Welcome to French 115, the first semester of intermediate French.  Prerequisites for the course are three years of recent high school French or French 112.  We will work together to increase your skills in reading, writing, speaking (including pronunciation) and listening.  The goal of this course is effective communication in French.  You have learned many of the essentials of French grammar in the first year of French, but we will review, refine, and consolidate those skills.  To communicate effectively in a foreign language, it is not enough to "get your idea across."  Instead, our goal is that you will communicate in such a way that a native French speaker would want to speak with you .... which is to say fluently and grammatically. We will use French (almost) exclusively in class.  I, like many French speakers, will refuse to understand English if I think you know how to form your comments or questions in French.

Textbook:	Siskin, et. al., Ouvertures:  Cours intermédiare de français,  Troisième Edition, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2001.
	Siskin, et. al., Ouvertures:  Cours intermédiare de français, Cahier d'exercises et de laboratoire, Troisième Edition, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2001.

N.B.  Expect to work a little harder in the first few weeks if you have forgotten some things over the summer.  If you have trouble with a particular grammar point, consult your elementary textbook, and by all means, buy  a  good  dictionary.  But also, remember my office hours if you need some extra help. There are also tutors available through the Department of Foreign Languages (STV 114).  Bring both your text and workbook to class every day!

A Note on Participation:

The course meets Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Class attendance is mandatory!  Learning a language is a slow, cumulative process which requires consistent reinforcement and active participation.  Come to class awake (coffee/soft drinks is permitted), prepared and ready to work.  Your final grade will be negatively affected by poor attendance in that you will miss quizzes and instructions that I will not repeat.

Find someone right now to exchange phone numbers/e-mails with so that you can get missed assignments. You are allowed 4 excused AND unexcused absences. Missing more than this will affect your participation grade. This grade is determined by my assessment of how well you have engaged in the learning process. Engagement means being prepared, going the extra mile to work in French as much as you can, showing me that you are trying and making progress. I do not assess this by how often you speak but by how often you try and improve! Not everyone is equally bold and I know that learning a language can be scary at times. Just relax and do your best; I will see it.

Grading:	The final grade will be computed as follows:
Participation, Workbook, Quizzes, & graded homework	15%
Compositions & Error Analyses	15%
Chapter Tests	25%
Oral Exams	10%
Midterm Exam	15%
Final Exam	20%

No make-up quizzes will be given, but at the end of the semester the quiz with the lowest grade will be dropped.

On  the  workbook and lab:

There will be daily assignments in the workbook and textbook. In the workbook, write the answers to all exercises, then correct the completed exercises using the answer key at the end of the workbook. Circle incorrect answers and write correct answers above or in the margin with a contrasting color of ink.

You should bring the Workbook to class every day. Sometimes we will go over these exercises in class. I will periodically ask for selected exercises to be handed in, and they will be graded according to how thoroughly they have been done and corrected.

On Chapter Test days, I will review all the exercises for that unit, and assign a grade which will be part of the Class Participation grade. Do not fail to bring your workbook on Chapter Test days. LATE WORKBOOKS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!!

In addition to your regular preparation for class, you should plan to spend 30-60 minutes each week using the audio tapes and, if you want, computer exercises in the lab.  When you go to the lab, you will fill out a card, and I will spot check the workbooks.  You may also copy the lab tapes onto your own blank cassette for use at home, but be sure to fill out a card just the same.

Compositions:

You will write 3 compositions during the semester. They are to be done on the word processor with accents included. You may use the Foreign Language Computer Lab (STV 227B). Computers there are equipped with foreign language word processing software as well as spell-check and grammar-check capabilities.

Students write 2 drafts of each composition. Peer review occurs in class after the first draft. You will revise and then turn in your second draft to me. I will note errors but not explain them and you will then write an error analysis where you explain how you can re-phrase. Error analyses are graded separately from the compositions.

All compositions and error analyses are to be kept in a portfolio. Each time you hand in a composition, hand in the entire portfolio with all drafts of all papers so that I can check your progress. I expect to see progress. If the same errors occur time and again, this will negatively affect your grade.

Tests:

There will be one scheduled quiz on the first part of each chapter, and perhaps some shorter, unannounced quizzes. There are NO make-ups for quizzes, but I will drop the lowest grade at the end of the semester.

Chapter exams will include vocabulary, grammar, and content of readings. You may make up a chapter exam only if you have a valid, verifiable reason for being absent. You should notify me as soon as possible, preferably BEFORE the exam.

The midterm exam will cover the material of Chl. 1, 2, and half of Ch. 3. The final exam will stress the second half of Ch. 3 and Ch. 4 & 5, but will also include material from earlier in the semester, i.e., this is a comprehensive final!

There will be midterm and final oral exams of about 10 minutes. They are scheduled for the 9th and 16th weeks of class. The format of the orals will be explained a week in advance to give you time to prepare.