French 116—Second Year French Part II—Spring 2015 Instructor

French 116—Second Year French Part II—Spring 2015
Instructor: Laura Edwards
When and Where: 2-2:50 M-R, STV 234
Office Hours: STV 231B 1:30-2 T/R, and by appt.
Phone: 438-3279 e-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.lan.ilstu.edu/lcedwar
Required Texts:
Imaginez, le français sans frontières, Cherie Mitschke
---. Imaginez, online Student Activities Manual (WebSAM) and Practice
Le petit Nicolas, Sempé-Goscinny
It is most important that you have access to 3 things, the textbook, the online activities and
the WebSAM on the first day of classes.
You will not need Le petit Nicolas until Jan 20.
***Important Information for French Teacher Education majors (either current or
prospective)***
There is a civic engagement project at UNITY Community Center, who needs more French
speakers to help communicate with monolingual French speakers that are recent immigrants to
the U.S. Teacher Education students are encouraged to look into this opportunity in more depth
in order to volunteer there. Training is required.
Prerequisites:
French 115, 4 years of strong high school French training, online self-placement test or other
equivalent.
What to expect:
This is the continuation of French 115, which includes a lot of new grammar points and review
and fine-tuning of previous ones. It is important to get a good grasp of grammar in this class so
that you will feel prepared if you choose to go on to the 200-level. How do you do this?
1. Repetition! When you're in the shower, waiting for your tv program to begin, messaging or
texting a friend, conjugate verbs in all of the tenses that you're supposed to know. Do this over
and over again. Write in your journal in French.
2. You will increase your skills as well by reading a book of short stories and completing the
online worksheets that you will print out yourself and go over in groups and then turn in. The
reading requires you to look up a lot of vocabulary words, but also encourages you to understand
via the context of the sentence or paragraph. This is quite tough at first, but I promise that it will
get easier as long as you apply yourself.
3. Within your groups I will grade you according to how much French I hear spoken. I know
that some things are difficult to explain fully in French, but I also know that many things are easy
to say. If I hear you saying something in English that I know you can say in French, you will lose
participation points as a result.
4. We will hone in on your writing skills both through your homework responses and through
your diligence and hard work on the 4 required compositions and subsequent error analyses.
5. There will be 2 oral exams during which you and perhaps a partner will either meet with me
privately, or you will give an in-class presentation on the topic of your choice. I will grade strictly
on grammar and pronunciation, especially how “American” your accent is. Correct vowel sounds
and attempts at pronouncing the French R are a must. If you require help, please come and see me
or ask a tutor in the computer lab.
6. You will also increase your knowledge of customs and cultural attitudes in French and
Francophone countries through various readings.
7. You are strongly encouraged to attend le Cercle français on the first and third Wednesdays
of each month from 11am-noon in STV 113. This provides you the opportunity to meet other
French-speaking students and professors and will help improve your listening and speaking skills.
Attendance may positively affect your final grade in this class - Be sure to sign in!
8.French film series: Students in French courses are required to attend one of the three films in
our department's French film series. Students unable to attend the screenings will need to see the
films on their own, either in the Media Resource Center at Milner Library or at home. In order to
comply with copyright laws, admittance to the films will be limited to students currently enrolled
in a French course at Illinois State. Attendance will be taken and students will need to show their
ISU ID card as they enter the room. The films will be shown in STV 101 beginning at 7:00 PM
on the following Wednesday evenings.
2/11 Les choristes (2004)
3/4 Persepolis (2007)
4/8 Saint Jacques…La Mecque (2005)
Students unable to attend the screenings will need to see the films on their own (either in the
Learning Resource Center at Milner Library or at home) and are required to write a paragraph (in
English for 100-level students, in French for the 200 level and above) in response to questions we
will provide.
9. Cell phones in class and Classroom civility: Please arrive on time, turn your cell phone off,
and refrain from eating or drinking (except water or maybe coffee). There is a zero- tolerance
policy for use of a cell phone during class to text or to make phone calls unless in the case of an
emergency or in a case cleared with me beforehand. Any student who texts or actively receives
texts during class will earn a score of 0 for participation that day and may be asked to leave the
room. Any student who texts or actively receives texts or phone calls during a quiz or an exam
will earn a score of 0 on that quiz or exam.
** Students who make a habit of leaving class in the middle for a drink or a bathroom break will
be marked down on participation unless they have a medical excuse through the office of
disabilities. This is disruptive and rude to both the instructor and students.
***Late arrivals: Students who are continually late to class (more than 1-2 minutes) disrupt class
and are missing important information. I reserve the right to ask a student not to enter the
classroom if their late arrivals become a habit.
