REQUIRED TEXTS (Available at the College Bookstore)

Pierre Bourdieu et al. La Misère du monde.  Paris: Seuil, 1993.
Daniel J. Calvez. French Reference Grammar. A Complete Handbook of the French Language. Lincolnwood (Illinois): NTC, 1996.
+ handouts + films + Internet material for your course.
Recommended: Harper Collins Robert French Dictionary, 3rd edition.
 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

French 230 is considered the "gateway course" in the French major or minor.  It is designed to improve both your knowledge of French and Francophone culture and your ability to communicate at least at an Intermediate High Level on the ACTFL scale (see a list of functions to be developed at this level on the course's web site).
This course will pay homage to Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist who died earlier this year, by examining one of his most successful and controversial books on social suffering in contemporary society, and, as it is often called today, in the wake of the 2002 legislative elections, on "the France from below." Reading and discussion of the book (a collection of interviews  with ordinary people) will be supplemented by films, Internet material and various other documents.  Students are invited to see this book as "a specifically sociological transformation that 'carries over' the everyday lives of ordinary people into an understanding of the social world in which they, and we, live" (P. Parkhust Ferguson, in the Translator's preface to the book).  They are encouraged to develop their own approaches on "the France from below" and to reflect on their own experiences and readings.  Good final projects may be associated with a research project currently under way.
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

French 230 is a writing-intensive course and counts toward the all-college W requirement.  There will be an emphasis on diverse forms of writing assignments, including informal ones, and many writing workshops.  We will study advanced grammatical concepts in order to improve your ease and fluency in French.  There are many documents, activities and exercises on the course's Internet site, Blackboard 5, and in the Lab (the ELFE Program is located on the iMac computers there).  Using them effectively is central to this goal.
This course will use both the oral and written components of the stories collected in the interviews, and focus on a few pages from each article.  We will discuss these stories in class and on Blackboard5, and try to understand them as they relate to everyone of us.

COURSE EVALUATION

Writing  assignments: 50%
Weekly entries on the Blackboard Forum: 10%
Tests: 10%
ELFE exercises: 10% [Instructions for ELFE provided on-line]
Class discussion and participation: 20% (including mandatory OPI interview).

Homework: You have to post a paragraph, 5 French words from the readings or films and their translation, and at least 2 questions per week on Blackboard5 (Weekly forum).
Upon registration with ELFE, students will complete the ELFE exercises assigned for each unit on the Mac Intosh computers  in Bosler Lab  for the date indicated in the syllabus.  See further instructions on Blackboard5. The syllabus indicate the daily assignments that you are expected to prepare before coming to class. They will print out all these self-corrected exercises (names, results, days and times taken and transcripts are entered automatically) and bring them  to class.  After completion of each "module", they will hand all ELFE exercises for this "module" to the instructor.  Weekly entries on the forum are also graded.  Late homework will not be accepted.  Homework is graded on a scale from F (no homework, or late homework) to A.

Papers: Prepared in class in the writing workshops.  You will write 5 papers this semester (a paragraph, 1 page, 1.5 page, 2 pages, 2.5 pages).  They will be typed, double-spaced, with a margin of 1.25 inches on all sides.  The papers must be your own work.  Plagiarism (as defined in the Student Handbook) is banned.  Part of the assignment is to learn to proof-read your own work.  You will submit a first draft of the paper.   A correction key will be handed out to you for correcting your writing assignments.  A week later, you will submit a revised and corrected final version of the paper, according to the correction key provided and the additional comments.  Both grades will be average to calculate the final grade for the composition.  Accents must be typed in, not written in pen or pencil.  These papers cannot be made up since one, your lowest grade, will be dropped.  Papers turned in late will receive a penalty of one letter grade per 24 hour period.

COURSE POLICIES

1. Attendance: Attendance in class is mandatory, including on Friday.  It is also a very important part of the final grade, as classes can be considered as workshops.  Since attendance is essential in this course, regardless of their combined grade average, students with more than 5 unexcused absences will not receive an A, those with more than 10 will not receive an A or a B, and students with more than 15 unexcused absences will automatically receive a F.  Excused absences require written documentation, such as Dean or Doctor’s statement in case of illness (one exception: religious holidays).

2.  No make-up tests will be allowed.

4. The following schedule is subject to changes.  Any changes will be announced in class, ahead of time.  Should you be absent on a day a change is announced, it is your responsibility to remain apprized of all changes.

5. Departmental Policy: “It is the French and Italian Department policy that students in class in the Department are permitted to consult tutors, more experienced peers, the foreign assistants, and other faculty members on ungraded assignments only.  With their instructor’s permission, outside help is permitted if students wish to go over ungraded homework assignments, practice their pronunciation, engage in informal conversation, work on improving vocabulary or control of grammatical structures, do listening and reading comprehension activities, or hone their writing.  They may NOT seek outside help from any other person in the preparation of written or oral work (including early drafts thereof) submitted under their name for a grade.  If they have any questions about this policy or their interpretation of it in a given situation, they should consult with the course instructor.”

Some of these suggestions come from Professor Nancy Mellerski and from the recent 2002 20th-century French Studies Conference in Hartford.  A partial translation of La Misère du monde by Priscilla Parkhust Ferguson and others entitled The Weight of the World. Social Suffering in Contemporary Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999) is available on reserve.