UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA 1DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURAL STUDIES www.mlcs.

ca FRENCH 111: Beginners French I Winter 2005 Section: ______ Place and Time: M_______________ T_______________ R______________ F______________
Instructor Name: Office: Telephone: E-mail: Office Hours: Coordinator Genevive Maheux-Pelletier Arts 446 B 492-2538 genevieve@ualberta.ca T 11am -1 pm (or by appointment)

Course website: www.ualberta.ca/WEBCT/ Course Listing - Faculty of Arts - FREN courses - FRENSTU: Site for Students in French (MLCS) Course Prerequisite: None. This course is not open to students with French 30 (and its equivalent), nor to students with native or near native proficiency. Course Description and Objectives: The aim of the course is to enable students to develop elementary proficiency in oral expression, listening comprehension, reading, writing, and cultural understanding in French on topics related to daily activities and personal environment. Emphasis will be placed on the acquisition of oral skills, but attention will also be given to written skills. Students will acquire basic grammatical and lexical knowledge pertaining to the Francophone world. At the end of the course, they are expected to have developed the ability to communicate in predictable and common situations and achieve a good control of the most frequently used grammatical structures and vocabulary. Required Texts: Chez Nous: Branch sur le monde francophone Third Edition Prentice Hall. (Chapters 1 to 5 will be covered, and the same book will be used in French 112.) Coursepack: Fren 111 Available to borrow at the Arts Resource Centre (ARC, Arts Building basement): CD-Rom: Grammaire, 450 nouveaux exercices, niveaux dbutant / intermdiaire (self-corrected grammar exercices - for more information, see the WebCT site) Supplementary readings, CDs, videos and the Internet will be used in class and for homework. Required Notes: 1) Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar. (GFC 29 SEP 2003). 2)
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code 1

of Student Behaviour (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University. (GFC 29 SEP 2003)

Participation Attendance Chapter Tests (4 x 5%) Quizzes (approximately 1 per week) Assignments (oral, written; approximately 3 per week) In-class composition (2 drafts) Oral mid-session evaluation (Feb 16-17, 2006) Final oral exam (last 3 days of class - scheduled in class) Final written exam (3 hours; date to be confirmed by instructor; see Bear Tracks for schedule) Deferred April Exam (Winter session): 13 May 2006; 9 a.m.; place: TBA MLCS Grading Scale: Letter A+ A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D F Work:
a)

10% 5% 20% 10% 10% 5% 10% 10% 20%

% 95-100% 90-94% 86-89% 82-85% 75-81% 70-74% 66-69% 61-65% 58-60% 55-57% 50-54% 0-49%

Pts 4.0 4.0 3.7 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.3 2.0 1.7 1.3 1.0 0.0

Descriptor Outstanding: Superior performance showing understanding and knowledge of the subject matter far exceeding expectations. Excellent: Superior performance showing comprehensive understanding of subject matter. Very good: Clearly above average performance with complete knowledge of subject matter. Very good Good: average performance with knowledge of subject matter generally complete. Good Satisfactory: Basic understanding of the subject matter Satisfactory Satisfactory Minimal Pass: Marginal performance; generally insufficient preparation for subsequent courses in the subject matter. Minimal Pass: Marginal performance; generally insufficient preparation for subsequent courses in the subject matter. Fail: Unsatisfactory performance or failure to meet course requirements.

Assignments are not accepted late. If it is impossible to print the document, it may be sent as an attachment on the due date. Unless an extension has been arranged beforehand, late assignments will not be accepted without a medical note. b) In order to develop students oral and writing skills in French, the instructor will require regular assignments. In addition, one composition will be written in class. After the first draft is graded, students will be expected to make corrections and type up a final version. See the course website for the grading criteria as well as information on how to make corrections and how to type accents. c) Unless otherwise specified, assignments must be double-spaced, typed and spell/grammar checked. d) Under no circumstances will the MLCS main office (200 Arts) receive assignments from students on behalf of instructors.
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e) Students are expected to work independently with their Student Audio CDs. They are also encouraged to watch the videos available at ARC. f) Students are encouraged to seek outside help such as a teacher, more proficient speakers, dictionaries, grammar books, and legitimate Web-based resources such as Lepatron.ca only as long as the work handed in remains entirely theirs. Online translators such as Babel Fish are unacceptable sources when used to translate pieces of text larger than single words or expressions (see statement on academic integrity in section entitled Required Notes). Attendance and Participation: 1. Regular attendance to classes is essential for learning the language. Students who miss 4 classes or more during a term jeopardize their chance to succeed in the course. They also lose attendance and participation marks, which total 20% of the final grade. It is absolutely essential to come well prepared and regularly to class, and to participate actively. 2. When a form of testing and / or any other evaluation has been scheduled, any student who misses class on this day and does not have a medical note will get a zero, even though s/he might have been absent the day it was announced. Students have the responsibility to enquire about what has been done and assigned for the next class. Students should exchange contact information with other students to keep up with missed classes. Class Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays: 17:00 18:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays: 17:00 19:00 Language of Instruction and Communication: The language of instruction in the classroom is French. However, students should be aware that it is perfectly normal not to understand everything at once and they are not expected to: they should tell their teacher when they feel lost and s/he will find another way of explaining. It is expected that most communication be carried out in the target language. This pertains to daily class time conversation with fellow students, instructor, and email. These aspects can affect participation marks. Tests and Written Exam: The objective of the tests and final exam is to evaluate the students' use of the language according to the course objectives. The tests and written exam will evaluate a combination of listening and reading comprehension as well as the ability to express oneself accurately. In particular, the 3 hour written exam will be composed of: Reading comprehension: reading (30%) Oral comprehension: video (30%) Written expression: composition (40%)

WebCT and Resources: Students should become familiar with WebCT, which was designed to provide many useful tools such as grammar explanations, evaluation criteria, reading strategies and exercises, indexes for the 450 nouveaux exercices CD-Roms. An excellent grammar website is: http://www.pomme.ualberta.ca/pomme/ Arts Resource Centre (ARC) Hours: (Verify on ARC website: www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/arc) Monday to Thursday: 8.00 - 17.00 Friday: 8.00 - 16.00 Saturday: 13.00 - 17.00 Instructions on how to access the videos for the course are posted on the wall in Arts 135.
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