Longwood University
French 101.02
Elementary French I

Spring 2010

Heather Mueller Edwards	Courriel: edwardshm@longwood.edu
Bureau: 309 Ruffner	Heures de permanence: lundi 13h00-15h00 mercredi 10h00-11h00 jeudi 09h00-10h00
Téléphone: 395-2153	et sur rendez-vous

Required Text
Espaces: Rendez-vous avec le monde francophone. 2e Ed., text with supersite passcode and paper workbook.  (Mitschke and Tano, Boston: Vista Higher Learning, 2011)  Students should also have access to a substantial French-English dictionary, and may want to consult Jacqueline Morton's English Grammar for Students of French, available at the bookstore.

Course Description
Development of basic oral expression, listening and reading comprehension, and writing; for students with a limited amount of previous formal instruction in French.  No prerequisite. Three classes and one lab hour weekly: 4 credits.  Followed by FREN 102. 

Course Objectives
 By the end of the course, students will demonstrate an ability to:
      1. Understand the French sound system and put their conversational skills to use in everyday situations (evaluated daily through oral work in class, in addition to oral comprehension sections on tests, dictées and quizzes).
      2. Acquire a basic understanding of elementary grammar as shown by writing skills (evaluated through written grammar assignments and exercises in class work, homework and tests).
      3. Read and understand texts, watch and understand visual media, listen to and understand recorded speech (evaluated by written passages of chapter tests, and by exercises related to program video).
      4. Demonstrate knowledge of certain aspects of French or Francophone culture, including the perspectives and practices of daily life. Notable events in French history, and the customs, geography and history of important provinces (evaluated through questions on chapter tests).

Course Requirements
1. Attendance, preparation, and contribution. Attendance and participation are mandatory and will account for 15% of the student’s final grade. For purposes of notation, “contribution” is defined as physical attendance, active participation in class, obvious preparation, and willingness to speak French.  As stated in the student handbook, “Students are expected to attend all classes.  Failure to attend class regularly impairs academic performance.  [Moreover,] absences are disruptive to the educational process for others.  This is especially true when absences cause interruption for clarification of material previously covered, failure to assume assigned responsibilities for class presentations, or failure to adjust to changes in assigned material or due dates.”  If the student misses 10% of the scheduled class meetings for unexcused absences--in this case 6 classes--the instructor reserves the right to lower that student’s course grade by no more than one letter grade.  The instructor will also assign a course grade of “F” when a student has missed a total (excused and unexcused) of 25% of the scheduled class meetings, or 14 classes.  Absences will be excused only for the following reasons: illness, participation in a university-sponsored activity, religious holiday, or recognizable emergency.  Absences will not be excused for court dates, transportation scheduling, or doctor’s appointments.  Students who arrive late to class will also have their contribution grade lowered; every two late arrivals will count as one unexcused absence.

2.  Homework.  Because language learning requires constant revision and attention, students will have homework every night.  The syllabus reflects the nightly readings and workbook exercises that students should complete before coming to class.  It is expected that students will use these exercises to prepare for class and to highlight areas of personal deficiency. Homework will be checked at the beginning of every class and collected on the day of Unit quizzes as indicated on the Programme du cours. It will then be graded for completeness and accuracy.  Most exercises will require the student to read and work through some new material before completing the assignment.  In order to receive full credit for the assignment, students must: (1) complete all assigned pages fully, and (2) turn the work in on time.  Work that is handed in late will not be recorded for credit.  Even in the event of an excused absence, it is the student’s responsibility to turn in all work on time.

3. Vidéo + Culture. Each leçon incorporates an episode of the video program and culture segments to support vocabulary and grammar topics. A indicated in the Programme du Cours, Students will go online (en ligne) to the text site http://promenades.vhlcentral.com to access the video clips, do related activities, and submit responses.

4.  Vocabulary quizzes.  For each unité, students will prepare for a 5-minute vocabulary quiz.  Dates are indicated on the syllabus. 

5. Chapter quizzes.  Quizzes will be based on aural and written work done in class and for homework.  These quizzes will include a dictée and major grammar points from the chapter. Quizzes must be taken at the scheduled time, except in the case of an excused absence from class.

6. Comprehensive exams. Students will take two longer exams which will incorporate material from Units 1 – 3 and 2 – 5. These will include short paragraphs produced on the day of the exam.

7.  Oral final exam.  The spoken exam will consist of a personal interview with the instructor. Students will use the vocabulary from the semester and should practice speaking in the present tense and the past tenses. 

8.  Written final exam. The written portion of the final exam will take place on Wednesday 8 December, 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

9. Honor code.  Students are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the Longwood University Honor Code.  All work submitted for the class must be pledged.  Students who are judged by the Honor Board to be “responsible” for academic dishonesty in this class will receive a failing grade for the course.

10.  Grading.  The student’s course grade will be determined by the following percentages:

Attendance + contribution	15%	Chapter Quizzes	15%
Homework	10%	Comprehensive Unit Exams	25%
Vidéo + Culture Online	5%	Final Oral Exam	5%
Vocabulary Quizzes	10%	Final Written Exam	15%

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability should schedule a private, confidential interview with the Office for Disability Services (Graham Building, 395-2391) to register for services.

