Winter 2015

EXPANDED COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Please click here to see the Winter Schedule as a PDF

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 LOWER-DIVISION COURSES  
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FRENCH 1. Elementary French (5 units)
Supervisor: Elisabeth Griffart-Meissner, egmeissner@ucdavis.edu

Description: Presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of French as well as cultural information about the French-speaking world (textbook chapters 1 to 6); in-class interactive exercises and out-of-class assignments for practice in using the language for listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. French is the exclusive means of communication in class. The course meets five hours per week, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available through SmartSite.

Prerequisite: No previous study of French is assumed. Students who have never studied French (or who have had fewer than two years of French in high school and do not place into French 2) should enroll in French 1. Students with two or more years of French in high school may only take this course for a Pass/ No Pass grade.

Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation (14%), homework (12%), three quizzes (15%), one major composition (10%), three in-class exams (30%), and a final exam (19%).

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): World Cultures.

Format: Discussion - 5 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.

Textbook:

• A. Valdman, C. Pons, and M.E. Scullen, Chez Nous Media Enhanced Package [4th Edition] (Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014)
   

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FRENCH 2. Elementary French (5 units)
Supervisor:  Elisabeth Griffart-Meissner, egmeissner@ucdavis.edu

Description: Presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of French as well as cultural information about the French-speaking world (textbook chapters 7 to 11); in-class interactive exercises and out-of-class assignments for practice in using the language for listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. French is the exclusive means of communication in class. The course meets five hours per week, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available through SmartSite.

Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation (14%), homework (10%), three quizzes (15%), one major composition (10%), two in-class exams (25%), a final oral exam (6%), and a final written exam (20%).

Prerequisite: French 1 or Language Placement Exam (Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.)

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): World Cultures.

Format: Discussion - 5 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.

Textbook:

• A. Valdman, C. Pons, and M.E. Scullen, Chez Nous Media Enhanced Package [4th Edition] (Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014)
   

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FRENCH 3. Elementary French (5 units)
Supervisor:  Elisabeth Griffart-Meissner, egmeissner@ucdavis.edu

Description: Presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of French as well as cultural information about the French-speaking world (textbook chapters 12 to 16); in-class interactive exercises and out-of-class assignments for practice in using the language for listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. French is the exclusive means of communication in class. The course meets five hours per week, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available through SmartSite.

Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation (14%), homework (10%), three quizzes (15%), one major composition (10%), two in-class exams (25%), a final oral exam (6%), and a final written exam (20%).

Prerequisite: French 2 or Language Placement Exam (Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.)

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): World Cultures.

Format: Discussion - 5 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.

Textbook:

• A. Valdman, C. Pons, and M.E. Scullen, Chez Nous Media Enhanced Package [4th Edition] (Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014)
   

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FRENCH 21. Intermediate French (5 units)
Supervisor: Prof. Julia Simon, jsimon@ucdavis.edu

Description: Presentation and analysis of the cultures of the French-speaking world (Paris, Quebec, Tahiti, Lyon, Northern Africa) and comparison to home culture; review of the basic grammar presented in first-year French; expansion of vocabulary related to city living, history/geography, the arts, food/cooking, and family life (textbook chapters 1 to 5). In-class presentations and activities, as well as out-of-class assignments, are conducted solely in French and focus on the development of listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking skills. The course meets four hours per week, plus an additional hour of independent web-based work, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available through SmartSite.

Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation, homework, and one in-class composition per chapter (5 x 13% = 85%), an oral final exam (5%), and a written final exam (10%).

Prerequisite: French 3 or Language Placement Exam (Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.)

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours.

Textbook:

• Jean Marie Schultz and Marie-Paul Tranvouez, Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections [2nd Edition] Package (Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014)
   

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FRENCH 22. Intermediate French (5 units)
Supervisor: Prof. Julia Simon, jsimon@ucdavis.edu

Description: Presentation and analysis of the cultures of the French-speaking world (Senegal, Martinique, Geneva, Strasbourg, Brussels) and comparison to home culture; review of the basic grammar presented in first-year French; expansion of vocabulary related to commerce, tourism, sports and leisure, politics, and modern technology (textbook chapters 6 to 10). In-class presentations and activities, as well as out-of-class assignments, are conducted solely in French and focus on the development of listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking skills. The course meets four hours per week, plus an additional hour of independent web-based work, with 25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available through SmartSite.

Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation, homework, and one in-class composition per chapter (5 x 13% = 85%), an oral final exam (5%), and a written final exam (10%).

Prerequisite: French 21 or Language Placement Exam (Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.)

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours.

