88082 - French Language Ii And Laboratory

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should be able to follow a lesson in French, to read a complex text about social or political sciences and make a fluent oral report on it in French. To this purpose they should reach a minimum level of B1 (Council of Europe framework) for spoken and written French, while the ideal level is B2. Moreover, they should be capable of writing a text in French (minimum level B2).

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and a language laboratory, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (30 hours) will be taught in presence (in classroom) with the possibility to follow the lessons remotely on MS TEAMS. Lectures aim to enhance students’ reading, writing, and speaking skills, while also expanding their cultural skills and knowledge in the French-speaking context.

Language laboratory (40 hours) is organized as seminars and aims to use class materials and practice the skills acquired during the 30-hour course through exercises, focusing in particular on French grammar and morphosyntax.

The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows.

For the seminar section (language laboratory), students will NOT be divided into groups. The entire language laboratory will be taught in presence (in classroom) with the possibility to follow the lessons remotely on MS TEAMS.

Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

The 30-hour course (lectures) is organized into two modules:

- one module will be devoted to reading and analyzing written texts on topics relevant to the degree course. The texts will focus on current political and socio-cultural issues, with a focus on human and civil rights in the French-speaking context, and on the argumentative text in its various forms. The aim of this module is to initiate students to the morpho-syntactic and discursive features of different textual genres, in particular of the argumentative text, as well as to a specialized lexicon related to socio-political issues, while also exploring some crucial periods in 20th century French history.

- The second module will be devoted to presenting and discussing the topics covered in the texts and to improving writing skills in French.

Topics covered in the language laboratory will include:

• la situation dans l’espace et le temps (3)
• la place de l’adjectif
• le comparatif et le superlatif
• les doubles pronoms
• les relatifs composés
• les pronoms indéfinis
• l’accord du participe passé
• l’impératif
• le conditionnel présent et passé
• la phrase hypothétique, l’expression de la condition et de l’hypothèse
• le futur dans le passé
• le discours indirect
• le subjonctif présent
• indicatif/ subjonctif dans l’expression de l’opinion
• le gérondif
• la forme passive
• les prépositions et les verbes
• la nominalisation
• l’expression de la cause
• l’expression de la conséquence
• l’expression du but
• l’expression de l’opposition et de la concession

Readings/Bibliography

The texts to be analyzed during classes will be made available online weekly in electronic format on Virtuale, the platform for teaching and learning materials.

For the language laboratory:

Maia Grégoire, Odile Thievenaz, Grammaire progressive du français, niveau intermédiaire A2/B1, Paris, Clé International, 2017.

Dictionary: Le petit Robert : dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française, Paris, Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2020 (or previous editions).

Reading list:

1. Charles Giol, De Jaurès à Hollande : histoire de France de 1914 à nos jours, Paris, PUF, 2015.

2. Jean-Jacques Becker, Histoire politique de la France depuis 1945, Paris, Colin, édition 2015.

3. Jean Baubérot, Histoire de la laïcité en France, Paris, PUF, collection «Que sais-je?», 2013.

4. Jacques Donzelot, La France des cités : Le chantier de la citoyenneté urbaine, Paris, Fayard, 2013.

5. Christine Bard, avec Frédérique El Amrani et Bibia Pavard, Histoire des femmes dans la France des xix^e et xx^e siècles, Paris, Ellipses, 2013.

6. Magali Lafourcade, Les Droits de l’homme, Paris, PUF, collection «Que sais-je?», 2018.

Teaching methods

Lectures aim to enable students to comprehend and interpret written and oral specialized texts, and to write texts in French. The course will be taught in French.

The language laboratory is based on a grammar book specific for Italian speakers and on practical exercises using “communicative methods.” It aims at allowing students to reach a good command of linguistic and communicative competence.

During the laboratory, students can also give an oral presentation in small groups on a (relevant) topic of their choice, thus improving their oral expression and argumentation skills. The presentation will be followed by a short discussion on the topic with the other students.

