Language Courses | R&C Courses | Upper-Division Courses | Graduate Courses
Language
Elementary French, first semester (Summer Session C -- 8 weeks)
1
Summer 2017
Class No: 11615
Instructor: S. Chavdarian
Readings:
Chez nous: Branché sur le monde francophone, Media Enhanced 4th edition; Chez nous: Branché sur le monde francophone, Student activities manual, Media Enhanced 4th edition; Chez nous: Branché sur le monde francophone, Answer Key, Media Enhanced 4th edition; Recommended: Morton, English Grammar for Students of French
Course Description:
Introduction to Francophone cultures through speaking, listening, reading, and writing in French, with French as the exclusive means of communication. Emphasis is placed on developing student ability to create and to communicate with basic French structures and vocabulary. Linguistic and cultural competency is developed through oral exercises, individual and collaborative reports, class discussions, and the use of various media resources. Reading and writing are developed through both in-class and independent reading projects using the French Department Library, as well as through compositions and other written assignments. The program integrates all aspects of foreign language study through a process-oriented approach in compliance with ACTFL‘s Oral Proficiency and the 5Cs of the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning for the 21st Century. Cultural competency is also reinforced by exposure to French and Francophone worlds through various oral/aural exercises, written assignments, film clips and various media resources. The students will gain a historical perspective on French and Francophone cultures.
Prerequisites:
No previous French experience required. This course is also appropriate for students with one quarter of college-level French, 2 years of high school French, or less. For additional placement information please see Lower Division Placement Guidelines.
Additional information:
All sections are conducted entirely in French.
Elementary French, second semester (Summer Session C -- 8 weeks)
2
Summer 2017
Class No: 11619
Instructor: S. Chavdarian
Readings:
Chez nous: Branché sur le monde francophone, Media Enhanced 4th edition; Chez nous: Branché sur le monde francophone, Student activities manual, Media Enhanced 4th edition; Chez nous: Branché sur le monde francophone, Answer Key, Media Enhanced 4th edition; Recommended: Morton, English Grammar for Students of French
Course Description:
Continuing development of students’ knowledge of fundamental structures of French, awareness of Francophone cultures, and their appropriate socio-linguistic application in both spoken and written communication. Class conducted entirely in French. Speaking ability is developed through oral exercises, individual and collaborative reports, class discussions and debates. Reading and writing are developed through both in-class and independent reading projects using the French Department Library, compositions and various written assignments. Students are introduced to French analytical writing through an exploration of various topics relating to contemporary French and Francophone societies. The course also includes the reading of authentic literature in the form of a modern play. The program integrates all aspects of foreign language study through a process-oriented approach in compliance with ACTFL‘s Oral Proficiency and the 5Cs of the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning for the 21st Century. Cultural competency is also reinforced through individual oral reports, class debates on issues affecting contemporary world societies, and the use of appropriate media resources including radio and television news, film clips, and cultural programs. Students will have the opportunity to do comparative studies on French and American cultures in terms of both personal and national identity. The class meets five days a week; it is conducted entirely in French; plan on daily oral and written exercises.
Prerequisites:
French 1 at UC Berkeley or 1 semester (or 2 quarters) of college-level French at another university or 3 years of high school French or consent of the instructor.
Additional information:
All sections are conducted entirely in French.
Intermediate French (Summer Session C -- 8 weeks)
3
Summer 2017
Class No: 11620
Instructor: V. Rodic
Readings:
Required: Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections, 2nd Edition, Pearson (Textbook, Student activities manual, and Answer key, access to My French Lab, and complimentary Oxford New French Dictionary); select outside readings
Please note: All of the required material (textbook, student activities manual, answer key and MyFrenchLab) will be available in package form at the Cal Student Store. In most cases, purchasing a package turns out to be cheaper than buying the components separately. Oxford New French Dictionary included in package.
Recommended: Morton, English Grammar for Students of French
Course Description:
This course is conducted in French. This is an intermediate language and culture class that aims to consolidate and expand the skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing in French. The course aims to promote cross-cultural understanding through the use of authentic materials such as literary and journalistic texts, multimedia, film, pop songs, and television/radio broadcasts, and other cultural artifacts. We will explore various topics such as self and family, education, human relationships, traditions, politics, and national identities, and compare American and other perceptions to those of the French and francophone world in whole class discussion, small groups and other collaborative formats. In addition to a review and refinement of grammar and vocabulary in a culturally rich context, students also experiment with their written expression through different formats, including analytical essays, journals, creative writing and independent projects using the Internet.
