COURSE OFFERINGS
Please check the course catalog for up-to-date information.
All classes and exams are conducted in French with the exception of cross-listed courses, unless otherwise indicated.
Innovative ways to integrate culture into the teaching of French
In Intermediate French, students practice their written, oral and aural skills (as well as their creativity) by creating a video clip. This exercise improves linguistic skills and fosters a comfortable social environment in the classroom.
Watch Kristen Echholz's "Qui êtes-vous?"
In conjunction with the course FRN 385 Global French: The Language of Business and International Trade, the Smith French studies department is an accredited testing center for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry exam, leading to the Diplôme de français professionnel Affaires B2.
Language
101 Accelerated Elementary French
An accelerated introduction to French for real beginners based on the video method French in Action. Development of the ability to communicate confidently with an emphasis on the acquisition of listening, speaking, and writing skills, as well as cultural awareness. Four class meetings per week plus required daily video and audio work. Students completing the course normally enter FRN 102. Students must complete both 101 and 102 to fulfill the Latin honors distribution requirement for a foreign language. Enrollment limited to 18 per section. No spring pre-registration allowed. {F} 5 credits
Mary Ellen Birkett, Eglal Doss-Quinby, Ann Leone
Offered each Fall
102 Accelerated Intermediate French
Emphasis on the development of oral proficiency, with special attention to reading and writing skills, using authentic materials such as poems and short stories. Students completing the course normally enter FRN 220. Prerequisite: FRN 101. Enrollment limited to 18 per section. Priority will be given to first-year students. {F} 5 credits
Christiane Métral
Offered each Spring
120 Intermediate French
Review of basic grammar for students who have two or three years of high school French. The skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing will be developed in context. Students completing the course normally go on to FRN 220. Enrollment limited to 18 per section. Priority given to first-year students and sophomores. Four class hours per week. {F} 4 credits
Benjamin Capellari, Christiane Métral
Offered each Fall
220 High Intermediate French
Review of communicative skills through writing and class discussion. Materials include a movie, a comic book, a play, and a novel. Prerequisite: three or four years of high school French, FRN 102 or 120 or permission of the department. Students completing the course normally go on to FRN 230. Enrollment limited to 18 per section. {F} 4 credits
Anouk Alquier, Mary Ellen Birkett, Benjamin Capellari Fall 2011
Anouk Alquier, Benjamin Capellari Spring 2012
Offered each Fall and Spring
221 Conversation Section for French 220
Optional for students concurrently enrolled in FRN 220. Discussion of contemporary French and Francophone issues, with emphasis on conversational strategies and speech acts of everyday life through activities such as role playing and group work. Enrollment limited to 15. Graded S/U only. {F} 1 credit
Chloé Pulice
Offered Fall 2011
300 Advanced Grammar and Composition
Emphasis on some of the more difficult points of French grammar and usage. Discussions based on various genres of writing and basic concepts in linguistics. Some work on phonetics, and a variety of writing exercises. Prerequisite: normally, one course in French at the 250 level or permission of the instructor. {F} 4 credits
Hélène Visentin
Offered Fall 2011
385 Advanced Studies in Language Topic: Global French: The Language of Business and International Trade
An overview of commercial and financial terminology against the backdrop of contemporary French business culture, using case studies, French television and newspapers, and the Internet. Emphasis on essential technical vocabulary, reading and writing business documents, and oral communication in a business setting. Prepares students for the Diplôme de français professionnel (Affaires B2) granted by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry and administered at Smith College. Prerequisite: a 300-level French course, a solid foundation in grammar, and excellent command of everyday vocabulary or permission of the instructor. {F} 4 credits
Eglal Doss-Quinby
Offered Spring 2012
Intermediate Courses in French Studies
230 Colloquia in French Studies
A gateway to more advanced courses. These colloquia develop skills in expository writing and critical thinking in French. Materials include novels, films, essays, and cultural documents. Students may receive credit for only one section of FRN 230. Enrollment limited to 16. Basis for the major. Prerequisite: FRN 220, or permission of the instructor. {L/F} 4 credits
Offered each Fall and Spring
Sections as follows:
Voices of/from the Outskirts
An exploration of banlieues (French suburbs) and their inhabitants from the 1980s to the present. We will focus on interaction(s) within various communities and French society at large, drawing comparisons with the United States. How do artists (writers, singers, directors) (re)present the banlieue? How do they portray their own experiences? What roles do factors like generation, migration, racism, gender play in the banlieues?
