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Course Descriptions - Poitiers, France
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The courses are organized in 6 levels:
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Initiation 1 & 2 (Beginner & Post-Beginner)
Prepares students for the Diplôme d'Initiation 1 and the Diplôme d'Initiation 2. Each course is divided into 2 units :
* Oral French (15 ECTS)
* Written French (15 ECTS)
Objectives are to acquire basic notions of oral and written French, to be able to communicate in ordinary daily situations, and to introduce students to French civilization. Content is based on a communicative approach to language acquisition based on a textbook, various semi-authentic oral and written documents. The language laboratory is used for oral comprehension, grammatical drills and phonetics.
Assessment
The student's work is regularly assessed in class during the semester :
* unit 1 : written French = 50%
o dictation and grammar
o reading comprehension
o writing skills
* unit 2 : oral French = 50%
o listening comprehension
o speaking skills
o civilization (level 2)
Initiation 3 (Intermediate)
Prepares for the Diplôme d'Initiation 3. The course is divided into 2 units :
* oral French (15 ECTS)
* written French (15 ECTS)
Objectives are to develop oral, writing and reading skills, to go deeper into the functioning of the language, and to introduce students to French civilization. Content is based on a recent textbook. CFLE also uses authentic documents from the media to help students to improve their reading and listening comprehension skills and enlarge their knowledge of French civilization. The language laboratory is used for oral comprehension, grammatical drills and phonetics.
Assessment
The student's work is regularly assessed in class during the semester :
* unit 1 : written French = 50%
o dictation and grammar
o reading comprehension
o writing skills
* unit 2 : oral French = 50%
o listening comprehension
o speaking skills
o civilization
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1st Degree
Prepares the student for the Certificat Pratique de Langue Française. The program is divided into 3 language units and 1 culture unit. Students must take the 4 units to obtain the diploma.
Language Units
* Comprehension
o listening comprehension : The object of this course is to train students to understand 10-minute radio recordings ; the document is first divided into smaller units ; students are finally asked to write a summary of the document from a questionnaire completed with the whole class ; the language laboratory is also used to learn to perceive the characteristics of spoken French through various short documents.
o reading comprehension : General and detailed comprehension of 300 to 400-word texts from the press ; CFLE insists on lexical acquisition and complex grammatical forms ; comprehension of the general ideas is checked by rephrasing exercises.
* Writing
o composition : After studying different types of short texts (narratives, descriptions, argumentative documents), students are invited to produce their own texts ; most frequent errors are regularly corrected and analyzed with the whole class.
o grammar : General review of the conjugations. Thorough study of the tense system and analysis of complete sentences.
* Oral practice
o conversation : Various exercises are proposed : debates, paper-reading, communication, role-play and simulation games.
o phonetics : This course takes place in the language laboratory ; at this level, the focus is on intonation and reading.
o intercultural meetings with 3rd year French students.
Culture Unit
* Civilization
o The object of this course is to acquire the basic insight into contemporary French society necessary to interact easily in the country ; therefore, the students study various aspects of French society from an economic, cultural, political, historical and institutional point of view.
* Literature
o Study of various 19th and 20th French novels taking both literary and linguistic aspects into account.
Assessment
The student's work is regularly assessed in class during the semester :
* unit 1 : comprehension
o listening comprehension (50%)
o reading comprehension (50%)
o unit 2 : writing skills
o grammar (50%)
o writing (50%)
* unit 3 : oral skills
o continuous assessment (50%)
o final examination (50%)
* unit 4 : culture
o civilization (50%)
o literature (50%)
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2nd Degree
Prepares the student for the Diplôme d'Etudes Françaises. The program is divided into 3 language units and 1 culture unit. Students must take the 4 units to obtain the diploma.
Language Units
* Comprehension
o listening comprehension : The object of the course is to train students to understand either narrative, informative, or argumentative radio recordings of about 15 minutes each ; students are first trained to take notes and finally asked to write a report of the document after discussion with the whole class ; the language laboratory is also used to learn to perceive the characteristics of spoken French through various short documents.
o reading comprehension : General and detailed comprehension of 500 to 600-word texts from the press ; CFLE insists on lexical acquisition, complex grammatical forms ; comprehension of the general ideas is checked by rephrasing exercises and by eventually writing a summary of the text.
* Writing
o composition : Students are set various writing exercises after an analysis of different types of texts (narrative, descriptive, informative and argumentative) ; most frequent errors are regularly corrected and analyzed with the whole class.
o grammar : Thorough study of the French mode and tense systems and analysis of complex sentences.
* Oral practice
o conversation : The objective of this course is to encourage the student to speak in public in diverse situations ; various exercises are proposed : debates, paper-reading, communication, role-play and simulation games.
o intercultural meetings with 3rd year French students.
Culture Units
To prepare for the Diplôme d'Etudes Françaises, one must choose 2 courses from among the following :
* Emblems of France (1st semester)
o a study of various places, monuments, stereotypes and customs deeply rooted into the collective memory of the French.
o how were these emblems born ?
o how did they survive ?
o what distortions did they undergo and why ?
o a few examples : "la galanterie", the Loire Châteaux, the Eiffel tower, "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité", etc.
