Continuation of French 001A, with emphasis on reading, writing, speaking and listening. French culture and its relationship to language is given continued attention. This course is second semester of college French, corresponding roughly to 2-3 years of high school French. This is a continuation of the first semester beginning French course.

This course meets the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement with a grade of C- or better.

Pre-requisites
Successful completion of French 1A or passing the placement exam assure proper placement in this course, or instructor permission.

Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• Demonstrate that they are able to communicate in culturally appropriate ways using more complex structures while relying heavily on acquired formulaic language.
• Demonstrate that they are able to understand and respond to simple statements and questions, and participate in informal conversation within the cultural context.
• Demonstrate that they are able to exchange personal information, fulfill routine communication needs in the four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) within the cultural context.
• Demonstrate a better understanding of the culture of the language they are studying through the cultural context of the language that forms the basis of their study, internet searches in the language and exploration of the perspectives, products, and practices of the culture.

Course Objectives

To develop equally the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension, and to familiarize the student with the Francophone world. The specific course objectives are to provide instruction and practice towards competence in French oral and written communication, as follows:

• to extend invitations, to ask questions and make suggestions, to talk about the weather and your daily routine, home activities and leisure/hobbies, to describe meals and order food, to tell the time, to specify quantities, to be able to describe one's family members, to talk about clothing, color and sizes, to be fluent in regular and irregular present tense, past tense (passé composé and imparfait), and future tense (futur proche) verbs, and to develop the appropriate French language pronunciation, rhythm and articulation. Students will develop skills to understand generally written and oral French, as well as the learned ability to write and speak the language on their own. This course will provide basic information on French culture and civilization and open a window on the Francophone world, through text materials, music, videos and the Internet. In addition, students will develop valuable electronic communication skills and presentation skills in general.
  

Textbook, Audio CD and Computer

• Motifs, by Jansma and Kassen, 4th edition, ISBN 0-4130-2981-7, is available from the CSUS Bookstore. It is packaged as the Textbook only which comes with an Audio CD. This textbook is used for 2 semesters of beginning French at CSUS, French 1A and French 1B, and intermediate French 2A (third semester).
• Students may wish to purchase a French/English-English/French dictionary as well.
• NOTE:  if a used Textbook is purchased, the Audio CD (if it is not with the used textbook at the Bookstore) may be copied in the Foreign Language Practice Lab in MRP 2002, at no cost, onto a standard cassette or blank new CD-R which students provide.
• Students will be required to 1) have high-speed internet connectivity and a high-speed computer, 2) download software (free) for the course (Technical Set-up), 3) have a CD player. Optionally students may want to have a microphone for their computer with which to record their voices for weekly pronunciation assessment. The Foreign Language Practice Lab in MRP 2002 is available for language students and has available microphone and recording software. Digital recording of voice for Pronunciation assessments will be done in class, in the Foreign Language Teaching Lab in MRP 2000.

Method

• Active participation of the student in class is required. Oral practice of the French language is essential to become comfortable with all aspects of the language and the culture. Your grade will depend on your participation in class and oral assignments. Oral participation will include: repeating, readings, conversations with partners, group skits/debates/presentations, games, songs, and required weekly pronunciation homework. Students will also collaborate on portions of grammar lessons in group study. The Motif text presents materials in a gradual way, so this beginning course will start out with English explanations and exercises, moving on to assignments and readings only in French. Master pronunciation files will be online and must be used repetitively to gain mastery in pronunciation and fluency.
• Students are expected to do homework electronically, and will be monitored for electronic participation. Participation will be tallied with weekly point totals for electronic homework and activities; this total must be met, and students must attend the LIVE class meetings (attendance will be taken). This course is not self-paced; there is a strict weekly goal for learning acquisition, which will be maintained for the duration of the course.
• Written module exams (midterms) will be given the week after the Module has been completed, approximately every 3 weeks, usually on the following Monday. Written exams will be in-person, on local campus, with paper/pen-pencil, in class.

