Office hours: MWF 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Oll woeurk een zees classe wheel bee een Frannsh — must off eet, Aye meeen — zo zere wheel bee eenfreeqvent exseptions layke zees seellabouss. But ideally, all communication will be in French (or at least franglais). Consider the classroom a French-language zone (une zone de langue française) where use of other languages is, if the expression is not too inhospitable (or do I mean unhospitable?), a less-than-altogether-welcome intrusion. Do feel free to speak English, however, in the event of an earthquake, an asteroid impact, or the collapse of the euro.
The goals of French 301 are: 1) acuminating (bet you didn't know that word ☺ ) your understanding of those elements of grammar that you've been working to master for several years now; 2) enlarging and refining your vocabulary in French in a systematic fashion, with the same end in view, with a special effort to help you to avoid faux amis, so that you'll say you went to une conférence (right here on campus, no preregistration required) and not une lecture (which you can do anywhere anytime; 3) to fatten, in other words, your ability to speak and write effectively in ways that French-speaking people might really use when they are not exercising their ever-more-common desire to show off their knowledge of English; (4) to gain deeper aperçus into the structure the French language, but also into the nature of language itself, and to cause you to pooh-pooh no more! phonetics and the ways in which the sociolinguistic register of your communications affects pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar; 5) to fill you with wonder at the cultural, social, and intellectual dimensions of communication in French.
Second (or is it sixth?), French 301 seeks to give you glimpses of both the historically imporant universal values associated with French culture (which are being much put to the test as you read these words) as well as some aspects of French culture that are supposedly franco-français (too French to be capable of appreciation by the non-French).
Third, the teacher of this course, even in his advancing dotage, aspires to instill in you a desire to: 1) become better able to analyze and compare ideas and opinions, both your own and those of others; 2) deepen and perplex your relationship to cultural conventions through investigation of and discussion of imaginative works of great depth, with attention to genre, history, and the evolution of ideas in ways that you will only occasionally find operative in popular culture; and 3) probe assumptions — your own and those of others —, reflect upon different perspectives, evaluate and explain different viewpoints on complex issues, and defend judgments. Intensive work with the French language at this now fairly advanced level (hence the title of our course!) should also give you new perspectives on your own experience(s) of becoming a human being in a particular culture at a particular time in history. And should you succeed in achieving all of this, you will have demonstrated such intellectual probity and academic virtue that you will deserve to win a free pass to opening night film and gala at the 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival in Santa Barbara, California (worth $650), where you will meet Jennifer Lawrence!
During the fourteen weeks of this course, you will 1) labor through the first half of a rigorous presentation of French grammar and workbook at an advanced level ; 2) study a classic French film (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) and an intensely personal film about the life of the person who made it (Jacquot de Nantes), 3) read a classic short story by a famous French novelist, (Émile Zola, L'attaque du moulin), and 4) study the immortal Voltaire's amaranthine (got you again, didn't I?) Candide ; (3) make two class presentations in French, one with one or two other students of a nature to be determined by you, and one an analysis of the phenomenon of linguistic register in an article from the popular press ; and talk with the class about a half-hour conversation you had with a French-speaker from another country. A savory bouilli — just the what the (academic) doctor ordered!
This semester I've decided to give to each student a copy of the Collins French Concise Dictionary (5th U.S. ed., 2010), which is yours to keep and treasure. The lexicographical material in the dictionary is also available online. I hope you'll keep this dictionary at your side as your read and write. It also includes an extensive grammatical apparatus that you may find valuable.
Activities in class will plod along according to an unimaginatively monotonous yet somehow reassuring weekly routine.
Just about every class will begin with a few minutes' attention to Vocabulaire progressif; you should review the day's pages beforehand and bring that book to class every day.
On Monday, this will be followed by some time devoted to phonetics or sociolinguistics, then the grammatical material for the week. You'll have assigned pages to study in the grammar text in preparation for the class. In addition, on Mondays a meticulously prepared short written composition (or, on the following week, the attempted perfection of the previous week's now discouragingly and spider-webbily red- or green- or purple- or blue- or indigo-inked composition — according to my mood and pen supply) will be also be due in class.
Wednesdays will be devoted to further laborious and baffling explications, explorations, and exploitations of French grammar, usually with additional attention to group work, occasionally including entertaining performances, amusing games, or diverting class presentations.
Fridays (vendredi ! enfin ! merci Dieu ! ) will be devoted to works of literature or film. As noted above, the works we'll look at in detail this semester are quite diverse in their origins: a charmingly quirky fusion of opera and New Wave film from the 1960s by and a moving 1991 film about Jacques Demy (Demy was a famous director whose wife, Agnès Varda, is still active and is an even more famous director); an 1880 short story by Émile Zola (which he later turned into an opera); and Voltaire's amusing, fast-paced, and sophisticated 1759 ROFL satire of philosophical optimism and human pretension, which is as irresistibly sassy, bold, irreverent, and dangerous as anything Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning ever leaked.
