Department of Foreign Languages : French 2140 (TR) Fall 2006

Texts: Sur le Vif, Clare Tufts, ISBN 0-8384-1610-1
Sur le Vif, Workbook, Lab Manual, ISBN 0-8384-1613-6

Recommended: Sur le Vif, Audio CDs, ISBN 0-8384-1612-8 Copies will also be available in the Foreign Language Learning Center, UH 5150G and via the web on campus computers at http://flserver.uhe.utoledo.edu. Your instructor will provide you wiith a username and password.
Please note that while the purchase of the audio materials is recommended, the lab program itself is not optional. All sections include the lab program in class activities and grading.

Also recommended: English Grammar for Students of French, Jacqueline Morton. 4th edition. (Olivia and Hill Press, 1997) ISBN 0-934034-29-x

French 2140 meets TR (90-minute classes) for a total of approximately 45 hours of instruction, covering chapter 1 through the first half of chapter 5. As a general rule, you should expect to spend at least two hours in preparing for each hour of classroom contact. If you have difficulty with course material, please see your instructor. The Learning Enhancement Center in Carlson Library also offers free tutoring in Foreign Languages on a walk-in basis. Their schedule will be posted shortly.

Please note: French 2410 is not open to native speakers of French.

Description and Goals: This three-credit course at the intermediate level emphasizes the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in a cultural context. As such, our course goals are aligned with national standards:

Communication: students learn to communicate in the target language in various modes (interpersonal and presentational) and to recognize different linguistic registers appropriate to formal and informal settings.

Cultures: students study customs, practices, products, language variants, etc. of different francophone cultures.

Connections: students make connections between French and other areas of study; they use French in other academic disciplines to learn more about their content area.

Comparisons: students use their knowledge of French to understand better their native language and use their knowledge of francophone cultures to understand more about cultural and national identities in general.

Communities: students become members of larger French-speaking communities, for instance, through extracurricular activities.

Extracurricular activities: In order to give our students greater opportunity to use the French language in more informal settings outside the classroom, we offer several types of extracurricular activities which carry extra credit.
1) A weekly French conversation table . Time and place to be announced.
2) a monthly French film series, shown on the Bancroft campus. Program to be announced.
3) a monthly French film series offered in conjunction with the Toledo Alliance Française. This series takes place in the Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art, Room 009 on the last Friday of the month, 7pm. Free admission. Contact Dr. Ruth Hottell(530-4651 UH5210 D; ruth.hottell@utoledo.edu) for further information.

Objectives: Speaking: You will be able to express more details about your individual preferences, interests, opinions in conversational exchanges. You will be able to ask for information and help, as well as carry on a conversation in formal and informal contexts.

Listening Comprehension: You will be able to comprehend a native speaker who responds to specific requests and who engages you in conversation on everyday topics.
Reading Comprehension: You will be able to read for information and pleasure, in a variety of genres of greater length. Texts will include those of a practical nature, as well as literary narratives: poems, dramatic excerpts, and short stories.

Writing: You will progress towards longer pieces of writing, including description, narration and informal and formal letters. In all writing, you will demonstrate more accuracy in tense sequences, complex sentence structure and idiomatic expressions. You will also consider the process of writing in your successive drafts. All written assignments must be typed, double-spaced and must include accent marks. (Attached, you will find charts indicating key strokes to obtain accents on PC's and Mac's. A useful website is: http://french.about.com.)

Activities: Our classroom activities are designed to make this course communicative, interpersonal, functional, and purposeful. In this setting, you will use French to discover and relay information by interacting with your classmates in real-life situations or role-plays that will develop your ability to function in the French language. In this class, you can expect: oral and written work, lab exercises, pair and group work, dialogues, role-play, signature activities, information gap activities, video, internet activities, and readings. You should also consult the web site which accompanies this text for self-correcting quizzes and vocabulary pronunciation: http://slv.heinle.com

The best way to learn a language is to immerse oneself in it. Therefore, after the first day, classes will be conducted entirely in French. You are expected to make every effort to use the language skills you are learning to communicate in the French classroom. While you may not know every word your instructor uses in an immersion classroom, you will develop the skills to deduce meaning from the context.

Assessment: You will have the opportunity to show what you have learned in the following formats:---
three one-hour exams---
two oral exams---
a minimum of 7 ten or fifteen minute quizzes, announced at least one class period ahead of time (I will count the best 5 quizzes). Quizzes will cover readings as well as grammar items.---
a cumulative final exam---
workbook exercises (some will be corrected in class, others will be handed in to be corrected and graded)---
homework, including short compositions and exercises from the main textbook---
language lab work, including audio tapes or CD's or films. You will be asked to hand in certain assignments to be corrected and graded.

3-P's: presence, participation and preparation. You are allowed 3 unexcused absences during the semester. Beyond that, your instructor will deduct 2 points for each subsequent unexcused absence. There are no make-ups for quizzes, chapter exams, oral exams or homework, even if you are within your first 3 unexcused absences. Should there be an emergency on the day of a scheduled exam, you must give your instructor written documentation (a note from a dean or a doctor) and you must take the exam within 24 hours of your return. An absence on the day of a quiz will result in a "0" for that quiz. (Your instructor will count the 5 best quizzes.)

Placement Testing: If you have had one or more years of high school French within the last two years, we encourage you to take the placement test to evaluate your level. While this is not mandatory, it is to your advantage to be placed at the most appropriate learning level. Please speak with your instructor if you have any questions about placement. Since Arts and Sciences students have a language requirement of study at least through the 2nd semester intermediate level, you will benefit from higher placement. However, you will not receive credit for any courses you might skip over. Don't spend time and money learning what you already know! It is up to the student to make arrangements to take the placement test which is given in 1569 Rocket Hall (419-530-1269).

Course components

Grading Scale: Important Dates Fall 2006:
A 100-93 C 77.2-72.7 Aug. 25: 90% refund ends
A- 92.9-90 C- 72.6-70 Sept. 4: Labor Day
B+ 89.9-87.3 D+ 69.9-67.3 Sept. 5: 60% refund ends; last day to B 87.2-82.7 D 67.2-62.7 add/drop
B- 82.6-80 D- 62.6-60 Oct. 27: Last day to withdraw
C+ 79.9-77.3 F 59.9-0 Nov. 10: Veterans' Day
Nov. 22-24: Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 8: Last day of classes
Grades:
Quiz: 1. _____ 2. _____ 3. ______ 4. ______ 5. ______ 6. ______ 7. _______

Exams 1. ____ 2. ______3. ______

Orals 1. _____ 2. _____

Homework: 1. _____ 2. _____ 3. ______ 4. ______ 5. ______ 6. ______ 7. _______

8. _____

A Reminder about academic dishonesty: We will not tolerate academic dishonesty. The catalogue of The University of Toledo gives the following examples of such behavior with regards to academic work (homework, essays, reports, papers, quizzes, exams, etc.) : "Plagiarizing or representing the words, ideas or information of another person as one's own and not offering proper documentation; giving or receiving, prior to an examination, any unauthorized information concerning the content of that examination; referring to or displaying any unauthorized materials inside or outside of the examination room during the course of an examination; communicating during an examination in any manner with any unauthorized person concerning the examination or any part of it; giving or receiving substantive aid during the course of an examination." Please consult the catalogue for futher examples as well as sanctions for such behavior.

Mardi Jeudi Notes

Le 11-15 décembre: la semaine des examens finals. The final exam schedules are listed at: http://registrar.utoledo.edu/schedule/exams/

Typimg accents with a Mac

Typing accents with Windows