Writing in French: Tools & Techniques (intermediate)
COURSE DESIGNATOR: MONT 1302W LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: French
NUMBER OF CREDITS: 3 CONTACT HOURS: 45
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This class is designed to introduce students to the techniques and tools required for both academic and personal writing.
Over the course of the semester, students will learn how to write a variety of different types of texts including: the
description, the compte rendu universitaire, the journalistic portrait, and other textual genres.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The goal of this course is to improve students’ written expression and reading comprehension so that they can better
communicate in various contexts in the French language. To that end, students will acquire different tools that will enable
them to identify and grasp specific information from written documents with the ultimate goal of ameliorating their own
written production. The sessions that focus on written expression and reading comprehension will be based on
documents and activities that push the students to acquire reflexes for improved learning of the French language and of
its specificities in written form.
METHODOLOGY
This course is designed to be adaptable to the needs of students as they develop over the course of the semester. This
course also will rely on students’ acquisition of grammatical rules and their use in context.
Students will be expected to complete numerous writing assignments during the semester. These exercises will be
collected and graded on a regular basis, with the possibility for students to revise and improve each project. Course
objectives include: learning how to write different types of documents, with different content, using different styles,
applying the knowledge acquired in the grammar/methodology course, and acquiring the ability to think in French and
write directly in the target language without translating.
COURSE PREREQUISITES
Students must have a minimum level of A2 (Threshold or Intermediate) in the Common European Language Framework
or have completed the equivalent of FREN 1002 in the University of Minnesota system.
REQUIRED READINGS/ MATERIALS
Contemporary texts from journals, newspapers, and short fiction will be utilized and will vary each semester.
GRADING
Grading Rubric
A 93-100
Achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89 Achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements.
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79 Achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect.
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69 Achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.
D 60-66
F 0-59 Represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a
level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no
agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I.
SUMMARY OF HOW GRADES ARE WEIGHTED
Participation and attendance 10%
Essays during the semester 50%
Final essay exam 40%
Overall grade 100%
COURSE CONTENT
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SESSION 1
Course introduction: La vie en France
Activities: Reading comprehension of documents about life in France and retranscription of information.
Topics: The present tense, adverbs of time, daily life
SESSION 2
Returning to the past
Activities: Making comparisons, describing situations in the past.
Topics: Comparisons, reviewing past formation (grammar), expressing habitual action.
SESSION 3
The World of work
Activities: Understanding a current situation, explaining cause and consequence.
Topics: Articulators for expressing cause and consequence, vocabulary for the working world and for student life.
SESSION 4
Future projects
Activities: Letter or email-writing, describing future goals.
Topics: Letter and email-writing, asking questions, reviewing future formation (grammar point).
SESSION 5
The French Curriculum Vitae
Activities: Understanding key aspects of the French CV, CV-writing.
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Topics: The vocabulary for CVs in French, CV-writing techniques.
SESSION 6
Biographies and autobiographies
Activities: Identifying salient features of a text, writing one’s own self-portrait.
Topics: Autobiographical writing techniques; noun gender, descriptive vocabulary.
SESSION 7
Stories
Activities: Reading a story, learning how to summarize the main ideas.
Topics: Summary (résumé)-writing techniques; expressing notions of time and space.
SESSION 8
Stories II
Activities: Using punctuation.
Topics: Reading comprehension techniques, punctuation.
SESSION 9
An incredible tale!
Activities: Writing a story, enriching one’s language/style with varied qualifiers.
Topics: Story-writing techniques, qualifiers.
SESSION 10
An incredible tale! II
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Activities: Writing a story, connecting ideas.
Topics: Story-writing techniques, logical connectors.
SESSION 11
French orthography
Activities: Understanding the special features of French orthography.
Topics: Important orthographical rules.
SESSION 12
French orthography II
Activities: Understanding the special features of French orthography.
Topics: Orthographical rules, homonyms.
SESSION 13
French accents
Activities: Understanding the rules for accents in French.
Topics: Techniques for avoiding errors with accents.
SESSION 14
French accents II
Activities: Understanding the rules for accents in French.
Topics: Techniques for avoiding errors with accents.
SESSION 15
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Mixed words
Activities: Understanding the construction of words, sentences, and texts in French.
Topics: Sentence-formation techniques; French syntax.
SESSION 16
Creative writing workshop
Activities: Writing in French using different techniques that draw upon the imagination.
Topics: Review of French syntax and sentence formation.
SESSION 17
Discussion Forums
Activities: Exploring forums and understanding their characteristics; understanding eyewitness accounts and personal
anecdotes and learning how to respond.
Topics: Techniques for responding to personal accounts, giving advice, expressing a problem.
SESSION 18
SMS Language
Activities: Exploring the language used in SMSs; understanding and using the most common expressions.
Topics: Techniques for transitioning between SMS language and syntactically correct language.
SESSION 19
Wishes
Activities: Understanding and expressing wishes; classified ads.
Topics: expressing wishes, review of the present conditional and the imperative, responding to a classified ad.
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SESSION 20
Community work and projects
Activities: Understanding and describing societal problems.
Topics: Techniques for logically connecting ideas (review of logical linking words), community work.
SESSION 21
Reading a newspaper/news source
Activities: Using logical connectors.
Topics: Techniques for logically connecting ideas (review of logical linking words), news article-specific vocabulary.
SESSION 22
Writing a newspaper article
Activities: Communicating/reformulating read information.
Topics: Reported speech, news article-specific vocabulary.
SESSION 23
Opinions I
Activities: Expressing one’s opinion on different topics; understanding, explaining and summarizing articles,
argumentation.
Topics: Review of the present subjunctive; news article-specific vocabulary.
SESSION 24
Opinions II
Activities: Expressing one’s opinion on different topics; understanding, explaining and summarizing articles,
argumentation.
Topics: Review of the present subjunctive; news article-specific vocabulary.
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SESSION 25
General review
Activities: Reading an article, review of logical connectors.
Topics: General review; vocabulary linked to the various covered topics.
SESSION 26
Final Exam
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Students are expected to be on time and attend all classes while abroad. Many instructors assess both attendance and
participation when assigning a final course grade. Attendance alone does not guarantee a positive participation grade; the
student should be prepared for class and engage in class discussion. See the onsite syllabus for specific class requirements.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Academic integrity is essential to a positive teaching and learning environment. All students enrolled in University courses are
expected to complete coursework responsibilities with fairness and honesty. Failure to do so by seeking unfair advantage over
others or misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own can result in disciplinary action. The University Student Conduct
Code defines scholastic dishonesty as follows:
SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY:
Scholastic dishonesty means plagiarizing; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized
collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using test materials without faculty permission; submitting
false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify
records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement; altering forging, or
misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying data, research procedures, or data analysis.
Within this course, a student responsible for scholastic dishonesty can be assigned a penalty up to and including
an “F” or “N” for the course. If you have any questions regarding the expectations for a specific assignment or
exam, ask.
STUDENT CONDUCT:
The University of Minnesota has specific policies concerning student conduct. This information can be found on
the Learning Abroad Center website.
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