Approved by Faculty Senate

Course Number: 202 Number of Credits: 04 S.H.

Course Title: Intermediate French II

Catalog Description: Continuation of French 201. Further development of all the skills essential for communication. Further development of understanding written and spoken French. Practice in translation and practice in writing accentuated. Prerequisite: 201 or equivalent to 4-5 years of high school French. Offered yearly.

This is an existing course that has previously been approved by A2C2: Yes

Send 10 copies to: Kelly Herold

This is a new course proposal: no (If this is a new course proposal, the WSU Curriculum Approval Form must also be completed as in the process prescribed by WSU Regulation 3-4.)

Department Contact Person for this course: Rosine Tenenbaum, 319B Somsen Hall

A2C2 requires 55 copies of new course proposals:

FRENCH 202 – INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

This course fulfills three credits of the Unity and Diversity core requirement in the Multicultural Perspectives area of the University Studies Program.

Language is the very key to human understanding, a passport to the human soul.

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II (FRENCH 202 – 4 S.H.) COURSE OUTLINE:

Instructor: Dr. Rosine Tenenbaum, Professor

Department of Foreign Languages

Somsen Hall 319B (507 457-5167)

Textbooks: Lucia Baker and Ruth Allen Bleuzé, Collage: Révision de Grammaire, New York: McGraw-Hill, 4^th ed., 1996.

Lucia Baker and Ruth Allen Bleuzé, Collage: Lectures Littéraires, New York: McGraw-Hill, 4^th ed., 1996.

Description: Development of communication skills, development of knowledge of grammatical structures, development of reading, translation and literary analysis and development of writing and composition skills.

Material to be Covered: Chapters 6 through 10 in both books.

Tests: There will be a test after the study of each chapter (5 exams)

Course materials and learning activities for Unity and Diversity—Multicultural Perspectives for University Studies:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of diverse patterns and similarities of thought, values, and beliefs as manifest in different cultures.

This course increases the students’ knowledge of vocabulary and figures of speech in French and exposes the student to literary texts that introduce topics on the French way of life, French history and French art. It also introduces the students to texts written in French but from different cultures such as African, North African, Canadian and Caribbean countries where French is the first and the second language spoken and written.

A comparative approach is used through exercises in translation and exercises in text analysis for each chapter in the textbooks.

 

 

2. Understand the extent to which cultural differences influences the interpretation and expression of events, ideas, and experiences.

Through a three step text analysis method (called in French "Explication de Texte") the student is asked to analyze critically the written text and learn to perceive how the context (cultural, gender base, historical) is woven into the text that he/she reads.

Step 1: Understand the overall meaning of each word and each sentence through a thorough English translation.

Step 2: Analyze the construction of the text, the use of literary techniques (metaphors, images, simile, etc.) the development of the themes, discern the intrinsic qualities or defects of the text (i.e. its humor, its irony, its sentimentality) and its sub textual or intertextual references to a foreign culture.

Step 3: Through the acquired knowledge of the cultural context (events of the time, popular themes of the times, prejudices, etc.) provided by the teacher and by introductions in the text book and other relevant sources, the student learns to evaluate the originality, (or lack of), the author and how this particular author reflects the culture of his/her time and milieu.

To these three steps we add another step which is relevant to the learning of the language per se, and answers the particular requirements of a multicultural

perspectives course:

Step 4: The student has to relate the ideas and themes of the foreign text to his/her own experience as a 21^st century young American in the form of short essays written in French.

3. Understand the extent to which cultural differences influence the interaction between individuals and/or group.

Through textual analysis (configuration b) the students analyze the way French people or French speaking people deal with one another and relate with their society. The students gain knowledge of the French political system, the French school system and French class system as well as the way the French people look at other countries and relate to other peoples.

4. Examine different cultures through their various expressions; and/or possess the skills necessary for interaction with someone from a different culture or cultural group.