The Four F’s of Learning French: Food, Festivals, Fashion, and Films Class Syllabus
MIT Educational Studies Program Summer 2012 July 8 – August 19 Room: MIT Building 1-379 Class Time: 1:30-3:00pm Professor: Dr. Babet Villena Alvarez E-mail: Jivillen@uscb.edu
Since this topic is cultural, I am asking all students to remember that there are multiple sides and perspectives to every cultural issue (Bull-fighting, for example), to be open-minded, and to try to view cultures from a different perspective.
I. READINGS/IMAGES/VIDEOS: (All readings and lessons will be made available through the course website and are in PDF -for ease in reading using i-Books or tablets).
A. Book Sources: 1. READING 1: 1A: CIA World Factbook: France https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fr.html (approx. 15 pp) 1B The CIA Factbook USA information below -used for a basis for comparison purposes: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html (approx. 14 pp) 2. READING 2: Modern French Culture Ed. By Nicholas Hewitt, pp. 104-124 3. READING 3: 3A Cultural Misunderstandings by Raymonde Carroll, pp. 13-21 3B Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture, Ed. By Alex Hughes and Keith Reader pp. 200-203 (fashion); 255-257 (Gastronomy) 4. READING 4: A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, pp. 3-23 5. READING 5: Speak the Culture: France by Thorogood, pp. 42-46; 74-75; 231-245; 247-269 6. READING 6: Film/Videos (pick from list below) Julie and Julia (Merryl Streep, Amy Adams, 2009) Rating: PG 13 Chocolat (Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, 2000) Rating: PG 13 7. READING 9: Cotemporary French Cultural Studies by Kidd, W. and Reynolds, S. pp. 179-192
B. Images (Videos and Powerpoints): 1. A. Normal: Boeuf Bourgignon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu_hW_F782k&feature=related B. Country food – Terroir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS8leRF-MCg C. Croq Monsieur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqH_V3yLtrY&feature=related 2. Julia Child A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwiv30rV4LU&feature=related B. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OP08hW602U 3. French Markets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUCPpEoc_Q0 4. Creperie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTeWb2SS0Zc&feature=related 5. Escargot A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11yOfxVIr0w Frog Legs B. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWhX_kfpQNw 6. Jules Verne Restaurant at the Eiffel Tower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3YRoXro1og&feature=related
C. Videos (YouTube) Festivals: 1. Fete des rois http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg7tAXfYNFs 2. Fete des lumières – Lyon A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=5h8lS_Av5dw&feature=endscreen B. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PqBQMeUZP0&feature=endscreen&NR=1 3. Bayonne Festival – Flash Mob – Lady Gaga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG24E0EbQ7E 4. Nice – Carnaval http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujWRyn_Ojl0&feature=related 5. Menton Lemon Festival http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw4m0HW5qsI 6. Festival de Toro – Béziers, France http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tANGEfc0mg
II. Class schedule: PROGRAMME DU COURS (Tentative, at its very best)
Fecha/Date Lessons/Lectures/ Readings/Videos Discussion Group/Pair Activities BLOG* Questions to think about online 8 de juillet Introduction -France Food in the Country Reading 1 A&B B1A , B1B, and B1C Videos Regional French reports Would you eat “grenouille and escargot?” Why or why not?
15 de juillet Reading 2 Food with the Family B1C and B1A&B Videos You own menú building Les crêpes as street food
22 de juillet Reading 3 A Festivals with Religions C1 and C2 A&B Videos Festivals Religious? group reactions Carnaval or Fête de Limon?
29 de juillet Reading 3B & 4 Festivals and Tourism C3 and C4 Videos Cultural or mainly for tourists? If you have $1000, which festival which you splurge it on and why?
5 de aôut Reading 4 & 5 Fashion C5 & C6 Videos French Fashion as cultural representation Would you wear this?
12 de aôut Reading 5 Films and France France in films A4 Reading VideoTBA American films in France Would you watch this film?
19 de aôut Reading 6 & 7 Conclusion and recap France is . . .
III. COURSE DESCRIPTION
The Four F’s of Learning French: Food, Festivals, Fashion, and Films. Open to all students, with or without French language background. This summer course is designed to give middle school and high school students a cultural edge with learning French. As the course title denotes, the emphasis will be in four areas of French culture. There will be certain comparisons with Francphone American culture as well. Taught in English.
The class will be conducted in a mix of short lectures and demonstrations, followed by class, group, or pair discussions and resolutions, mini presentations, interviews, short reports, photo montages, short films, mock festivals and cultural reporting.
IV. COURSE OBJECTIVES After successful completion of this course, students will:
1. have a better understanding of and a greater appreciation for the French (and Francphone) culture as it pertains to food, festivals, fashion and films;
2. better communicate their ideas and observations in course participation and in written works using the course topic;
3. formulate ideas and arguments based upon lessons learned, and incorporate said lessons and readings into their summer coursework.
V. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course is a content-based course, designed to teach students to be knowledgeable in specific cultural issues. Students completing this class will be better able to:
A. Identify key concepts, topics and issues on French culture (as it pertains to food, festivals, fashion and films
B. Think, articulate and write on the specific French cultural topics learned in class.
C. Promote, express and compose opinions on multicultural matters related to those discussed in class.
D. Have the ability to do online research in the cultural topics presented in the course.
VIII. ATTENDANCE POLICY If you miss classes, please make sure to read syllabus and handouts so that you can keep up with the discussions
X. PARTICIPATION
The success of this class and the course for the students is based on a POSITIVE participation from the students.
XI. COURSE POLICIES
A. Cell phones: No device use, cell phone conversation nor texting while in class.
B. Non-participatory communication and talking is disruptive of class. Please refrain from doing this.
X. COURSE COMMUNICATION
Please note that all communication between faculty and students will be conducted by email. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Nous allons avoir une expérience merveilleuse! Let’s have a great class. Dr. A
Student Foreign Language Background
Name: _________
Grade:_____
School Name: _____
City: _____
Please indicate in the table below the number of years/semesters/quarters you have studied Spanish and/or another foreign language in high school and college:
Language High school College (please indicate either semesters or quarters) Spanish __ yrs. sems/qtrs French __ yrs. sems/qtrs German __ yrs. sems/qtrs Latin __ yrs. sems/qtrs Other: ___ yrs. ___ sems/qtrs Have you ever traveled, worked or studied in another country? If so, what? Where? and How long?
COURSE EXPECTATIONS:
I have read and I understand the requirements of this course as outlined by the syllabus. All requirements have been thoroughly explained to me by the instructor, and I accept the terms and conditions of this class
PRINT NAME: ____ SIGNATURE: ____ DATE: _____ Please return a signed copy of this page to your instructor.
Last modified on July 03, 2012 at 01:46 p.m.