California State University, Sacramento
Catalog Description
First semester of college French, corresponding roughly to 1-2 semesters
of high school French. This is a beginning French course. The course
focuses on the development of elementary linguistic skills, with emphasis
on the spoken language. The relationship of the language to francophone
civilization and culture is given special attention.
Course Objectives
- To develop equally the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and oral comprehension, and to familiarize the student with the Francophone world. The course objectives are to provide instruction and practice towards competence in French oral and written communication, as follows: to present oneself and other persons, to greet others and answer greetings, to request and thank, to give and receive instructions, to count to 100+, to tell the date and time, to describe people physically and their personalities, to talk about one's home and its furnishings, daily activities/hobbies and places to go, to express likes/dislikes and agreement/ disagreement, to construct negative sentences, to phrase simple questions, to be fluent in regular and irregular present tense verbs, to use the near-future construction, and to develop the appropriate French language pronunciation, rhythm and articulation.
- Students will develop skills to understand concepts in written and oral French, as well as the learned ability to write and speak the language on their own. This course will provide basic information on French culture and civilization and open a window on the Francophone world, through text materials, music, videos and the Internet. In addition, students will develop valuable electronic communication skills and presentation skills in general.
Textbook, Workbook, Lab Manual and Audio CDs
- Voilà, by Heilenman, Kaplan & Toussaint Tournier, 4th edition, 2001, is available from the CSUS Bookstore. It is packaged with the Textbook, the Workbook (Cahier d'Activités Ecrites), the Lab Manual (Cahier d'Activités Orales), and a pair of Audio Text CD's. This textbook is used for 4 semesters of beginning and intermediate French at CSUS: French 1A, French 1B, French 2A and French 2B.
- Students must purchase the textbook package noted above. Students must also have 1 new blank standard size audio cassette tape (a 90-minute tape) or blank writeable CD (for the Oral Lab Manual exercises); this will be copied free of charge at the Foreign Language Practice Lab located in MRP 2002. This audio material is required to complete the exercises in the Lab Manual (Cahier d'Activités Orales).
- Students may wish to purchase a French/English-English/French dictionary as well.
- NOTE: if a used Textbook is purchased, students must still purchase the new Workbook (Cahier d'Activités Ecrites) and the new Lab Manual (Cahier d'Activités Orales). The Student Audio Text CDs (if they are not with the used textbook at the Bookstore) may be copied in the Practice Lab onto a standard cassette or CD which students provide.
Method
- Active participation of the student in class is required. Oral practice of the French language is essential to become comfortable with all aspects of the language and the culture. Your grade will depend on your participation in class and oral assignments. Oral participation will include: repeating, readings, conversations with partners, group skits/debates, games, songs, and required weekly oral homework. Students will also collaborate on portions of grammar lessons in group study. The Voilà text presents materials in a gradual way, so this beginning course will start out with English explanations and exercises, moving on to assignments and readings only in French.
- Students are expected to attend class at every meeting, four days a week.
Homework
- Students must have a Saclink account for campus WebCT access by the 2nd week of the semester. This is how assignments and communication with the instructor will occur.
- Students must access WebCT and send both a Group Discussion message and a Private Mail message to the instructor, by the 2nd week of the semester. Students will be shown how to use the WebCT program in a computer lab environment in the first week.
- Written assignments from the Textbook, the Workbook and the Lab Manual are due weekly, every Wednesday. Exercises are corrected by instructor.
- Oral pronunciation readings (students recording their voice for pronunciation assessment) will be assigned weekly and due every Thursday, recorded in a lab environment as a digital file.
- Electronic Assignments:
--Online review exercises will be due electronically once every 3-4 weeks. (These Internet components of the course are chapter-based assignments. These exercises are accessed using WebCT and serve as review prior to chapter exams.)
--Students will complete a series of 3 Internet cultural searches into the Francophone world. Results of this search will be composed into a 2-3 paragraph composition, in French or English, and will be sent to the WebCT Group Discussion. Cultural information found on these searches will thus be shared with all students. Students will also compose questions that will make up part of the cultural exam at the end of the semester.
- Written, oral and electronic homework is due by the due date. Late or poorly done homework will result in a 5 point penalty, with homework still due no later than one week after the due date. Homework not turned in will receive zero points.
