Français 300

Composition and Conversation through the Cultural History of La Francophonie

Professeur : D. Kress
Tel. 869-5252
Courriel: dkress@centenary.edu
Heures de bureau: 1:30-2:30, lundi et mercredi

Texts: Digital Texts and Youtube Videos

This is a transitional course for students who have completed second year French and who wish to become more competent speakers and writers before enrolling in more advanced courses. Students will read short passages, practice their oral comprehension through film and videos, and write short, guided compositions about the men, women, and events that have shaped the Francophone world. Class time will be devoted to intensive oral practice developing the material covered in the readings, the films, and the compositions. Students will each research one important individual or event and produce a written presentation about that person or event that will become part of an online encyclopedia written for students of French.

This course is designed to make you more aware of ways in which people do not always share common values or experiences. Your challenge within this course is to expand your circle to promote respectful engagement with a particular section of the broader world. Through thoughtful exploration of racial, ethnic, cultural and religious differences, sex and gender diversity your task is to explore your role as an individual within a vast and complex cultural ecosystem that may sometimes seem very alien to you. This is important work; after all, if we wish to understand our role within the world, we need to consciously expand our knowledge of the world beyond ourselves.

Humanities, History and Culture Journal

These journals must be written in French and will be based on material taken from the following list. The following list is far from exhaustive. Rather, it is intended to give you basic tools to help you understand the events and movements that have shaped the history, culture, and literature of the Francophone world. Material from these assignments will be used on the quizzes. A half page entry for the following items will be due each Tuesday and Thursday. Each entry will receive two grades: one for timely completion of the assignment and a second for the quality of the writing. As you write, I expect you to draw conclusions about the deeper cultural meaning represented by each of the subjects listed below. Sometimes I have given you hints with the title, for others I expect you to search for meaning. (As much as we might like it, meaning is this world is not typically handed to us in ready-made parcels. We have to dig to find our own meaning.) Except for the assignments due the second and third days of class (longer than a half-page since these are in English), and those due at the end of the semester (noted on the syllabus), you can choose to write on any of the subjects below in any order you wish. Please note: Keep your corrected essays in a folder and turn in the completed journal the last day of class. You should have a folder containing approximately 15 pages of written French in addition to a reflection essay, in English, due at the end of the course.

Due the second day of class: in English: What I know about the French-Speaking World: a reflection paper based ENTIRELY on your own knowledge.

*Louis XIV: Conceptualizing a Colonial World	Why CODOFIL?
Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie	Indochine
The Religions of Francophone Africa	Mali
*Rubber and the République démocratique du Congo	Rwanda
*Patrice Lumumba	Saint-Pierre et Miquelon
Sénégal et l'île Saint-Louis	*La Salle
*John Law	*Louis Juchereau de St. Denis
Côte d’Ivoire	*Guy Tirolien
“Other” Religions in the French-Speaking World	CFA Franc
Togo	Burundi
*Anaïs Nin	Cameroun
Why a Poet Lauriat for French Louisiana?	Bénin
*Léopold Senghor et la négritude	Guinée Équatoriale
*The human cost of rubber in the Congo	*Victor Séjour
*Léopold III et l’Afrique belge	Burkina Faso
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George	Pondichéry--l'Inde française.
Qu’est-ce que la Francophonie ?	République centrafricaine
French Colonial Soldiers in WWI and WWII	Maryse Condé
Charles-Michel de l'Epée and FSL, A Community of Silent Francophones	Québec and its movement towards independence
Trans-francophones	*Jean Jacques Dessalines
*Le Grand Dérangement	Ayiti

*Items marked with an asterisk (*) must be written using the past tense.

Project:

This course will include a special project that must be completed before the last day of class. For this project you will research one historical figure or event that has shaped the evolution of the French speaking world and write what is essentially an encyclopedia entry for this individual or event. In fact, your submission will be incorporated into an online encyclopedia and will become part of it. The level of French should target a young but reasonably fluent audience and you will need to include appropriate images as necessary. All of the readings and videos linked to your syllabus will give you numerous examples of the sort of work you must undertake. The written assignments that are part of your culture journal will help insure that your level of French is sufficient to accomplish the task.

Policies

1. You are expected to come to class prepared every day. Study the material specified on the syllabus or in class and be sure to write out the assignments! They will be graded.

2.  Keep in mind that all class work will be conducted orally in French and your attendance and participation will have a definite impact on your grade. The activities of listening to a language, speaking a language, and writing a language all demand active skills. This class will require your active participation.

A language course is different from other courses at the college because you work on oral communication skills. The only place you can work on these skills is in class. Other classes may not require your attendance because you can learn the material from the book; however, there is no substitute for the dynamic interaction that takes place between you and your teacher—a trained language acquisition specialist. For this reason this course has a strong policy on absences.

*Make ups: No make-ups for an unexcused absence are given.

Services to Students with Disabilities:

It is the policy of Centenary College to accommodate students with disabilities pursuant to federal and state law and our commitment to equal educational opportunities. Students seeking support services/accommodations for a disability must first register with Disability Services (a division of the Counseling Center, 318-869-5466/5424, located on the ground floor of Rotary Hall) and should begin this process as early as possible. Students with accommodations approved through Disability Services are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first days of the term to discuss needed accommodations. We will gladly make appropriate accommodations based on disability to ensure the playing field is and remains level for all students.
(https://www.centenary.edu/student-life/support-services/disability-services/eligibility-for-services/)

College Diversity Statement

Centenary College of Louisiana values human diversity in all its richly complex and multi-faceted forms, whether expressed through race and ethnicity, culture, political and social views, religious and spiritual beliefs, language and geographic characteristics, gender, gender identities and sexual orientations, learning and physical abilities, age, and social or economic classes.

Grading: