FREN10004: French 1 - Winter Intensive

x2 listening assessments (10% each), x1 mid-semester exam (20%), x1 oral presentation (25%), x1 written journal (10%) and x1 final examination (25%)

Initially, I underestimated the 'intensive' element of this subject. But after an hour into my first tute, I came to realise that I'd need to work exceptionally hard in this subject if I were to do well. Indeed, the tutor advised the class that 3 hours minimum of extra work was needed after every day's intensive lesson. And she was most definitely right. One day of this course is roughly equivalent to a week worth of content (in the standard semester). However, I became accustomed to the fast pace of the course and absolutely loved the subject. Francoise, the subject coordinator, consistently updated the LMS with each day's guide, respective powerpoint, practice listening tests, practice worksheet solutions and sample diary entries for the journal. This organisation meant that the subject was fair in all regards. That is, students were given every opportunity to perform well on the assessment tasks. Another element of this subject that I thoroughly enjoyed was the close classroom bond established. Naturally, students are required to engage in speaking activities when learning a foreign language, which can sometimes contribute to self-consciousness or embarrassment. The comfortable classroom environment, however, meant that everyone learnt together and supported each other's progress.

The final exam is definitely designed to be finished at the 1.5 hour mark. In reading time, take the time to fully understanding the reading text and perhaps start to answer the comprehension questions in your mind. This gives you the confidence to move onto the further comprehension activities in the centre of the exam. These activities necessitate a rigorous understanding of all the verbs learn throughout the course. At some stages, my mind blanked at certain conjugations, so it really is important that you do not confuse your verbs (regular verbs, irregular verbs, verbs for the recent past, near future, regular past, and present tense). I wasn't informed of this, but the final written composition is 200-250 words. Therefore, I'd suggest that you leave around 40 minutes for this.

NA

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The first listening test was fairly straightforward if you had properly revised. It followed the structure of a true and false section, a response section and a dictation one. It's really important that you pay close attention to how the question is posed. For example, it may specify that all numbers must be written in letters, or that definite articles must be included, etc. One aspect of the French language that I found quite difficult to grapple with was the omission of certain sounds. Thus, for the dictation section, it's critical that you pay very close attention to the final constants of words, which will likely indicate whether the subject of the sentence is feminine or masculine. Perhaps this may not be such an issue if you've already learnt a Romance language. I've only ever come from a Germanic background (German and English), where (nearly) all sounds are pronounced.

Again, this assessment task wasn't too bad if you've studied. I actually found that I had quite a substantial amount of time to review my work and make corrections. There is a reading section at the start, some smaller questions/grammar exercises in the middle, and a final composition at the end. For the composition, there will be list of grammatical structures that must be incorporated into the response. This provides a nice framework for planning the written piece. The journal entries definitely helped with this final section, and all of the others.

The oral presentation is in response to Gainbourg: A Heroic Life (performed in French), which the entire cohort watches sometime in the second week. Within each tutorial class, students will be allocated (generally with a partner) with a certain character of the film and an accompanying situation. I found it helpful to first construct the script in English, and then compare it with my partner. In that way we could make any minor adjustments before we translated it into French. As concerns pronunciation, Google Translate is an extremely helpful guide. After listening several times to its automated pronunciations, I began to construct my own phonetic translations, so that I could effectively mimic the sounds. Creativity is also assessed here, so do go to the effort to make a costume and have a background powerpoint slide, etc.

No. But there were, however, various practice reading comprehension tasks and quizzes on the LMS.

5 out of 5

The textbook, “Vis-à-vis: Beginning French”, is an absolute necessity.

5 hours x 4 days a week

Given that this is not being written throughout the semester, but over the period of 1 week, it is important that students consistently pen down entries. At the start, they may be around 25-50 words, but the last few ones should hit the 80-120 word mark. Every day the tutor will recommend a new topic to write on (it will correlate with the content of the day). Writing is an excellent way to consolidate and fuse different grammatical structures and vocabulary. As you're drawing on new vocabulary, it is essential that you know its gender (if it is a noun), and its different forms (if it is an adjective). No dictionaries are allowed for university languages!

Winter Term 2018

H1