F250: Fourth semester French: Language and Culture

Text: Hannelore, J. and Tufts, C. 2006. Sur le vif. Boston: Thomas-Heinle.

Description: The final course in most students’ four-semester foreign language requirement, we envision F250 as a sort of capstone course that reinforces the skills developed in the previous three semesters yet provides a potential bridge to third-year French studies. The syllabus includes Sur le vif as a core textbook for maintaining and strengthening grammar and vocabulary, along with films, short reading passages, a comic book, and a semester-long creative project, the writing, illustration, and narration of a children’s book.

Reflection: F250 is another of my favorite classes to teach. Students have reached a level of French where we can pick up the pace a little and start to play with the language some more. They get more jokes, they catch more nuances in literature and films, and they can express more complex ideas in reaction to what they see and read. This is also a pivotal moment in their French careers – since F250 both fulfills the language requirement and counts towards the minor, many students who enjoy this course decide to continue with French. I look back especially on the Spring 2007 version of this course as a particularly special and rewarding semester. Besides being an exceptionally bright and good-humored group of students, more than one third of them chose to go on to the French minor. In part because of them and in part because of the structure and content of F250, I could happily teach this course over and over. I think the strongest aspects of my teaching in this course were my preparation and presentation of materials leading up to the comic book and films; my weak point was keeping us organized in between, so the rhythm of the semester surged and lulled rather than stayed steady. There are enough opportunities for momentum in a course like this one that such a problem would be easily remedied in the future.