as past tenses, pronouns, negation, comparison, and the future tense will be studied with an interactive approach, stressing communicative competences.

This practice will include:

• communicating in the context of the practical exchange of information on familiar topics;
• understanding spoken messages;
• reading short texts such as personal letters, ads, schedules, short articles;
• expressing practical ideas and opinions both orally and in writing.
• learning about diverse cultures of the French-speaking world.

Three hours a week will be devoted to providing students with communicational tools that help to deal with everyday situations that one might encounter in a French speaking region.

At the end of the semester, students will be able to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance, to communicate about routine tasks requiring direct exchange of information on familiar matters, to describe aspects of their background, immediate environment and ordinary needs.

Lectures and class discussions are mostly conducted in French. If you are unsure whether this is the appropriate level of French course for you, click here.