Another element in the class is an all-in-French conversation with a native French speaker who lives abroad. This will be conducted through a web-based service called Talk Abroad, which started up some years ago and is used by many universities. You'll be required to pay for a half-hour conversation during the tenth week of the class with an individual you'll choose and at a time that you'll schedule on your own at the beginning of November. You should have this conversation during the week of November 10-14. You'll discuss your conversation with the class on November 17. The Section Code you should use on this website for our course is Jense2014-122310. The theme of the conversation will be how the annual rhythm of activity (everyday life—waking, eating, working, socializing) is typically affected by seasonal changes in the places you and your interlocutor live in). You should register on the Talk Abroad website and schedule your first conversation as soon as you can, but at least a month before. The cost to you should be $15. Conversations used to, but no longer involve logging into Skype. You'll only need to log into your TalkAbroad account using the Google Chrome browser, and you'll be prompted to enter a conference room. Your partner will record the conversation and later upload it to the website, so that I can have access to it. You can cancel and reschedule your conversation up to 12 hours before the conversation time.
(1) Introductions and what sociologist Erving Goffman (not French) would call presentations of self. (2) Discussion of course, study methods, and expectations for the course—yours and mine. Some English, for the sake of clarity. (3) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 6-7. (4) Review exercises.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 8-9. (2) Review exercises (cont.). (3) Discussion of New Wave film. Before class, read "A Short History of French Cinema" by Andrew Pulver (Guardian [London], March 22, 2011); also, view the videoclips and trailers that still work. Soyez prêt à répondre oralement en classe aux questions suivantes : A. Pourquoi peut-on dire que la France a inventé le concept du cinéma ? B. Quel était le premier film de science-fiction ? C. Quel est le film muet français le plus extraordinaire, et qui l'a fait ? D. "Les Enfants du paradis," "Diva," "Les Quatre Cents Coups," et "Le Chien andalou" sont associés avec un mouvement : lequel ? (a) Le surréalisme ; (b) le réalisme poétique ; (c) la Nouvelle Vague ; (d) le cinéma du look. E. Combien de films français sont mentionnés dans cet article ? F. A votre avis, pourquoi est-ce que Pulver donne le titre français de certains films et le titre de certains autres en anglais ? G. Avec quel mouvement est-ce que Jacques Demy et Agnès Varda sont associés ? H. Quelle description est-ce que Pulver donne des valeurs ou des caractéristiques de ce mouvement ? (4) Also, read the preface in Denise Rochat's grammar textbook.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 32-33. (2) Présentation #1 des étudiants. (3) Rochat, Chapter 4, Formes des pronoms dans certaines constructions idiomatiques, pp. 60-64.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 36-37. (2) Présentation #2 des étudiants. (3) Register, vocabulary and grammar: Bachelor & Offord, Using French, pp. 12-19. (4) Rochat, Chapter 5, Les démonstratifs variables, pp. 65-69.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 38-39. (2) Présentation #3 des étudiants. (3) Rochat, Chapter 5, Les démonstratifs invariables, pp. 69-75.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 42-45 (two sections). (2) Présentations #4 des étudiants. (3) Midterm review.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 110-11. (2) Presentations #1 & #2 of passages analyzed for register. (3) Rochat, Chapter 12, Le subjonctif, §§ 1-8, pp. 155-69.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 112-13. (2) Presentations #3 & #4 of passages analyzed for register. (3) Rochat, Chapter 14, §§ 1-7 L'expression de la condition, pp. 181-87.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 114-15. (2) Presentations #5 & #6 of passages analyzed for register. (3) Rochat, Chapter 14, Locutions avec le si de condition et Autres façons d'exprimer la condition et l'hypothèse, pp. 188-91.
(1) Vocabulaire progressif, pp. 118-19. (2) Presentations #7 & #8 of passages analyzed for register. (3) Le monde francophone. (4) Rochat, Chapter 21, Pluriels, pp. 304-17.
Thurs., Dec. 18, 2:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 17. Turn in exercises 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 (optional), 1-4, 1-5, and 1-6 (pp. 1-4).
Fri., Sept. 19. Turn in exercises 1-7, 1-8 (optional), 1-9 (optional), and 1-10 (pp. 4-7).
Wed., Sept. 24. Turn in exercises 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 (optional), 2-4 (optional), 2-5 (optional), 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9, 2-10, 2-11 (optional), 2-12 (optional), 2-13 (optional), 2-14, 2-15, and 2-17 (optional) (pp. 9-16).
Fri., Sept. 26. Turn in exercises 2-18, 2-19, 2-20 (optional), 2-21, 2-22, 2-23, 2-24 (optional), 2-25, 2-26 (optional), 2-27, and 2-28 (optional) (pp. 17-22).
Wed., Oct. 1. Turn in exercises 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 (optional), 3-4, 3-5 (optional), 3-6, 3-7 (optional), 3-8, 3-9, 3-10 (optional), 3-11, and 3-12 (pp. 23-28).
Fri., Oct. 3. Turn in exercises 3-13, 3-14, 3-15 (optional), 3-16, 3-17, 3-18 (optional), and 3-19 (pp. 29-32).
Wed., Oct. 8. Turn in exercises 4-1, 4-2 (optional), 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6 (pp. 33-36).