Anouk Alquier
Offered Fall 2011
Paris, a Multi-Layered City
An exploration of the cultural and urban development of Paris across time and in space with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. We will use an interactive digital platform to reconstruct the spaces, both real and imaginary, featured in novels, poetry, short stories, popular songs, visual documents, and maps that have evoked the city throughout its history. Works by Corneille, Maupassant, Baudelaire, Apollinaire, Desnos, Modiano, Vargas, Gavalda.
Hélène Visentin
Offered Fall 2011
Consumers, Culture and the French Department Store
How have French stores and shopping practices evolved since the grand opening of Le Bon Marché in 1869? In what ways have megastores influenced French “culture”? We will examine representations of mass consumption in literature, the press, history, and analyses of French popular and bourgeois culture. We will pay particular attention to the role of women in the transactions and development of culture. {F/H/L}
Jonathan Gosnell
Offered Spring 2012
Fantasy and Madness
A study of madness and its role in the literary tradition. The imagination, its powers and limits in the individual and society. Such authors as Maupassant, Flaubert, Myriam Warner-Vieyra, J.-P. Sartre, Marguerite Duras.
Benjamin Capellari
Offered Spring 2012
235j Speaking (Like The) French: Conversing, Discussing, Debating, Arguing
A total immersion course in French oral expression using authentic cultural materials: --French films and televised versions of round table discussions, formal interviews, intellectual exchanges and documentary reporting. Students will learn how the French converse, argue, persuade, disagree and agree with one another. Interactive multimedia exercises, role-playing, debating, presenting formal exposés, and improving pronunciation. Prerequisite: FRN 230 or permission of the instructor. Admission by interview with instructor during advising week. Enrollment limited to 14. {F} 4 credits
Christiane Métral
Offered Interterm 2012
250 Speaking with the French—Cross-Cultural Connections
Using webcam and videoconferencing technology, students will have conversations in real time with French students in Paris. We will examine youth culture in France and explore fundamental cultural differences between Americans and the French. Topics include cultural attitudes and beliefs, social values and institutions as well as relevant socio-economic issues. Material: textbooks, cultural essays, surveys, articles, films, and songs. Prerequisite: FRN 230 or higher. Enrollment limited to 15. {S/F} 4 credits
Christiane Métral
Offered Spring 2012
251 The French Press on Line
A study of contemporary French social, economic, political and cultural issues through daily readings of French magazines and newspapers on line such as Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Le Nouvel, Observateur, L’Express. Prerequisite: FRN 230 or permission of the instructor. {S/F} 4 credits
Benjamin Capellari Fall 2011
Jonathan Gosnell Spring 2012
Offered Fall 2011 and Spring 2012
252 French Cinema
Topic: Cities of Light: Urban Spaces in Francophone Film
From Paris to Fort-de-France, Montreal to Dakar, we will study how various filmmakers from the Francophone world present urban spaces as sites of conflict, solidarity, alienation and self-discovery. How do these portraits confirm or challenge the distinction between urban and non-urban? How does the image of the city shift for “insiders” and “outsiders”? Other topics to be discussed include immigration, colonialism, and globalization. Works by Sembene Ousmane, Denys Arcand, Mweze Ngangura, and Euzhan Palcy. Offered in French. Prerequisite: FRN 230, or permission of the instructor. Weekly required screenings. FRN 252 may be repeated for credit with another topic. {L/A/F} 4 credits
Dawn Fulton
Offered Fall 2011
262 From Revolution to Revolution: 1789 to 1968
What are the pivotal transformations in 19th- and 20th- century French society? How have these symbolic moments transformed French language, political thought, and ideologies? How are they reflected in art, film, literature, and music? We will examine the impact of historic events on political, social, cultural, and artistic developments. Prerequisite: FRN 230 or permission of the instructor. {F/H/S} 4 credits
Anouk Alquier
Offered Fall 2011
282 Daily Life in 19th-and 20th-Century France
A portrait of post-revolutionary France as Balzac, Flaubert, Proust, and others have depicted it in their novels. Readings will be viewed in their cultural context. Special attention will be given to the evolution of the novel as a genre, from Realism and Naturalism to modern narratives. Prerequisite: at least one course beyond FRN 230. {L/F} 4 credits
Martine Gantrel
Offered Spring 2012
Advanced Courses in French Studies
Prerequisite: two courses in French Studies at the 200 level or permission of the instructor.
