French Immersion: Contemporary Issues in the French-Speaking World

A fresh look at the French historic motto, ¿Liberté, égalité, fraternité,¿ opens the door to our 2022 French Immersion Sophomore College classroom. For students to become confident and competent French speakers capable of engaging in higher level discussions on a variety of subjects, we will explore a plethora of political, social, and economic issues that resonate today in both French and American contexts. Literature, music, and the visual arts will often serve as the lens through which these issues will be studied and analyzed.

The course will draw upon a variety of oral and visual media (documentaries, feature films, podcasts and songs) and rely on written texts such as news articles, essays, blogs, short stories, and poems. These resources will engage students in written and oral conversations, offer opportunities for group and individual presentations as well as creative final projects. Classes will be focused on the development of oral proficiency through class discussion, group activities as well as integration of vocabulary and review of key structures.

Our course is above all an opportunity to join a French-speaking community through organized group outings (museums, plays, shared meals), on-campus activities such as pétanque (lawn-bowling), picnics and crêpe-making. Intensive interaction in the target language with classmates, instructors, and the Sophomore College Assistants (SCAs) will enable students to move beyond the intermediate range of spoken and written French.