Students in intermediate to superior levels improve their French through translation of contemporary texts, such as newspaper and magazine articles, into French. Students improve their spoken French through learning in class and practicing in the laboratory the pronunciation of sounds, rhythmic groups, intonation, and accentuation of words and sentences. The courses listed below are offered fall and spring, meet three hours a week unless otherwise noted, and are subject to change. This course provides a profile of the French today by focusing on France's physical and human geography, its regional economies and traditions, the political system, the press, and the welfare system. Today's France is predicated on yesterday's France.
Students examine France's past in order to explain the origins of the French nation.
This course presents students with an overview of French art from its origins to the present. It examines the principal movements in modern art and pays particular attention to contemporary architecture and sculpture. This course offers a broad analysis of French economic life today, examining French population and immigration, unemployment, the role of the state in the economy, and France's relative position in the European Union. The course studies the historical antecedents of the European Community and examines some of the complex issues related to the construction of Europe, the demography of the European Union, and France's role in Europe. Using the critical tools of literary analysis this course devotes itself exclusively to the interpretation of two major French literary works.