Thirteen University Classes That Made Me Fluent in French
Choosing a major in college means locking yourself into taking many classes in a particular subject area. One of my majors in undergrad was French, and I thought it would be interesting to show you all the classes that I took on the way to earning both a degree in French and a DALF C2 certification.
FREN 202 – Intermediate French
This was a class where students finalized their abilities as intermediate users of the French language. In this class, the main focus was on being able to write, speak, listen, and read at a B1 to B2 level. We learned grammar topics, vocabulary, culture, and completed various projects. Some of these projects included a two-page paper meant to persuade the president of a hypothetical university to keep the French program alive and a class-wide oral debate about whether state surveillance is a good thing or a bad thing.
FREN 311 – Composition
This class helped students to explore the art of writing in a foreign language. It helped us to hone spelling and grammar abilities – which can be particularly tricky skills to master in French. In this class, we completed lots of written assignments – like daily journals, short articles, detailed art reviews, and medium-length papers.
FREN 312 – Oral Communication and Phonetics
This course was focused on speaking. Phonetics are very important in French, and this class was key in helping me learn to pronounce words correctly. We learned the phonetic alphabet – which are those strange letter-looking things that you find beside words in the dictionary. This class also integrated presentations and listening practice to help students speak and listen to more French. It is thanks to this class that French people often mistake Maria and I for natives!
FREN 313 – Business French
This class was a great way to move away from grammar rules and into some “real-world” knowledge. We learned many things that are useful in the professional world – like how to talk about the economy, budgeting, business plans, accounting, and more – all in French. Projects in this class included a mock job interview, a mock business meeting, a pitch for a new business idea, as well as a presentation/analysis of an existing business.
FREN 319 – French Cinema
This course on French cinema was a great way to develop auditory comprehension skills and to experience one of the most interesting parts of French culture. This class introduced students to several films of varying genres, styles, and periods. A non-exhaustive list would include films such as Un chien andalou, Sans toit ni loi, Tout va bien, and my favorite film to date, La Haine. One of the coolest assignments that we did in this class was an analysis of how the details of a written excerpt from Flaubert’s Madame Bovary were adapted for the big screen in the film directed by Claude Chabrol.
FREN 326 – Introduction to Pre-Revolutionary Literature
This class fell into a two-part series of classes about French literature. Pre-revolutionary French literature included works written before the 19th century. This class gave students an opportunity to explore written works that have influenced writings, laws, ideas, and cultures that we see in the francophone world today. We focused on writers such as Ronsard, Diderot, Montesquieu, and many more.
FREN 327 – Introduction to Post-Revolutionary Literature
The second half of the two-part class series was post-revolutionary French literature and included works written after the start of the 19th century. This class had the same goals as the preceding one – to have students explore the most influential writers and written works of the specified time period. For this class, we read Colette, Rimbaud, Chateaubriand, and Prévert among others.
FREN 331 – Representations of Good and Evil
This is a class that was very specific to the UMW French Program because it was based on the research of the professor teaching the course. The focus of this course was exactly what it sounds like. We looked at and discussed several written works from authors like Baudelaire, Gide, Camus, and more in order to analyze the course’s main question: D’où vient le mal ? (Where does evil come from?). Some works included La chute, W ou le souvenir d’enfance, L’immoraliste, and Les Fleurs du Mal.
FREN 334 – Women and Gender in Society
This was an interesting upper-level French course offered by the French department at UMW. Since often times French majors only look at works written by and about men when studying French literature, this class made it a point to study works written by or focusing on women and the question of gender. We studied famous works such as La princesse de Clèves, L’enfant du Sable, and Ourika as well as gender theory from well-known experts like Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir. This class also highlighted not only works from France, but from the other francophone countries as well.
FREN 335B – Québécois Literature and Culture
This class focused on one of the forgotten francophone cultures when it comes to French language education: Québec! In this course, we read great books by Québécois authors, watched interesting Québécois films, and completed projects focusing on the social issues and cultural history of a francophone area of the world that is often overlooked. Some titles read in the class included Les Aurores Montréales, L’acquittement, and Folle.
FREN 412 – Translation
This was a fun and informative class that allowed students to test their language skills while learning new ones. I liked learning different sayings and idiomatic expressions in both the English and French languages. My favorite part of the course was the final project where we picked a text and translated it to the best of our ability. I chose to translate an excerpt from Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits – a text originally written in Spanish and translated into many languages thereafter. Maria translated a few pages from Cleo Wade‘s Heart Talk – a contemporary book of poetry.
FREN 481A – Senior Seminar: 18th Century French Literature
Our senior seminar was a class designed for the graduating seniors in our major to look deeply at a specific topic. Although we had already gotten a brief overview of the authors studied in this course in French 326, we took a more in-depth look at several works from Diderot, Rousseau, and Voltaire in our senior seminar. The course culminated in the completion of a 20-page thesis on an 18th century work not read in class. I wrote mine on Montesquieu’s Lettres Persanes and Maria wrote hers on de Graffigny’s Lettres d’une Péruvienne.
FREN 491 – Individual Study: Contemporary Québécois Film
This was a one-on-one class designed by my professor that allowed me to take a look at the history and progression of Québécois film. I loved taking this course simultaneously with Québécois Literature and Culture, as I was able to present projects from my individual study to the larger class. I watched films such as Le Chat dans le Sac, Nô, Lawrence Anyways, and Mon Oncle Antoine.
Jalen’s Top-Five Favorite Courses
- FREN 319 – French Cinema
- FREN 335B – Québécois Literature and Culture
- FREN 331 – Representations of Good and Evil
- FREN 202 – Intermediate French
- FREN 491 – Individual Study: Contemporary Québécois Film
If you have taken French classes at any point, let us know how you liked them. Additionally, if you have any questions about majoring in French or learning the language, be sure to comment below. Thanks for reading!
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