FRN 301/CLT 301 Contemporary Theory in French
For students concurrently enrolled in CLT 300, wishing to read and discuss in French the literary theory at the foundation of contemporary debates. Readings of such seminal contributors as Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Cixous, Kristeva, Irigaray, Fanon, Deleuze,
Baudrillard. Optional course. Graded S/U only. (E) {L/F} 1 credit
Janie Vanpée
Offered Fall 2011
320 Women Writers of the Middle Ages
What genres did women practice in the Middle Ages and in what way did they transform those genres for their own purposes? What access did women have to education and to the works of other writers, male and female? To what extent did women writers question the traditional gender roles of their society? How did they represent female characters in their works and what do their statements about authorship reveal about their understanding of themselves as writing women? What do we make of anonymous works written in the feminine voice? Readings will include the love letters of Héloïse, the lais and fables of Marie de France, the songs of the trobairitz and women trouvères, and the writings of Christine de Pizan. {L/F} 4 credits
Eglal Doss-Quinby
Offered Fall 2011
363 In the Name of Love: Romance and the Romantic Novel in 19th-Century France
In this course we will examine what the mystery, magic and travails of love allow the romantic self to discover, hide, or express about itself. Such authors as Chateaubriand, Benjamin Constant, George Sand, Lamartine, Alexander Dumas, and Nerval. {F/L} 4 credits
Martine Gantrel
Offered Spring 2012
364 Francophone Africa: Colonialism and Beyond
From the Mediterranean rim to the Atlantic coast, from the center of the continent to the Indian Ocean islands, Francophone Africa presents a rich diversity of socio-historic, economic, and political situations. Through case studies, this course proposes an exploration of Francophone African cultures in three eras: colonialism, independence, and post-democracy. Focus will be on themes such as nation, agriculture, democracy, globalization, migration, and conflict.
Alfred Babo
Offered Spring 2012
392 Topics in Culture
Topic: Locating “la Francophonie.” What is the status of the French language today? What is its relationship to France's colonial past, to concepts of universalism and cultural difference, and to the shifting alliances created by immigration and globalization? Through the study of theoretical, political, and literary texts from Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe, we will consider uses and critiques of la Francophonie from the 1960s to the present. Readings will include works by Senghor, Beyala, Condé, Césaire, and Sebbar. {L/F} 4 credits
Dawn Fulton
Offered Fall 2011
404 Special Studies
Admission by permission of the department; normally for junior and senior majors and for qualified juniors and seniors from other departments.
4 credits
Offered both semesters each year
FRN 480/SPN 481 The Teaching of French/Spanish
The theoretical and instructional implications of teaching foreign languages. This course reflects contemporary research and is designed to prepare aspiring instructors for the challenges of the profession. A theoretical component incorporates recent trends in language pedagogy and critical appraisal of SLA theories. A practical component focuses on developing a teaching persona, a relationship with learners, and classroom organization and presentation skills. The course will transform knowledge into practice, and will culminate in the creation of a teaching portfolio. Spanish majors must obtain permission from their major adviser prior to enrolling in the course. 4 credits
Anouk Alquier
Offered Spring 2012
Cross-Listed Courses and Recommended Courses from Other Departments and Programs
CLT 150 Politics and Poetics of Translation
Katwiwa Mule
Offered Spring 2012
CLT 274 The Garden: Paradise and Battlefield
Anne Leone
Offered Fall 2011
CLT 300 Foundations of Contemporary Literary Theory
Janie Vanpée
Offered Fall 2011
