French (FREN) 101

French for Beginners II (Revision 3)

FREN 101 Course cover

Revision 3 closed for registrations, replaced by current version

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Delivery Mode: Individualized study online with video/audio components.*
*Overseas students, please contact the University Library before registering in a course that has an audio/visual component.

Credits: 3

Area of Study: Humanities. This course may be taken for credit towards most degree programs. It cannot, however, be applied to the BA major in French.

Prerequisite: FREN 100 or recent completion of French 20 (or two years of senior high school French or equivalent). A good knowledge of English grammar is essential.

Precluded Course: FREN 103 (FREN 100 may not be taken for credit if credit has already been obtained for FREN 103.)

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

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Overview

FREN 101 continues the study of the basic elements of the French language acquired in FREN 100. Oral and written skills are developed through the study of vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions. This course will enable students to speak and write in simple French in a range of everyday situations. A basic knowledge of English grammar is very important since FREN 101 contains a major grammar component.

Outline

French in Action: Lessons 14-26. This component of the course will enable you to speak and write in simple French about:

  • your origins, your family and your childhood
  • jobs and employment
  • shopping
  • holidays and other events in the past tenses
  • education (schooling)
  • subjects you study
  • food and food habits
  • ordering food in restaurants
  • culinary habits in general and more specifically in France
  • travel in general and tourism in France

French in Action is the televised component of FREN 101. Each lesson of the textbook corresponds to a televison episode. Students must view each program. Students who register at a time that does not correspond to the television broadcasts or who are residing outside of the broadcast range of ACCESS, The Education Station in Alberta, may borrow videotapes from Athabasca University Library.

En bons termes is the basic grammar component of FREN 101. Lessons 11-18 are covered in FREN 101. The grammar component is very important and must be studied methodically. En bons termes covers grammatical concepts such as:

  • the comparative and superlative
  • reflexive verbs in the passé composé
  • the use of the imparfait together with the passé composé
  • depuis with expressions of time
  • demonstrative pronouns
  • the futur
  • object pronouns used with the impératif
  • the use of the conditionnel
  • possessive pronouns
  • the plus-que-parfait
  • indefinite adjectives
  • irregular verb conjugations and the use of prepositions
  • the futur antérieur
  • the use of the negations
  • the subjunctive
  • relative pronouns

Evaluation

To receive credit for FREN 101, you must complete ALL the Oral Assignments as well as the Final Oral Examination. You must also obtain a minimum grade of 50 percent on the written examination, a minimum grade of 50 percent on the Oral examination and a minimum composite course grade average) of “D”(50 percent) on the course itself.

Tutor Marked Written Exercises (4 @ 5 pts. ea) 20%
Comprehensive Written Exercises (2 @ 5 pts. ea) 10%
Tutor Marked Oral Exercises (5 @ 2 pts. ea) 10%
Final Oral Examination 10%
Final Written Examination 50%
Total 100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbooks

Capretz, Pierre J., Béatrice Abetti, Marie-Odile Germain, and Laurence Wylie. French in Action: The Capretz Method Part 1. 2nd ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997.

Parmentier, Michel A., and Diane Potvin. En bons termes. 7th ed. Toronto: Prentice-Hall Canada, 2007.

Parmentier, Michel A., Diane Potvin, and A. Mister. En bons termes: Cahier de laboratoire. 7th ed. Toronto: Prentice-Hall Canada, 2007.

Other materials

All other course materials will be accessed online.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

Opened in Revision 3, June 13, 2008.

View previous syllabus