Prerequisites:
For students with one of the following: 4 years of high school French; a passing grade in French 2 at UC Berkeley; 2nd or 3rd semester college French; 3rd or 4th-quarter college French; a 3 on the AP French exam.
Additional information:
Satisfies the College of Letters & Science breadth requirement in International Studies (IS). All sections are conducted entirely in French, with 25 students per section.
Advanced Intermediate French (Summer Session C -- 8 weeks)
4
Summer 2017
Class No: 11621
Instructor: V. Rodic
Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections, 2nd Edition, Pearson (Textbook, Student activities manual, and Answer key); Jean-Paul Sartre, Huis-clos, (Gallimard, 2000). ISBN-10: 2070368076 and ISBN-13: 978-2070368075; selected outside readings
Recommended: My French Lab access; Morton, English Grammar for Students of French
The program uses the second edition only. All of the required materials (textbook, student activities manual, answer key and MyFrenchLab) will be available in package form at the Cal Student Store. In most cases, purchasing a package turns out to be cheaper than buying the components separately. Oxford New French Dictionary is included in package.
Recommended: Morton, English Grammar for Students of French
Course Description:
This course is conducted entirely in French. French 4 is an advanced intermediate language and culture class that aims to refine the skills acquired in French 3 or equivalent courses and to enhance students’ familiarity with French and Francophone literature. Emphasis is placed on the strengthening of oral and written expression in order to promote linguistic and cultural competences through an extensive grammar review and exploration of texts, visual and audio sources, multi-media, and other cultural artifacts. Topics covered include immigration and multiculturalism, France’s relations with other countries in Europe and around the world, Francophone cultures, identity, politics, the arts, and film. Various genres and visual and written forms are covered, including short stories, plays, poems, and films, studied in their literary and cultural contexts (history, philosophy, music, art). Throughout the semester, students share ideas in collaborative small groups and whole class discussion, continue to work on independent projects using the Internet, and explore new formats for writing in French, including expository writing, journalistic and creative writing activities, as well as visual and textual analysis in French.
Prerequisites:
For students with one of the following: a passing grade in French 3 at UC Berkeley; 4th-semester or 5th-quarter college French; a 4 or 5 on the AP French exam. For additional placement information please see Lower Division Placement Guidelines.
Additional information:
Satisfies the College of Letters & Science breadth requirement in International Studies (IS). All sections are conducted entirely in French, with a maximum of 25 students per section.
Reading and Composition (R&C)
Dissidence and Subversion
R1B (Section 1) : English Composition through French Literature in Translation (Summer Session D -- 6 weeks)
Summer 2017
Class No: 11617
Instructor: S. Postoli
Readings/Films:
Course Reader
Course Description:
“There is no material content, no formal category of an artistic creation […] which did not originate in the empirical reality from which it breaks free.” ~Theodore Adorno
These words by Theodor Adorno call attention to two aspects of artistic creation: (1) that it is always a function of its times and (2) that it breaks free from it. Although seemingly contradictory, these two aspects work together to make art — literature and film, in our case — a site where aspects of historical reality are reflected under the lens and light chosen by the writer/director. The series of choices they make will therefore respond to a particular historical reality favorably, critically, or altogether attempt to escape it.
In this course we will consider literary and cinematographic works from the XVIII century to the present that position themselves antagonistically vis-à-vis a form of government, ideology, or historical event. Our discussions will explore how these texts are situated in the historical context and, more importantly, what they react against, what they attempt to overcome, and by what means — stylistic, generic, discursive, philosophical, aesthetic, or otherwise. Throughout our discussions we will trace how the modes of literary engagement change with each period, why they change, and whether there is a perennial form of writerly commitment that endures across ages, genres, styles. Concurrently, we shall consider the place and influence of the writer in the public sphere from the Enlightenment to the present, both in France and across the Francophone World.
Additional information:
French R1B fulfills the second half of the Reading and Composition Requirement in the College of Letters and Science. Class conducted in ENGLISH.