Homework

• Students must have a Saclink account for campus SacCT/WebCT access by the first week of the semester. This is how assignments and communication with the instructor will occur.
• Within the FIRST TWO DAYS OF THIS COURSE, students must follow very specific Technical Set-up instructions (provided in SacCT/WebCT) to load their computer with free software and programs required for doing online homework. Failure to follow and/or the inability to understand the technical instructions and/or failure to attend the first two class meetings will cause the student to be dropped from the course. Student home, work, or laptop computers must be set up to access all elements of this technology-based course.
• Students must access SacCT/WebCT and send both a Group Discussion message and a Private Mail message to the instructor, by the 2nd week of the semester. Students will be shown how to use the SacCT/WebCT program in a computer lab environment in the first week.
• Online grammar homework exercises due by Friday 5pm each week. Other writing, speaking, listening and reading assessments/assignments are due weekly, every Monday at 5:30pm in class. Online exercises are automatically corrected online with the highest score for each kept in the online gradebook; pronunciation and written compositions are corrected by the instructor.
• Oral readings (students recording their voice for pronunciation assessment) will be assigned weekly and due every week, recorded as a mp3 digital file, and uploaded into SacCT/WebCT.
• Cultural Assignments: Students will complete a series of 4 Internet cultural searches into the Francophone world. Results of this search will be composed into a 2-3 paragraph composition, in French or English, and will be sent to the SacCT/WebCT Group Discussion. Cultural information found on these searches will thus be shared with all students. Students will also compose questions that will make up part of the Cultural Exam at the end of the semester.
• Attendance: Attendance will be graded by participation in both the completion of grammar homework, pronunciation and writing assignments, and also by attending the regular class.
• Written, listening, pronunciation and practice exercises making up the homework is due by the due date, once a week, every week. Late or poorly done homework will result in a 5 point penalty, with homework still due no later than one week after the due date. Students who request access to electronic drop boxes in WebCT, which close after the due date/time, will also receive 5 penalty points. Homework not turned in will receive zero points. Homework will not be accepted after Module Exams are given that cover that homework.
• Students are responsible for maintaining a weekly passing grade (viewable on the online Gradebook), and must do the four weekly skills assessments: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Failure to maintain a passing weekly grade will result in an administrative DROP from the course.
• Student homework assignments, online exercises, group Discussion mail messages, private mail and grades will be posted on SacCT/WebCT. The Gradebook is private for each individual student; students are responsible for completing ALL assignments due in the Gradebook. You will need your Saclink account and password; only students enrolled in the course will have access.
• The online course will require 4-8 hours per week online (on the Internet) and 4 hours LIVE with the instructor.
  

Culture

• Basic orientation to French culture will be presented with the cultural sections (Perspectives Culturelles - historical, geographical and contemporary) from the textbook, music, songs, food, and videos. Additionally an assignment of 4 sessions on the Internet to places of Francophone culture in the world will allow the student to explore culturally-rich authentic sites and share that information with the class. Students will write and prepare one dialog skit with a partner, using appropriate level conversation skills, and demonstrating cultural insight.
  

Learning elements

• We will cover five Modules (lessons/chapters 6-10) in your textbook. There will be weekly scheduled short quizzes in class in the form of dictations, question/answers, vocabulary translations, and verb conjugations. There will be a required listening and pronunciation components of the weekly homework. Students will collaborate in class as partners, and will do a paired skit with a dialogue format. Students may use any Internet provider, but must have a Saclink account at CSUS for access to the instructor's SacCT/WebCT site. There will be 14 mid-chapter quizzes, 4 module (chapter) major tests, a cultural exam and a comprehensive final examination (with oral speaking interview and the last module test). Tests will have listening and written components.

Important Dates

There are weekly grammar quizzes and pronunciation assessments are taken in the lab MRP 2000 on every Wednesday, instead of the regular classroom. The weekly online homework exercises and printed compositions are due every Wednesday at 5:30pm. Fall 2009 Exam dates are:Sept 21, Oct 12, Nov 2, Nov 23, Dec 14 (final exam may be taken earlier, per class consensus). In-class grammar (module) tests will be given the Monday after the module is finished, approximately every three weeks. Oral presentations (skits) start in Week 3 on a scheduled basis. Final Oral Interviews in French (a 15-minute appointment outside of classtime, with the instructor in MRP 2058) are in Weeks 13-14-15. There is no class meeting on holidays: Sept 7, Nov 11, Nov 26, Nov 27, 2009. Last day to submit any homework (not overdue by more than a week) is Friday Dec 11, 2009, 5pm. Final Written Exam is scheduled for Monday Dec 14 and will be from 5:30-6:30pm only (a one-hour exam). By class consensus, the Final Written Exam may be arranged to be taken earlier.