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Department of French and Italian French 120, Spring 2004 Elyes Ben Salem Office: Wescoe 1025 Office Hours: Mondays: 3:30pm-3:20pm and by appointment Phone: 864-9083 E-mail: ebben@ku.edu Syllabus This is the first-semester, intensive introductory course designed to develop four basic communicative skills: oral comprehension, conversation, reading, and writing. You will be able to understand and converse with French speakers in everyday situations: to make introductions, invitations, and purchases; ask for/give information; and describe people, events, and preferences. You will read and discuss cultural aspects of the French-speaking world. You will write descriptive and narrative pieces. Furthermore, we welcome you to the Department of French and Italian.Throughout the year, we will inform you of cultural events involving French such as films, parties, plays, etc. We will also inform you of programs of study at KU involving French such as the major, minor, or the concentration in French for European Studies or International Business.We encourage you to consider study abroad options in Paris, Strasbourg, Angers, Rennes, and Besançon! Please feel free to discuss your work in this course with me. Take advantage of my office hours.This time is for you to ask for help with specific difficulties and to seek efficient strategies for studying. Keep a file of all your work for consultation. Consider electing the credit/no credit option for this course. Contact me directly if you need to inform me of an absence or to ask for an assignment. Do not call the Department of French and Italian for such matters. For questions about your placement in this course or for information about other courses offered by the Department, contact Professor Maureen Gillespie, 2060 Wescoe Hall, mgillesp@ku.edu, 864-9066.Professor. Gillespie is the director of the 1^st and 2^nd year language program and will be happy to assist you with placement and advisement for the major, minor, and study abroad programs. Texts You must purchase the following materials for this course: *Contacts, Seventh Edition: Text, Workbook, and audio CDs*, available at campus bookstores. You will cover Units 7-11 in French 120. We also suggest that you purchase the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary and Quick Study French Charts, available at campus bookstores. Additionally, you will need to buy five, two-pocket paper folders for your homework. . RESPONSIBILITIES Attendance: Your attendance in this course is MANDATORY. More than four un-excused absences will lower your attendance grade and compromise your success in this course.There are no make-ups for assignments (homework, quizzes, tests, compositions) missed due to an un-excused absence.You will receive a zero for any assignment missed due to an un-excused absence. If you must miss class because of a serious illness, family emergency, or religious observance, you must provide written proof to your instructor.Make every effort to let me know of any problem in advance. Class Participation: Language acquisition is a complex process requiring your active participation in class.You will work in pairs and in groups on a variety of oral and written activities designed to develop the communicative skills listed above.Be on time and ready to work! Have fun! Daily Homework Homework is assigned every class, and generally must be completed for the next class period. We expect that you spend about 1.5-2 hours in preparation for each class period. Besides memorizing vocabulary and conjugations, reviewing what was covered in class, reading, and practicing with the audio CD, you will regularly complete workbook and lab manual exercises. We do not grade homework since it is practice, but we record that it is completed and submitted, as directed and on time. We do not accept late homework, except in case of an excused absence due to medical/family emergency or religious observance. You need to buy five, two-pocket paper folders: one each for Units 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. On the outside of each folder, you must write your name, your section, and the Unit number. You should keep all of their homework, quizzes, worksheets, and tests for that unit in their folders. This will make studying and reviewing easier. You will submit your WB and LM pages in their folders at the end of each lesson. (Your instructor will announce the exact dates for this.) Complete the assigned exercises in ink or pencil, and then you must check your work against the answer key at the back of the WB. You must make corrections in different color ink. In the event that you have completed an exercise flawlessly, you must indicate that with a check sign. Among all workbook and lab manual exercises, the most important ones are those with “free answers,” for which you must compose sentence-length answers not found in the answer key. The best example of this type of exercise is the “communication” activity in the WB at the end of each lesson. Not only are the “communication” activities worth more in the calculation of your homework score, but also they serve as drafts for your in-class compositions. Pop Quizzes: Unannounced, written activities. Pop Quizzes test your acquisition of vocabulary, verb forms, and other grammatical. They stress memorization and are an essential preparation for tests. Tests: 50-minute written activities, divided into four components--dictée/oral comprehension, grammar activities, and translations.Tests are an application of skills practiced in class, in lab, and on homework.Tests focus on two chapters, but they are always cumulative. Compositions: Creative applications of grammatical structures and cultural information. Your written work is evaluated in three ways: the overall correctness of expression; the content and organization of your ideas; and the level of difficulty of your expression. Compositions must be typed.Topics, format, and issues of academic honesty will be discussed in class two weeks prior to the due date. Group Activities: A 10-minute oral presentation in groups of 4 students before the class. Be collegial, creative, and humorous! Think about improvising on a skit from your text, teaching the class to do something, playing a game.Your instructor will suggest other topics. Individual Oral Interview: A 15-minute individual meeting with your instructor outside of class.You will converse, answer and ask questions, and read.You will be evaluated on overall correctness, overall pronunciation and intonation, use of varied vocabulary and syntax, and specific references to cultural information and literary readings discussed in class. Final Exam: A 2.5-hour cumulative test, with extended dictée and oral comprehension exercises as well as several grammar and translation activities. All sections of French will complete the orals parts of the exam in class, the last day of class, Thursday 13 May**.The written parts of the exam will take place on WEDENSDAY 19 May, 7:30 P.M. Please make plans accordingly.You will not be permitted to take the final at another time.
	This site was last updated: 01/22/2004