Summer and Fall 2023 French Course Offerings

FREN 101-41 (CRN 31407)

SON – meets MTWR 10am-12:30pm online

FREN 112-41 (CRN 31408)

SON – meets MTWR 10am-12:30pm online

FREN 121-41 (CRN 31409)

AON – meets asynchronously, online

FREN 516-01 (CRN 32350)

Conducted in French, this course is for graduate students and advanced undergraduates (with permission). Through the study of three major authors of the French humanist tradition (François Rabelais, Marguerite de Navarre, and Michel de Montaigne), this course proposes to examine France’s role in this pan-European intellectual movement.  We will explore its literary, linguistic, philosophical, and religious underpinnings, to begin to answer such questions as:  What is humanism?  What were its roots?  In what ways did it (and did it not) represent a new direction in French cultural life?

[CRN 40560]

[CRN 40561]

[CRN 45379]

[CRN 40562]

This course encourages students to practice their French speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing skills as we explore contemporary French-speaking France and Senegal. The second half of the class will center on episodes of the French Netflix series Lupin  and some of the Arsene Lupin detective stories by Maurice Leblanc on which the series was based. This will allow us to take virtual visits to places glimpsed by the character. Throughout the course, we will also examine articles and short works from different registers of written and spoken genres: magazines, novels, cinema, literature, travel literature, and podcasts. Assignments include a variety of interactive written, spoken, and multi-media projects.

Required for all 3 French major concentrations, LBC, and minor.

La nouvelle à travers les âges. French literature provides a rich and complex understanding of contemporary French language and culture, even (and often particularly) for those who have had only a few years of language study. This course serves as an introduction to a selection of nouvelles from the Middle Ages to contemporary times, for those who have not yet taken advanced courses in French literature and civilization. We will learn about the method of close reading, thereby improving reading comprehension and learning to construct independent commentaries about the texts at hand. We will ask such questions as: How do you approach a new text? How do you write about what you have read? What is a short story? What are the elements of narratives? How do you write critically and analytically about a piece of literature?

Required for all 3 French major concentrations; elective for minor; does not count for LBC.

[CRN 45381]

French 206 is the first half of the spoken language practice course. Students are therefore expected to have a good knowledge of French at the intermediate level. Traditional grammar practice plays a limited role in this class. The course functions based on the assumption that students have acquired most of the needed grammatical skills in previous courses. Thus, the main goal in French 206 is to offer students an environment of intensive as well as extensive speaking practice in which they will have ample opportunity to develop their communicative and social skills further, and to attain a higher level of oral/aural proficiency in French.

Elective for all 3 French major concentrations, minor, and LBC.

[CRN 45398]

Nineteenth-century French theater was a spectator sport: from the Comédie Française to the Théâtre du Boulevard to l’Opéra de Paris and the Théâtre Libre, the French flocked to watch theatrical performances while socializing, eating, cheering, or booing. This multimedia course will provide an overview of different plays and theatrical movements in nineteenth-century France, along with background information helpful for understanding theatrical performances of nineteenth-century plays (live and in cinematic adaptations). In addition to exploring texts, performances, and paintings that situate theater-going within the cultural context of nineteenth-century France, the course will feature guest speakers and hands-on assignments and projects.

Literature elective for all 3 major concentrations; elective for French minor; does not count for LBC.

Satisfies the FREN304 civilization requirement for French majors and minors.

[CRN 40563]

This course covers methods, techniques, and problems involved in translating from French into English, and English into French. It integrates theory and skill building with content that covers (but is not limited to) the following five disciplines:  journalism, politics, literature, economics/business, and movie subtitling.  Students will receive individual attention, immediate feedback, and intensive mentoring from their professor, greatly accelerating their development. While the course offers authentic practice opportunities, it also examines vocabulary, comparative sentence structure, grammar, and syntax, and how best to communicate ideas and imagery in both languages. Students will also begin their study of translation theory, exploring concepts such as: translation units; borrowing; calque; literal translation; degrees of freedom; translation loss; cultural issues; compensation; and more.

Required for French Translation major; elective for French Civ, Education, and LBC majors; also satisfies French minor and the Graduation Writing Requirement.

[CRN 45445]

The Department of World Languages and Cultures, the Department of Spanish and Latino

Studies, and the Department of Classics and General Humanities are jointly offering this course for students interested in the methods of teaching the languages we offer here at MSU. Students from our various language programs will study together in the first part of the course with Dr English as the instructor. The class will look at topics that pertain to all K-12 world language classrooms. In the second part of the course, students will study with a language specific instructor and see how the concepts explored in the first part of the course apply to their particular disciplines. At the end of the semester, all groups will reconnect and share final projects.

SON

Required for French Teacher Education majors; elective for French majors concentrating in Translation or Civilization. Elective for minor. Does not count for LBC.

[CRN 45396]

Conducted in English.

[CRN 45446]

The Department of World Languages and Cultures, the Department of Spanish and Latino Studies, and the Department of Classics and General Humanities are jointly offering this course for students interested in the methods of teaching the languages we offer here at MSU. Students from our various language programs will study together in the first part of the course with Dr English as the instructor. The class will look at topics that pertain to all K-12 world language classrooms. In the second part of the course, students will study with a language specific instructor and see how the concepts explored in the first part of the course apply to their particular disciplines. At the end of the semester, all groups will reconnect and share final projects.

SON

[CRN 45397]

(SON)

[CRN 45382]

Nineteenth-century French theater was a spectator sport: from the Comédie Française to the Théâtre du Boulevard to l’Opéra de Paris and the Théâtre Libre, the French flocked to watch theatrical performances while socializing, eating, cheering, or booing. This multimedia course will provide an overview of different plays and theatrical movements in nineteenth-century France, along with background information helpful for understanding theatrical performances of nineteenth-century plays (live and in cinematic adaptations). In addition to exploring texts, performances, and paintings that situate theater-going within the cultural context of nineteenth-century France, the course will feature guest speakers and hands-on assignments and projects.

For students who have completed at  least 20 credits of the MA in Professional French Translation. By permission only. Contact Dr. Mengara.

Please contact Dr. Mengara for advisement