Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

FR 103 is the third term of a three 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 103 is offered for four 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.

Recommended: Successful completion of FR 102 or the equivalent language experience in French, competency to be determined by the teacher. Students whose skill level in French is more advanced than that of FR 103 will not be admitted.

Students successfully completing the First Year French sequence:

A. Manage common interactions, in both oral and written forms, in a selected variety of settings using the present, past and future tenses.
B. Apply circumlocution and inference skills when navigating a variety of real world situations in French.
C. Reflect on linguistic and cultural diversity within the French speaking world and how it differs and/or relates to one’s own culture.
D. Apply a broader understanding of important historical and cultural movements in the target culture through exposure to literature, art and
performing arts in the target language.
E. Expand and strengthen 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 reviewed, expanded, and perfected previously learned material, have practiced, and will be able to use the following communication topics and structures:

‚Communication topics
Education
Ordering, paying
Telephoning
Expressing personal opinions and attitudes
Food and drink
Accepting and giving thanks and compliments and recommendations
Simple narration in the past

‚Structures
Regular and additional irregular verbs in passe compose and future
Additional adverbs and restrictive ne...que
Additional uses of articles and object pronouns
Relative pronouns