Textbook:

• Jean Marie Schultz and Marie-Paul Tranvouez, Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections [2nd Edition] Package (Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014)
   

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FRENCH 23. Intermediate French (5 units)
Supervisor: Prof. Julia Simon, jsimon@ucdavis.edu

Megan McMullan

M-R 12:10-1:00P
159 Olson
CRN 75022

Description: The goals in this course are to advance your comprehension and use of the French language, with a particular focus on writing skills. Structured reading, analysis, discussion and writing assignments will enable you to increase your vocabulary, improve your oral and aural proficiency, solidify your mastery of grammatical structures, and develop greater ease and sophistication in written and spoken expression.

Prerequisite: French 22 or Language Placement Exam (Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.)

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours.

Textbook:

• Jean Marie Schultz and Marie-Paul Tranvouez, Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections [1st Edition] Package (Prentice Hall, 2009)

OR

• Jean Marie Schultz and Marie-Paul Tranvouez, Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections [1st Edition] Looseleaf Book (Prentice Hall, 2009)
• If needed, students can buy 5-months access to MyFrenchLab at the following link:
  http://www.pearsoncustom.com/ca/ucdavis_french/index.html
   

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 UPPER-DIVISION COURSES
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FRENCH 105. Advanced French Grammar (4 units)
Elizabeth Griffart-Meissner

TR 12:10-1:30P
108 Hoagland
CRN 93224

Course Description: This course will offer a thorough review of the most problematic French grammar issues. A varied range of exercises, from the traditional 'fill-in the-blank' ones to writing samples, dictees and translations will expose you to grammar in context and will improve your writing skills.  All this extensive practice will prepare you for quizzes, tests and a final exam.

Prerequisite: French 23 or the equivalent.

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Extensive Writing or Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

• TBA
   

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FRENCH 107B. The Making of Modern France (4 units)
Megan McMullan

MWF 11:00-11:50A
107 Cruess
CRN 94175

Course Description: The course will examine the history of state formation and centralization in France from the reign of Louis XIV through the Second Empire. Special attention will be paid to the rise of the nation-state, theories of absolute monarchy, the revolution, and the political formations of the nineteenth century. Through readings of cultural and historical documents we will trace the development of France as a unified nation with a particular identity. We will also discuss artistic and cultural achievements of the period such as the Palais de Versailles and the Haussmannization of Paris.

Work for the course will consist of daily readings from either the textbooks or supplementary readings. Students will be expected to have read the assigned texts before coming to class and be ready to discuss them. Written work for the course will include short quizzes and two in-class exams.

Prerequisite: French 100 or consent of instructor.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): TBA.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbook:

• Pierre Bezbakh, Le Petit Larousse de l'histoire de France  (Larousse, 2001)
   

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FRENCH 115. Medieval French Literature and Society (4 units)
Noah Guynn

TR 1:40-3:00P
1128 Hart
CRN 93826

Description: This course will offer an introduction to medieval French literature in modern French translation. Our focus will be on themes of love and desire, freedom and constraint, religion and embodiment in short verse narratives.  We will also read one full-length medieval romance: Béroul’s Tristan et Iseut. Class discussions will center on the relationships among narration, interpretation, and ethics, notably the art of casuistry, a specifically medieval model of moral reasoning.  The course will have two principal goals:  (1) to provide a broad understanding of medieval vernacular literature in its cultural, social, and political contexts; and (2) to improve analytical skills and expository writing.  There will be two papers and a self-proctored final exam.  

Prerequisite: French 100.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Anonymous, Nouvelles Courtoises  (Livre de Poche, 1997)
• Nathalie Koble, Lais Bretons (Xlle - XIIIe siècle): Marie de France et ses Contemporains  (Honoré Champion, 2011)
• Béroul, Tristan et Iseut, translated by Phillipe Walter  (Livre de Poche, 2000)
   

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FRENCH 141. War, Language, and Memory in Fiction and Film (4 units)
Jeffrey Fort

TR 10:30-11:50A
1020 Wickson
CRN 93739

Description: This course will explore narratives of war and memory, with particular attention to post-war experiences of trauma, forgetting, and the disruptive or productive return of the past into the present. Questions to be explored in the context of these narratives include: How do extreme or violent experiences linger long after they have occurred, and what are the difficulties and paradoxes of recounting or representing them? How can a faulty or incomplete memory be placed into language? In what ways can the present be inhabited or haunted by the past? How do memories return to take vengeance on those who would prefer to forget? How is identity formed or disrupted by memories, or by their lack? How can the attempt to recount a past experience change one's relation to it? How are both war and memory related to technology (including the technology of films and books…)? What does the end of the world have to do with the power of memory and/or its failure? The course material includes texts and films referring especially to World War II, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust, as well as the Algerian War of Independance, and to unspecified or imagined catastrophes that spell the end of the world as we know it.

All lectures, discussion and coursework will be in French. Aside from reading and film viewing, coursework will include formal essays, shorter writing assignments in response to the material, and mid-term and final exams.

