Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

FR 150 is the first term of a two term sequence in First Year French at the college level. Communicative proficiency is the main objective of the sequence. The four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are developed with emphasis on active use of these skills. In addition, students will gain cultural awareness and appreciation.
FR 150 is offered for six hours of transferable credit. It satisfies part of the foreign language requirement for the B.A. degree, counts as an elective for the A.A. degree, and contributes to the general education requirement for other Associate Degrees.
FR 150 is a course for beginners, so there are no prerequisites. However, prior experience with foreign language study may be helpful. Students in developmental education classes or ENL should complete those courses before they enroll in FR 150. Students whose skill level in French is more advanced than that of FR 150 will not be admitted.

Students successfully completing FR 150:
 

A. Manage common interactions, in both oral and written forms, in predictable settings using the present and beginning work in the past and
future tenses.
B. Apply circumlocution and inference skills, at a beginning level, when navigating selected real world situations in French.
C. Recognize and identify linguistic and cultural diversity within the French speaking world and how it differs and/or relates to one’s own
culture.
D. Identify selected historical and cultural movements in the target culture through exposure to literature, art, music, film and/or performing arts in the target language.
E. Acquire and apply strategies for analyzing authentic materials in the target language.

Students are expected to attend all classes, participate actively in classroom activities, and prepare oral and written homework assignments. Students may work with audio tapes in the media center or at home, and they may meet with the teacher in conferences. After the introduction to the course, French will be used in the classroom at all times. Students should plan to spend about one hour in preparation and practice outside of class for each class hour.

Students are assessed globally rather than from the point of view of the presence or absence of a given linguistic feature. Students will be assessed through a daily evaluation of their individual progress and improving competence in using the language as demonstrated by the quality of oral and written preparation and participation and daily oral and written assignments. Though tests are not used as an assessment tool, attendance is an important factor.

The course focuses on the acquisition and correct use of pronunciation and intonation, grammatical structures, functional vocabulary, and cultural concepts for the purpose of successful communication in French. Successful students have practiced, and will be able to use the following communication topics and structures:
Communication topics:
 

1. Greetings and health
2. Age and nationality
3. Physical and personality characteristics
4. Family
5. Date
6. Personal interests and activities
7. Time, weather
8. Social encounters

Structures:
 

1. The sound system of French
2. Regular and some irregular verbs in present, imperative, immediate future, durative present, and with venir de; simple infinitive constructions
3. Interrogative and negative sentence patterns and structures
4. Numbers and simple adverbs
5. Definite, indefinite, and partitive articles
6. Descriptive,possessive, demonstrative, and interrogative adjectives
7. Subject, stressed, direct object, reflexive, interrogative, and demonstrative pronouns
8. Comparisons
9. Demonstrative and interrogative adjectives
10. Expressions of time