Ex Machina: Machines and Humans in French Literature and Film
R1B (Section 2) : English Composition through French Literature in Translation (Summer Session D -- 6 weeks)
Summer 2017
Class No: 11618
Instructor: J. Vaknin
Readings/Films:
Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Tomorrow’s Eve [L’Ève future]
Jules Verne, Paris in the Twentieth Century [Paris au XXe siècle]
Jean-Luc Godard (dir.), Alphaville
Alex Garland (dir.), Ex Machina
A course reader containing selections by Diderot, d’Alembert, Vaucanson, Asimov, Leroux, Haraway, and Riskin
Course Description:
The question of automation has long fascinated artists, philosophers, and scientists. In the first volume of Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert’s massive—and hugely controversial—Encyclopédie (1751), one finds the following entry for “Automate” [“Automaton”]:
Instrument which moves by itself, or machine which contains within itself the source of its motion. The word comes from the Greek ἀυτόματον and is composed of ἀυτὸς ipse [ sic ], and μάω, “I am excited, ready to move,” or perhaps μάτην, “easily,” from which came ἀυτόματος “spontaneous,” “voluntary.”
What distinguishes an automaton from other objects is its ability to control itself and move on its own. Even more interestingly, as the term’s Greek etymology suggests, an automaton is an object that acquires a degree of agency—it is an “I” that decides when it is “excited, ready to move.” Equally a source of wonder and dread, the figure of the automaton has been a rich trope in literature and art for centuries. This summer, we’ll begin with the French Enlightenment and peruse the pages of the Encyclopédie in order to examine the symbolic weight of machines during the period. Then, moving more or less chronologically from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, we’ll turn to other examples—mostly in French and francophone literature and film—that deal with automation and robotics. Our discussions will be guided by the following questions, among others: How does art represent the interaction between machines and humans? What function does the figure of the robot perform in literature and film? How does technology raise new questions concerning race, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic class? What formal features can we identify in science fiction genres?
This course fulfills the university’s R1B requirement and is designed, above all, in order to help students improve their critical reading and writing skills. In addition to short response papers and active class participation, students will be asked to write two longer analytical essays, the second of which will require a research component.
Additional information:
French R1B fulfills the second half of the Reading and Composition Requirement in the College of Letters and Science. Class conducted in ENGLISH.
Upper-Division Courses
History of the French Language (Summer Session D -- 6 Weeks)
145
Summer 2017
Class No: 15386
Instructor: K. Levine
Readings/Films:
Le Français dans tous les sens, Henriette Walter (Laffont, 1988), and course reader
Course Description:
Where did French, and its idiosyncratic spelling rules and infamous grammar exceptions, come from? How might its history continue to influence French as it is spoken, written, and taught today? In this course, we will explore the evolution of the French language from its medieval beginnings to its contemporary use in modern France and the Francophone world, and investigate how understanding the origins, controversies, and standardizations of French as we know it today can enhance the study of French literature and culture. Through readings of historical texts from a variety of genres, student presentations, and in-class discussions, we will consider what it means for a language to change and be changed. (Experience in linguistics not required.) Course taught in French.
Prerequisites:
French 102 or consent of Instructor.
Additional Information:
Satisfies Culture or Elective course requirement in French major. Satisfies 1 Historical Period requirement in French major. Satisfies Letters and Science breadth requirement in Historical Studies or Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Graduate Courses
History of the French Language (Summer Session D -- 6 Weeks)
201
Summer 2017
Instructor: M. McLaughlin
Readings:
Ayres-Bennett, Wendy (1996) A History of the French Language through Texts, London-New York: Routledge.
Course Description:
Where did French, and its idiosyncratic spelling rules and infamous grammar exceptions, come from? How might its history continue to influence French as it is spoken, written, and taught today? In this course, we will explore the evolution of the French language from its medieval beginnings to its contemporary use in modern France and the Francophone world, and investigate how understanding the origins, controversies, and standardizations of French as we know it today can enhance the study of French literature and culture. Through readings of historical texts from a variety of genres, student presentations, and in-class discussions, we will consider what it means for a language to change and be changed. (Experience in linguistics not required.) Course taught in French.
Prerequisites:
French 102 or consent of instructor.
Additional information:
This course satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” requirement in the French major. Course also satisfies one Historical Period Requirement in French Major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Social and Behavioral Sciences or Historical Studies.