Readings/Films:
Maurice Blanchot, L’instant de ma mort (récit)
Chris Marker, La jetée (film)
Marguerite Duras / Alain Resnais, Hiroshima mon amour (film + extraits du scénario)
Philippe Grimbert, Un secret (livre + film)
Michael Haneke, Caché (film)
Samuel Beckett, Fin de partie (pièce)

Prerequisite: French 100; consent of instructor.

GE credit (Old):  Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbook:

• Phillipe Grimbert, Un Secret  (Livre de Poche, 2007)
   

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 GRADUATE COURSES
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FRENCH 251. Topic: "Everything (or Almost Everything) You Wanted to Know about the Logic of French, but were Afraid to Ask" (4 units)
Eric Russell

M 3:10-6:00P
522 Sproul
CRN 93228

Description: This course is designed for graduate students whose research or professional agenda involves French, whether in linguistics, literature, or cultural studies. It has as its goal to provide students a background to the objective study of language forms and behaviors, and to develop solid intellectual postures based on human/social science methodology and approaches. By the end of the quarter, students will gain an appreciation for different and varying logical patterns of language (notably French, but also others) and be able to apply this to their wider studies.

Often, languages – especially non-native ones – are learned by what social scientists refer to as data fitting: we try to understand French verbal structure based on our experience with English verbs, for example, and in so doing force what we see in French verbs to follow our established, English-framed sense of “verb.” While this is understandable and is perhaps a universal mechanism for assimilation of new information and stimuli (after all, we have to start somewhere!), it can lead to misunderstandings. Teaching and learning any language is rife with exo-ecological understandings such as these. For example, we are told – and too often believe – that mon, quelle and certains are adjectives (they’re determiners, members of a family that includes un, la and des), that French adjectives and nouns are distinct (when in fact, any noun can be used as an adjective or vice versa), or that the imperfect is somehow triggered by repetition or frequency (even if it may be perfectly acceptable to say j’ai mangé un croissant chaque matin à Paris or je courrais comme un lapin ce matin). In these and many other instances, we apply our preconceptions and structured ways of understanding to that which they are foreign… to our own detriment.

In this seminar, we will look closely at how language (specifically, French) functions from a non-prioristic, endo-ecological standpoint: in essence, we will search for the logic of French, without attempting to fit it to the logic of English or any other language. In so doing, we will incorporate several basic structural terms and concepts, develop an ecological understanding of language form, and explore language functionality. The quarter will be divided into five units, the first of which introduces some foundational ideas; each of the other units focuses on a particular facet of French that is often poorly conceived and ill understood:
-    Basic tools: grammar, lexicon, form, function
        o    Take home: there is no magic (even if there is poetry)
-    Understanding the syllable: stress- versus syllable timing, phonological words, liaison
        o    Take home: “word” is a relative concept (also, liaison is really pretty easy to grasp, but not until you abandon English)
-    Understanding forms: reciprocals and progressives
        o    Take home: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should (or, how to not sound like a Germanic speaker in Romance)
-    Understanding function: the subjective mood
        o    Take home: it’s all really easy, once you understand irrealis (bonus: now you understand Spanish and Italian, too!)
-    Understanding information: focus, clefts and accent
        o    Take home: some languages are Yoda, some are Spock (or, fabulous and inviting, linguistic study is.)

Course materials and work

Readings will be distributed via SmartSite: a preliminary reading will be assigned before the first class session (this is one of the inevitable fall-outs of our lovely 10 week quarter… mea culpa).

For each assigned reading, please prepare the following in writing:
-    A list of the most important terminology and concepts, as well as a short explanation of these in your own words
-    Your own understanding of the goal and importance of the reading (2-3 sentences)
-    Three to five questions that you have based on this reading: these can be specific or general, precise or open ended. The goal is to develop strong intellectual habits, which are more demonstrable in the questions we ask than the answers we have.

For each of the four main units, a data set will be assigned. You may work on these in groups or alone: the goal of these is to allow you to put readings into practice.

Finally, you will outline your own “fifth unit,” i.e. develop a topic that you will describe and explain using course materials and other readings. The topic will be chosen in consultation with me and developed during the second half of the quarter.

Grades will be based on the final project (50%), participation (25%) and weekly readings/data work (25%).

Please be extremely mindful of academic honest in all work you do, in and outside of the confines of class. It is your responsibility to adhere to the Student Code of Conduct: please see me if you have any questions.

Finally, please plan on coming to and engaging with each session. As a rule, I do not give out incompletes except in the most drastic of circumstances.

Prerequisite: French 201, 250A or 250B, or consent of the instructor.

Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Readings will be on SmartSite
   

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FRENCH 396. Teaching Assistant Training Practicum (various units)

Elisabeth Griffart-Meissner (Sec. --, CRN ***)

(Note: Contact Falicia Savala at fsavala@ucdavis.edu for the CRN.)