39972 - French Language (Course and Laboratory) I (GR. A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should reach a minimum level of A2 (Council of Europe framework) for spoken French, while the ideal level is B1, and a minimum level of B1 for reading comprehension – ideal level B2.

In particular: students should be able to follow the essential themes of an oral text, for example a lesson or a TV-news broadcast, and make a simple oral report on it. Moreover, they should be capable of understand written texts of average difficulty regarding the disciplines of the degree course.

Course contents

The whole course is composed of a series of 30 hours of lectures, and 40 hours of laboratory work dedicated to practicing spoken and written French; labs are streamed according to the level of knowledge ascertained in the entry test. For beginners we offer an additional lab (level A1) of 40 hours in the 1st semester.

The Lab is aimed at improving fluency and accuracy in writing and speaking skills and is dedicated to French grammar. Topics covered will include:

1. La règle du c’est/il est/

2. C’est/il est/ il y a.

3. Les verbes impersonnels.

4. Les pronoms personnels toniques/mécanismes de l’accord “moi aussi”.

5. Les adjectifs et les pronoms démonstratifs.

6. Les adjectifs et pronoms possessifs

7. Les pronoms relatifs simples et composés.

8. La négation (négations particulières)

9. Les pronoms personnels compléments simples / doubles.

10. Le comparatif et le superlatif.

11. Les adverbes sur adjectif

12. Les mots de liaison : conjonctions de coordination.

13. Les verbes

    - à l'indicatif présent

    - au passé composé (formation et accord du participe passé)

    - à l'imparfait

    - au futur simple

    - au conditionnel présent (non approfondi). (sera repris et terminé au niveau II avec conditionnel passé).

    a) verbes du 1er groupe en ER (y compris verbes irréguliers en YER, CER, GER, les règles d’accentuation des verbes comme céder, acheter, et les verbes du type appeler, jeter)

    b) verbes du 2e groupe en IR (2 catégories type sentir / type finir)

    c) Quelques verbes du 3e groupe en (T)RE (mettre, battre), ONDRE/-ENDRE (répondre, tendre + prendre) + des verbes inclassables fréquents: tenir/venir et composés, faire, dire, suivre, vivre, croire, voir...

14. Le passé récent, le présent progressif et le futur proche (gallicismes)

15. L'impératif

The 30 hours course is organized into two modules: 

a)      one module will be devoted to enhancing students' reading, hearing and analyzing skills by exposing them to a wide range of oral and written text types for the general public focusing on themes which are related to the disciplines of the degree course and to French culture. Topics covered will include the analysis of the argumentative structure, polyphony, modals, linkers and conjunctions, evaluative lexis, specialized lexicon, synonymy, polysemy and morphology.

b)      The second module will be devoted to oral analysis and discussing of the topics treated in the written texts.

Readings/Bibliography

The texts to be analyzed will be made available in form of a “dossier” on AMS Campus before the beginning of the course.

For the laboratory:  

Grammathèque , (Livre + CD + Exercices), Ed. CIDEB, 2010.

Dictionary: Le petit Robert : dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française, Paris, Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2017.

 

For general reading :

 

1.       Guillaume Bernard, Bernard de Gunten, Arlette Martin, Mauricette Niogret, Les Institutions de la France, Paris, Nathan, coll. « Repères pratiques », éd. 2014.

2.        Jean-Louis Auduc, Le système éducatif français , Paris, Nathan, éd. 2016.

3.       Jean-François Sirinelli, La Vè République, Paris, PUF, collection « Que sais-je ? », 2013.

4.       Denis C. Meyer, Clés pour la France en 80 icônes culturelles, Paris, Hachette, 2010.

Teaching methods

The language laboratory, on the basis of a specific grammar for Italian speakers and practical exercises with “communicative methods”, is aimed at allowing students to achieve a good level of linguistic and communicative competence.

Lectures are aimed at developing skills in order to comprehend and interpret written and oral texts of average difficulty. The course will be held in French and will be dedicated to A2 students.

Assessment methods

Students that follow lessons:

Overall assessment will be based on two written tests (mid-term test and final exam) and a final oral exam.

The two written tests include a cloze test and a reading test with multiple choice and open questions to check the comprehension of the text and test grammar skills. 

Spoken French will be assessed by means of a discussion of a selection of pages from one of the books in the general reading section of the bibliography. Beside the reading of the selection of pages from one book, each student will choose one or 2 recent articles from the online press on a topic which has to be related to the text and the pages selected. The first part of the oral exam will focus on the knowledge acquired through the book. The second part will consist in a brief presentation of the selected articles (sources, interest of the articles in the actual context, journalist's opinion, tone of the articles – polemic, virulent, etc.) – in the presentation of the student's personal opinion about the topic.

Students that do not follow lessons can take the exam as follows:

Written test – a cloze test and a reading test with multiple choice and open questions to check the comprehension of the text and test grammar skills.

Oral test  - spoken French will be assessed by means of a discussion of a selection of pages from one of the books in the general reading section of the bibliography. Beside the reading of the selection of pages from one book, each student will choose one or 2 recent articles from the online press on a topic which has to be related to the text and the pages selected. The first part of the oral exam will focus on the knowledge acquired through the book. The second part will consist in a brief presentation of the selected articles (sources, interest of the articles in the actual context, journalist's opinion, tone of the articles – polemic, virulent, etc.) – in the presentation of the student's personal opinion about the topic.

1.      Guillaume Bernard, Bernard de Gunten, Arlette Martin, Mauricette Niogret, Les Institutions de la France, Paris, Nathan, coll. « Repères pratiques », éd. 2014. Students can choose one of the following selection of pages:

-           chapters “Etat”; “Vie politique”; “Administration”.

OR

-          chapters “Collectivité locales”; “Justice”; “International”.

2.        Jean-Louis Auduc, Le système éducatif français , Paris, Nathan, 2016.

Chapters « Généralités » ; « Le cursus scolaire »

or

Chapters « Les acteurs » ; « Les établissements » ; « Les organismes » ; « Les partenaires ».

3.       Jean-François Sirinelli, La Vè République, Paris, PUF, collection « Que sais-je ? », 2013.

4.      Denis C. Meyer, Clés pour la france en 80 icônes culturelles, Paris, Hachette, 2010. 

 

Teaching tools

PC with Video projector, Internet, DVD

Office hours

See the website of Roberta Pederzoli