- Student homework assignments, online exercises, group Discussion mail messages, private mail and grades will be posted on WebCT. Online grades are private for each individual student. You will need a Saclink account to use as login and password for access to the course, only foro enrolled students.
Culture
- Basic orientation to French culture will be presented with the Voilà Découvertes Culturelles magazine in the textbook, music, songs, food, videos, and an assignment of 3 sessions on the Internet to places of Francophone culture in the world.
Learning elements
- We will cover five (5) Leçons (lessons or chapters) in your textbook, and part of Leçon 6. There will be random and scheduled short quizzes in class in the form of dictations, question/answers, vocabulary translations, and verb conjugations. There will be a required audio components of the weekly homework. Students will collaborate in class as groups. Students may use any Internet provider, but must have a Saclink account at CSUS for access to the instructor's WebCT site. There will be 8-10 mid-chapter quizzes, 5 chapter (leçon) major tests, a cultural exam and a comprehensive final examination. Tests will have oral and written components.
Grades
Grades are determined as follows (final point totals are subject to change):
1 Final Exam
200 12% 5 Chapter tests
500 29% 8-10 Quizzes
300 18% 1 Cultural Exam
100 6% 14 homework assignments(activités écrites et activités orales)
280 17% 14 oral recordings
140 8% 3 Internet searches
60 3% 6 Review exercises 120 7% Total Points
1700 100% All homework is due every Wednesday. Poor mid-chapter test and quiz grades will be dropped if there is improvement on Chapter (Leçon) tests and the Final Exam. THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP TESTS. Advance make-up tests can be arranged. Late homework (written, oral voice recordings, electronic exercises, and Internet search postings) AND incomplete/poorly done homework will be penalized by 5 points and is due no later than one week after the due date. Example: Homework assignments are worth 10 points. Turning in complete homework 2 days late makes it worth 5 points. Turning in poorly done homework on time is worth 5 points. Submitting, on time, a short, poorly written Internet report (even in English) is worth 15 points instead of 20 points.
There are no penalties if you turn in complete homework, ON TIME, each Wednesday. It is recommended that you do some French homework EVERY DAY so you can make your weekly Wednesday homework due date. (In other words, you do some homework on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.) This is the best way to learn any foreign language, and to enjoy learning it. This is a difficult course; it will be harder if you get behind on the homework.
Your final grade will be based on the following:
A
This reflects a good understanding and knowledge of vocabulary, grammar , syntax and oral comprehension.
90-100%
B
This reflects a good understanding and knowledge of vocabulary, grammar , syntax and oral comprehension, but some mistakes occur throughout homework and testing.
80-89%
C
Knowledge at this level reflects some understanding and knowledge of most materials presented, but confusion exists in the overall understanding of mosts concepts presented.
70-79%
D
There is very little understanding and knowledge of vocabulary, grammar , syntax and oral comprehension.
60-69%
I
Incompletes: Students who do not attend class, do not turn in assignments and do not take tests will receive an Incomplete, only if a written completion contract is signed by both student and instructor.
U
Unofficial drops: Students who do not attend class or no longer attend class regularly, do not turn in assignments and do not take tests will receive an Unofficial drop. These will later turn into an "F" grade.
Students are expected to check the WebCT Gradebook weekly to check homework submission grading. Mid-semester progress grades will be posted after the third chapter exam, to keep students aware of their progress.
Technology Requirements
A significant amount of work is done on the Internet and using technology like e-mail, digital voice files, the foreign language computer lab, and using the Web to access homework assignments and WebCT site. Click here to see technology requirements to make sure your home or work computer is powerful enough to meet your needs for this course. Campus labs are well-equipped and are available to all students, some on a 24-hour basis.
Students will use the WebCT (CSUS) site for this course at:
http://online.csus.edu/. At this page, click on Logon My WebCT: after logon ID and password, then click on French 1A.
Special Needs
Every effort will be made by this instructor to accomodate students who have special needs. Please speak to the instructor in person.
Contact Information
Laurette Suter: Office in Mariposa Hall 2051, Telephone is (916) 278-7417, campus e-mail suterla@csus.edu
Course WebCT site: http://online.csus.edu/
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Page updated: le 5 décembre, 2003