DEPARTMENT OF MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES

FRENCH 101: BEGINNING FRENCH I

Instructor

Dr. Françoise Vionnet-Bracher
E-mail: f-vionnet@tamu.edu
See also http://mocl.tamu.edu/~f-vionnet/

Required Texts

Main text: Bragger & Rice: ALLONS-Y! Le français par etapes, Fifth edition, Heinle and Heinle
Workbook (student CD included): Bragger & Rice: ALLONS-Y! Cahier de travaux pratiques, Fifth edition, Heinle and Heinle

Answer-key to the cahier de travaux pratiques

General Description

All sections of FR 101 at Texas A & M will use ALLONS-Y! as their basic program of instruction. This integrated learning system provides beginning-level students with immediately useful language skills in French through opportunities for listening, speaking, reading and writing.

It will take between 8 and 9 class periods to work through each chapter, with activities from grammar drills for the whole class to communicative exercises done in pairs or small groups, or from pronunciation to comprehension of taped conversations or video-clips. Once a week on a set day, the class will meet in the language lab under the supervision of a lab assistant. Classes will be conducted in French, and students are expected to ask their questions in French, or otherwise, encouraged to keep these questions for the last five minutes of each class, a time that the instructor will reserve for that purpose.

Student Responsibilities

Students are expected to come to class prepared: to succeed, you will need to study and prepare daily. For example, you will have read the grammar lesson slated for the day by the instructor (explanations are in English), and will have started to memorize it. Thus more time will be spent practicing structures in class rather than talking about them. After each class, students are expected to continue the memorization process and to apply their new knowledge in a number of exercises assigned by the instructor, both on the WebCT site of the course at the following URL: https://webct.tamu.edu/public/fren_labs/index.html and in the workbook, where you can check your work with both the answer key provided at the end of the workbook and the booklet listed among the required texts. In order to complete their audio assignments, students can work at home or in the Cellar (ACAD 124).

Testing

Quizzes and homework

Students will be taking between 6 and 12 quizzes or pop-quizzes during the semester, depending on their length; some "mini-interrogations" will test you in five minutes on, let's say, the conjugation of a verb, while more extensive quizzes (15 minutes) could check your understanding of the main points of a chapter.

As homework, beside the daily work assigned, students will have to complete writing exercises which will serve as a synthesis of the work done.

Compositions

Two compositions, based on these writing exercises, will also be done in class: on that day, classes will meet in room 127 (lab#5) in the Academic Bldg in order to use the Systeme-D writing software.

The following grading criteria will be used:

A (90-100) if the composition is very good, using a wide range of the expressions learned, well organized and almost without mistakes.

B (80-89) if the composition is good, rather well organized, but marred by some grammatical and lexical mistakes or by the simplicity of words, structures, and ideas used.

C (70-79) if the composition is very average, with a lot of mistakes, a poor vocabulary, the simplest of structures and ideas.

D (60-69) if part of the text is unintelligible, and/or the composition is riddled with mistakes; but still with an "embryo" of French alive at its core.

F (59 and under) if the student was obviously unable to accomplish the task expected, with most of the composition unintelligible.

Exams

Three hour-long exams will be given during the semester: each exam will cover any previous material not yet tested, through reading and listening comprehension exercises as well as more purely grammatical ones. The final exam will be comprehensive.

Oral work:

A) participation:

Practice, and thus, participation, in the classroom or in the lab, are of the utmost importance in the acquisition of a foreign language. Attending classes is mandatory, and after 3 absences without University accepted excuses, each new unexcused absence will delete 5 points off the student's participation grade.

The student's PARTICIPATION will be evaluated using the following criteria:

A (90-100) The student is very well prepared, always volunteers to answer questions or write on the blackboard, shows a genuine interest in the work, participates actively in the class activities, is not afraid to experiment with the language, never uses English to communicate with his peers or the instructor in situations where French is called for.

B (80-89) The student is prepared, sometimes volunteers to answer, but participates moderately, is less vocal than an "A" student and more afraid to experiment. He or she almost never uses English in situations where French is called for.

C (70-79) The student is not always prepared, rarely volunteers to answer questions, participates only occasionally and/or occasionally uses English to communicate with his/her peers or the instructor in situations when he/she should have used French.

D (60-69) The student is rarely prepared, is very passive, very rarely volunteers to answer questions, rarely participates and/or relies mostly on English to express herself/himself.

F (59 and under) The student is never prepared, never volunteers to answer questions, is extremely passive and silent in class, and/or relies on English to communicate, and/or sometimes engages in activities unrelated to the course.

B) oral interview:

At the end of the semester, an instructor is going to interview the students individually in French to evaluate the level of proficiency they have reached within the frame provided by the Allons-y learning system.

"MAKE-UP" POLICY

-Compositions, exams, oral test: Students with a valid University accepted excuse have to contact the instructor by the end of the next working day after the missed exam or composition ( see Student Rules, Attendance, p 7) to schedule a make-up; make-up work should be done within a week of the student's return to class; beyond, points missed will be reassigned without penalty to the student. (ex: if an exam was missed, the next one would count double; if the end of the semester has been reached, the percentage of points missed is transferred to the final).

-For homework and quizzes, at the instructor's discretion, students with a University accepted excuse may not have to take a make-up, but in any case will not be penalized.

Grading

COMPOSITIONS                            10 %

EXAMS                                            35 %

ORAL TEST                                      10 %

PARTICIPATION                            10 %

QUIZZES AND HOMEWORK        15 %

FINAL EXAM                                   20 %

Please be aware that a final grade of C or better is needed to advance to the next course in the sequence.

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A student enrolling for the first time in a Texas A & M foreign language course who has previously acquired knowledge of that foreign language, whether acquired through high school study or cultural/family experience, and who has not received college credit for that language must have taken a placement test to determine the appropriate course for his/her level of ability. Concurrent enrollment in two language courses, one of which is a prerequisite for the other, is also not permitted. Students found to be in violation of prerequisite rules are subject to removal from their sections at any time during the semester.

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Links of Interest

FR 101 --- PROGRAMME DE TRAVAIL --- SPRING 2003


Tentative schedule:

EXAMENS FINALS:

Fr 101-501, le 5 mai, 8-10:00 a.m.

Fr 101-502, le 6 mai, 8-10:00 a.m.