Assessment methods

The two mid-term tests, the oral exam, the written and oral exam for students not attending classes will be held in presence with the possibility to be taken online on EOL (https://eol.unibo.it/eol.unibo.it) for the written exams and on MS Teams for the oral exams.

For more information on online exams visit https://www.unibo.it/en/services-and-opportunities/online-services/online-services-for-students-1/lessons-and-exams-online

Students attending classes:

Overall assessment will be based on two written mid-term tests and a final oral exam. The first mid-term test includes a reading comprehension and a grammar test. In the second mid-term test students are expected to write a short text in French, along with a grammar test.

The oral exam will consist of a discussion of selected chapters from one of the books in the reading list included in the bibliography section. In addition to the reading of selected chapters, each student will choose one or two recent articles from the online press dealing with a topic related to the chosen essay and the chapters selected. The first part of the oral exam will focus on the essay and will assess the knowledge acquired through the reading. In the second part, the student will briefly present the chosen article(s) (sources, topics covered, interest and relevance of the articles in the current context, journalist’s opinion, tone of the articles – polemic, neutral, etc.) – and express their personal opinion on the article(s) and related topic(s).

Students not attending classes:

Students who do not attend the course can take the exam as follows.

A written exam consisting of a grammar test, a reading comprehension with open questions, and the writing of a short argumentative text in French.

An oral exam consisting of a discussion of selected chapters from one of the books in the reading list included in the bibliography section. All books are available at the Ruffilli library (Please note: selections of chapters to be studied are listed under each book title). In addition to the reading of selected chapters, each student will choose one or two recent articles from the online press dealing with a topic related to the chosen essay and the chapters selected. The first part of the oral exam will focus on the essay and will assess the knowledge acquired through the reading. In the second part, the student will briefly present the chosen article(s) (sources, topics covered, interest and relevance of the articles in the current context, journalist’s opinion, tone of the articles – polemic, neutral, etc.) – and express their personal opinion on the article(s) and related topic(s).

 

1. Charles Giol, De Hollande à Sarkozy: histoire de France de 1914 à nos jours, Paris, PUF, 2015.

Selection of chapters:

Introduction, ch. 1, 2, 3

OR

Ch.1, 4, 5

OR

Ch. 6, 7 + conclusion

 

2. Jean-Jacques Becker, Histoire politique de la France depuis 1945, Paris, Colin, édition 2015.

Selection of chapters:

Ch. 1, 2, 3

OR

Ch. 4, 5, 6 (in chapter 6, only the following sub-chapters are to be studied: 1, 2, 3, 4 [La présidence de Georges Pompidou ; L’évolution de la vie politique ; La croissance économique ; La mort du président])

OR

Ch. 6 (sub-chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 [La présidence de Georges Pompidou ; L’évolution de la vie politique ; La croissance économique ; La mort du président ; La présidence de Valéry Giscard D’Estaing])

OR

Ch. 6 (sub-chapters 6, 7, 8 [Les présidences de François Mitterrand ; La première présidence de Chirac ; La deuxième présidence de Chirac]), ch. 7

 

3. Jean Baubérot, Histoire de la laïcité en France, Paris, PUF, collection « Que sais-je ? », 2013.

Whole book.

 

4. Jacques Donzelot, La France des cités : Le chantier de la citoyenneté urbaine, Paris, Fayard, 2013.

Selection of chapters:

Préambule + première partie: ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

OR

Ch. 6 (Première partie) + Deuxième partie: ch. 1, 2, 3, 4

 

5. Christine Bard, avec Frédérique El Amrani et Bibia Pavard, Histoire des femmes dans la France des xix^e et xx^e siècles, Paris, Ellipses, 2013.

Selection of chapters:

Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

OR

Ch. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

 

6. Magali Lafourcade, Les Droits de l’homme, Paris, PUF, collection « Que sais-je ? », 2018.

Whole book.

Teaching tools

PC and MS TEAMS, internet and online resources, online teaching platform tools

Office hours

See the website of Valeria Illuminati