CELL PHONE POLICY:

Please be considerate of your classmates and professor: turn off phones before the start of class, and keep them out of sight. Any student with an open cell phone -- ringing, texting or checking messages -- during class time will be marked absent for the day.

Programme du cours

Date		Unité + Leçon	Espaces	Cahier	En ligne	En classe
août	23	Bienvenue!	2-4
	labo	Unité 1 : Leçon 1A	5-9			Leçon 1A: Vidéo + Culture
	25		10-13	pp. 1-2  pp. 3-4		Autobiography
	27	Leçon 1B	14-19	pp. 5-6 pp. 7-8		Vocabulaire pp. 16-17
août	30		20-25 + 30-31	pp. 9-10 pp. 13-14	Leçon 1B : Vidéo + Culture
	labo		26-28	pp. 11-12		Practice Dictée
septembre	1	Révision		Exercices à rendre	Révision	Lecture : pp. 32-33
	3	Contrôle :	Unité 1
septembre	6	Congé
	Labo	Congé
	8	Unité 2 : Leçon 2A	37-41 46-47	pp. 15-16
	10		48-50	pp.17-18 pp.19-20		Vocabulaire pp. 38-39
septembre	13	Leçon 2B	52-54 60-61	pp. 21-22 pp. 23-24
	labo					Leçon 2A : Vidéo + Culture
	15		62-67	pp.25-28
	17	Révision		Exercices à rendre	Leçon 2B : Vidéo + Culture	À l’écoute : p. 65
septembre	20	Contrôle :	Unité 2
	labo	Unité 3 : Leçon 3A	73-76	pp. 29-30		Leçon 3A : Vidéo + Culture
	22		82-83	pp. 31-32		Vocabulaire pp. 74-75
	24		84-86	pp. 33-34
	27	Leçon 3B	88-91	pp.35-36 pp.37-38	Leçon 3B Vidéo + Culture
	labo		96-100 102-105	pp.39-42
	29	Révision		Exercices à rendre	Révision	Lecture : pp. 104-105 Écriture : pp. 106-107
octobre	1	Examen :	Unités 1-3

Date		Unité + Leçon	Espaces	Cahier	En ligne	En classe
octobre	4	Unité 4: Leçon 4A	104-105 109-113	pp. 43-44
	labo					Leçon 4A : Vidéo
	6		118-120	pp. 45-46 p. 48 #4-5		Vocabulaire pp. 110-111
	8	Leçon 4B	124-127 132-133	pp. 49-50 pp. 51-52
octobre	11	Congé
	labo	Congé
	13		134-136 138-139	pp. 53-54 pp. 55-56	Leçon 4B : Vidéo + Culture
	15	Révision		Exercices à rendre		À l’écoute : p. 137
	18	Contrôle :	Unité 4
	labo	Unité 5 : Leçon 5A	145-149			Leçon 5A : Vidéo + Culture
	20		154-155	pp. 57-58 pp. 59-60		Vocabulaire pp. 146-147
	22		156-158	pp. 61-62
	25	Leçon 5B	160-163	pp. 63-64
	labo		168-169	pp.65-66		Leçon 5B Vidéo
	27		170-172	pp. 67-68 pp. 69-70
	29	Révisions		Exercices à rendre		Lecture : pp. 176-177
novembre	1	Contrôle :	Unité 5
	labo	Unité 6 : Leçon 6A	182-185 190-191			Leçon 6A : Vidéo
	3		192-194	pp. 71-72 pp.75-76		Vocabulaire pp. 182-183
	5		196-198 210-211	pp. 77-78 pp. 83-84
	8	Leçon 6B	204-205	pp. 79-80 pp. 81-82
	labo		206-207			Leçon 6B : Vidéo + Culture
	10	Révision		Exercices à rendre	Révision	À l’écoute : p. 209 Écriture : pp. 178-179
	12	Examen :	Unités 4-6

Date		Unité + Leçon	Espaces	Cahier	En ligne	En classe
novembre	15	Unité 7 : Leçon 7A	217-221	pp. 85-86
	labo		226-227			Leçon 6B : Vidéo + Culture
	17		228-230	pp. 87-88 pp.89-90	Leçon 13 Vidéo	Vocabulaire, pp. 218-219
	19	Leçon 7B	232-235	pp.91-92
	22		242-244 246-247	pp. 95-96 pp. 97-98
	labo	Révision		Exercices à rendre		Lecture : pp. 248-249
	24	Congé
	26	Congé
novembre	29	Examen oral
	labo	Examen oral
décembre	1	Révisions
	3	Révisions

échelle de notation

99-100  (100)  A+	88-89 (88) B+	78-79 (78) C+	68-69 (68) D+
93-98  (95)      A	83-87 (85) B	73-77 (75) C	63-67 (65) D
90-92  (91)      A-	80-82 (81) B-	70-72 (71) C-	60-62 (61) D-