Smart phone policy. Smart phones and tablets are ubiquitous now. I would never send a text or
update my Facebook status while teaching. It would be rude and disruptive. Therefore, the
occasional glance at your phone or the use of a dictionary app while in class is permitted as long
as no one abuses this privilege. If a student repeatedly abuses this privilege (i.e. checking
Facebook or sending texts) to the point of being disruptive, I reserve the right to ban smart phones
or tablets outright later in the semester. I respect your privacy and will not ask you to show me
your phone’s screen to verify what are you doing, but please do not make me ban phones for
everyone in the class by giving the impression that you are not using it for legitimate purposes —
such as checking the time or using a dictionary app. By attending this class after the first day, you
agree to this policy.
10. Life at college can get very complicated. Students sometimes feel overwhelmed, lost,
experience anxiety or depression, struggle with relationship difficulties or diminished self-esteem.
However, many of these issues can be effectively addressed with a little help. Student Counseling
Services (SCS) helps students cope with difficult emotions and life stressors. Student Counseling
Services is staffed by experienced, professional psychologists and counselors, who are attuned to
the needs of college students. The services are FREE and completely confidential. Find out more
at Counseling.IllinoisState.edu or by calling (309) 438-3655.
Some rules and clarifications about:
1. Daily Assignments
2. Participation
3. Workbook
4. Journals: Journals are a specific place where students can let the instructor know of problems
that they are having, in and out of the classroom. A student who waits until the end of the
semester to defend their low grade will not be given consideration. Stay in contact with the
instructor throughout the semester and take control of your grade from the start.
5. Compositions
6. Textbooks are required in class. If I notice that a student continually comes to class without
their textbook or continually shares a textbook with someone else, they will lose valuable
participation points. One's own text is vital to successful learning.
Final Grade Calculations:
Class Participation: 15%
Online homework, journal, Le petit Nicolas HW, pronunciation and
any other graded homework: 20%
5 Chapter Tests: 20%
Compositions: 15%
Oral Exams: 10%
Final Exam: 20%
------------------------------------100%
Course Schedule
It is likely that adjustments to this schedule will be necessary. The online version of this syllabus
will always be the most up to date. Do not refer to the paper version after the first day of classes.
You are responsible for all changes in the syllabus, whether or not you are in class. You
should get telephone numbers/email addresses of classmates for this purpose.
Première Semaine Les moments de la journée Une alimentation bien répartie
lundi 12 janvier: First day of class: Intro to the class/syllabus; Speaking to le Monde, Where is
French spoken? Begin Leçon 6—En famille—Mise en Pratique pp. 198-199 Discuss
pronunciation requirements on VHL voiceboards for the semester.
mardi 13 janvier: La technologie La rentrée Vocabulary from chapter 6
Review of passé composé, imparfait et plus-que-parfait; Prononciation - the French alphabet
mercredi 14 janvier: The subjunctive 212-213, Mise en Pratique p.214; worksheet #1 (formation
of subj. + exercises) ; worksheet #2(uses of the subjunctive); worksheet #3 (subjunctive
exercises); Better subjunctive explanation
jeudi 15 janvier: Irreg. verbs 220-221, Mise en pratique 222, question 4 p.221; pp. 206-207,
exercises 1, 2 & 3 p. 208; More subjunctive, if needed.
pp. 216-217 Relative pronouns, Mise en pratique p. 218. Relative Pronouns p. 326-327 and
exercises, Better relative pronoun exercise/explanation
Deuxième Semaine—Paper I due this week. Tout est difficile... Error! Hyperlink reference
not valid. France - Sauvons le vous!
lundi 19 janvier: pas de classe
mardi 20 janvier: Relative Pronouns, continued: Worksheet #1, worksheet #2, worksheet #3.
Relative Pronoun worksheet exercises A, B, and evens of C on 138-39; Dont etc, page 1,
page 2, page 3; LPN (Le petit Nicolas): Un souvenir qu'on va chérir pp. 7-13 Here is the
chapter online
mercredi 21 janvier: Rough draft (brouillon) à rendre en classe aujourd'hui; Review Subjunctive,
Relative Pronouns and Irreg. Verbs;
jeudi 22 janvier: Paper I Due; LPN: Les Cow-boys pp14-21; Prononciation - Silent Letters;
Handout pronouns packet for Tuesday's class.
Troisième Semaine - Error analysis due by Friday, Sept. 5.. Les fruits en français Le
vocabulaire à l'école
lundi 26 janvier: Direct Object Pronouns, Indirect Object Pronouns, Y and EN pp.408-409;
Possessive Pronouns (Fiches de Grammaire) pp. 414-415 Disjunctive pronouns: wksht
#1 wksht #2;
mardi 27 janvier: Subjunctive translation; Le Bouillon pp.22-29;
mercredi 28 janvier: Prononciation - Liaisons; Some rules about liaison and pronunciation;
Conjugation practice of present and subjunctive (mostly) irregular verbs, Fiches de Grammaire
pp. 411-413, Faites 1-3 p. 413;Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. More pronoun practice
jeudi 29 janvier: Online assessment (practice); Jour de Mariage pp. 225-227 questions exercises
1-4 228; Journal #6 due;