* Civilization and cinema (2nd semester)
o Civilization
+ further study of contemporary issues to develop linguistic and intercultural proficiency
+ perspectives on political, social and cultural life today
o Cinema
+ French culture through French films
* History
o historical, economic and social development of France from 1789 to 1968.
o emphasis on the facts which may explain the characteristics of contemporary French society
* Modern French Literature survey and reading
o students are asked to read one book a week (a novel or a play).
o study of the different writing techniques
o each week, a book is debated after a presentation by a student in the group
* Survey of French Literature from the 16th to the 19th century
o readings from representative authors exemplifying a range of ideas, genres and techniques.
* Literature of the Middle Ages (1st semester)
o Study of short texts from literary, linguistic and cultural points of view.
* Poetry workshop (2nd semester)
o analysis of different types of poetry and production of poems by the students
o the aim of this workshop is to raise among the participants fundamental questions regarding the act of writing.
Assessment
The student's work is regularly assessed in class during the semester :
* unit 1 : comprehension
o listening comprehension (50%)
o reading comprehension (50%)
* unit 2 : writing skills
o grammar (50%)
o writing (50%)
* unit 3 : oral skills
o continuous assessment (50%)
o final examination (50%)
* unit 4
o the student must choose 2 courses among the culture units (50% each)
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3rd Degree
Prepares the student for the Diplôme Supérieur d'Etudes Françaises. This diploma (with a major in literature) gives access to second year Lettres Modernes after examination by a special commission. The 3rd degree is divided into one language unit, one literature or civilization unit, and one extra unit
Language Unit
* Composition
o focus on text coherence : nominalisation, determiners, text connectors.
o initiation to French dissertation : rules, types of topics. In addition, 5 four-hour practice sessions are organized at regular intervals during the school year.
* Grammar
o thorough study of two specific problems : verbs and determiners
o review of grammatically significant spelling according to the student's needs
* Conversation and theatre workshop
o the objective of this course is to encourage the student to speak in public in diverse situations. Various exercises are proposed : debates, paper-reading, communication, role-play and simulation games
o oral practice through modern theatre pieces
Civilization Unit
* Study of the press workshop (1st semester)
o study of newspapers and magazines
o reading and analysis of articles from an intercultural point of view
o This course is also attended by French students preparing for a M.A. in French as a Foreign Language.
* Emblems of France (1st semester)
o A study of various places, monuments, stereotypes and customs deeply rooted into the collective memory of the French.
o how were these emblems born ?
o how did they survive ?
o what distortions did they undergo and why ?
o a few examples : "la galanterie", the Loire Châteaux, the Eiffel tower, "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité", etc
* Civilization and cinema (2nd semester)
o Civilization
+ further study of contemporary issues to develop linguistic and intercultural proficiency
+ perspectives on political, social and cultural life today
o Cinema
+ French culture through French films
* History
o historical, economic and social development of France from 1789 to 1968
o emphasis on the facts which may give an insight into the characteristics of contemporary French society
* A course with French students
o the course chosen by the student must be related to French civilization
o the most frequently selected courses are : Political Economy or International Relations (Law school)
Literature Unit
* The Literature of the Middle Ages (1st semester) and of the Renaissance (2nd semester)
o Study of short texts from literary, linguistic and cultural points of view.
* Survey of French Literature from the 16th to the 19th century
o Readings from representative authors exemplifying a range of ideas, genres and techniques.
* Contemporary French Literature
o The 20th century French novel through the detailed study of 4 or 6 works representative of the major trends of the period.
* Poetry workshop (second semester)
o This course is also attended by French students preparing for a M.A. in French as a Foreign Language.
o analysis of different types of poetry and production of poems by the students
o one aim of this workshop is to raise among the participants fundamental questions regarding the act of writing.
* A literature course in the department of French Literature.
Extra Unit
Students must choose one annual course or two semester courses among those offered in the above mentioned civilization and literature units.
* Modern French Literature survey and reading
o students are asked to read one book a week (a novel or a play)
o study of the different writing techniques
o each week, a book is debated after a presentation by a student in the group.
Assessment
The student's work is regularly assessed in class during the semester :
* unit 1 : language
o composition (50%)
o grammar (30%)
o conversation (20%)
* unit 2 : literature
o contemporary French Literature (30%)
o poetry workshop and one course in the department of French Literature (30%)
o survey of French Literature from 16th to 19th century (20%)
o Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (20%)
* unit 3 : civilization
o emblems of France (30%)
o history (30%)
o contemporary French civilization (20%)
o Political Economy (10%)
o International Relations (10%)
* unit 4 : extra course
o 1 selected course (100%)
Units 1 and 4 represent fewer teaching hours than units 2 or 3. Therefore, they do not weigh as much in the overall assessment.
* unit 1 : 3/8th of the total
* unit 2 or 3 : 4/8th of the total
* unité 4 : 1/8th of the total
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