Fri., Oct. 10. Turn in exercises 4-7, 4-8 (optional), 4-9, 4-10, 4-11, 4-12 (optional), 4-13, 4-14 (pp. 37-41).
Wed., Oct. 15. Turn in exercises 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5 (optional), 5-6 (optional), and 5-7 (pp. 43-46).
Fri., Oct. 17. Turn in exercises 5-8, 5-9, 5-10, 5-11 (optional), and 5-12 (optional) (pp. 47-49).
Wed., Oct. 29. Turn in exercises 6-1 and 6-2 (pp. 51-52).
Fri., Oct. 31. Turn in exercises 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 (optional), 6-6, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11, 6-12 (optional), 6-13 (optional), 6-14 (optional), and 6-15 (optional) (pp. 53-59).
Wed., Nov. 5. Turn in exercises 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 8-4, 8-5 (optional), 8-6, 8-7, and 8-8 (optional) (pp. 71-74).
Fri., Nov. 7. Turn in exercises 8-9, 8-10 (optional), 8-11, 8-12, 8-13 (optional), 8-14, 8-15 (optional), and 8-16 (pp. 75-78).
Wed., Nov. 12. Turn in exercises 9-1, 9-2 (optional), 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10 (optional), 9-11, and 9-12 (optional) (pp. 79-86).
Fri., Nov. 14. Turn in exercises 9-13, 9-15, 9-16, 9-17 (optional), and 9-18 (optional) (pp. 87-94).
Wed., Nov. 19. Turn in exercises 11-1, 11-2 (optional), 11-3, and 11-4 (pp. 111-12).
Fri., Nov. 21. Turn in exercises 11-5 (optional), 11-8, 11-9, 11-10, 11-11, 11-13, 11-14, 11-15, 11-16 (optional), 11-17 (optional), and 11-18 (optional) (pp. 114-18).
Mon., Dec. 1. Turn in exercises 12-1, 12-2, 12-3 (optional), 12-4, 12-5, 12-6 (optional), 12-7 (optional), 12-8, 12-9 (optional), 12-10 (optional), 12-11 (optional), and 12-12 (optional) (pp. 121-25).
Wed., Dec. 3. Turn in exercises 14-1, 14-2, 14-3, 14-4 (optional), 14-5, 14-6, 14-7 (optional), 14-8 (optional), 14-9, 14-10 (optional), 14-11 (optional), 14-12, 14-13 (optional), 14-14 (pp. 147-52).
Fri., Dec. 5. Turn in exercises 14-15, 14-16, 14-17, and 14-18 (pp. 152-54).
Wed., Dec. 10. Turn in exercises 21-1, 21-2 (optional), 21-3, 21-4 (optional) (pp. 227-28).
Fri., Dec. 12. Turn in exercises 21-5, 21-6, 21-7 (optional), 21-8, 21-9 (optional), 21-10, 21-11 (pp. 229-32).
Mon. Sept. 15 : LOIS INUTILES ET NÉCESSAIRES. Montesquieu, dans L'Esprit des lois, a écrit : « Les lois inutiles affaiblissent les lois nécessaires. » Etes-vous d'accord ? Justifiez votre opinion, en citant au moins une loi « inutile » et une loi « nécessaire ».
Mon., Sept. 29 : PERSPECTIVES SUR « LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG ». Le monde a beaucoup changé depuis la production des Parapluies de Cherbourg. Écrivez un dialogue imaginaire entre un spectateur du film de 1964 et un spectateur de 2013 où ces deux personnes discutent leur réponse au film.
Mon., Oct. 13 : « JACQUOT DE NANTES ». Lisez (en anglais) la discussion du cinéma d'Agnès Varda dans A History of the French New Wave Cinema par Richard Neuport (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 56-63 (distribuée en classe). Jacquot de Nantes est mentionné dans cette discussion. Identifiez quelques aspects de la carrière cinématographique d'Agnès Varda qui sont discutées par Neuport et leur rapport à Jacquot de Nantes.
Mon., Oct. 27 : « L'ATTAQUE DU MOULIN » D'ÉMILE ZOLA. A votre avis, est-ce que ce conte est « réaliste » ? Pourquoi ou pourquoi pas ?
Mon., Nov. 10 : EXAMEN DE LA SATIRE. Evaluez la signification de l'expression « le théâtre de la guerre ».
Mon., Nov. 24 : ANALYSE D'UN PORTAIT. Analysez le portrait de Pococurante dans le chapitre 25 de Candide.
You'll work with another student on an all-in-French presentation to the class. On your own, you'll choose a an article from the popular French press and present an analysis of register as it appears in that article, imitating the examples of Batchelor and Offord. You'll also discuss your Talk Abroad conversation with the class.
There will be an in-class mid-term exam on Wednesday, Oct. 22, which will cover chapters 1-5 in Rochat, the two films we've watched as well as Zola's L'attaque du moulin, which will determine 10% of your grade. A 110-minute final exam on everything we've studied on Thurs., Dec. 18 (2:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m.) will determine 20% of your final grade.