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French Beginners

Module description

French Beginners is intended for those who have little or no previous knowledge of French and provides an introduction to the French language and culture in a general context. It is also suitable for those with a GCSE (Grade C or below) in French. The emphasis is on enabling you to communicate orally in French.

French Beginners can be taken towards achieving ‘with proficiency in French”, see http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/flc/undergraduate/proficiency/

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module is broadly equivalent to A1/low A2 Basic User level of the Common European Framework and aims to:

• Provide you with a solid foundation of the basic grammatical structures of the target language thus enabling you to communicate effectively across the four key language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) at an elementary level on a variety of general topics

• Enable you to give and understand information and to achieve a confident elementary level of communicative competence in everyday situations.

• Provide an introduction to the customs, culture and society of the regions/countries in which the languages are spoken and to develop your awareness of the general social and cultural background of the language.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a sound grasp of the basic grammatical structures of the target language
• 2. Read and comprehend simple written and aural texts and extract specific, predictable information related to every-day situations
• 3. Communicate effectively on a variety of general topics requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters, both orally and in writing

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Understand the principles of learning a foreign language intensively and organise your learning with guidance from the tutor.
• 5. Use available learning aids in a variety of media, such as a reference grammar and bilingual dictionary, to consolidate your learning

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Communicate at a basic level in the target language
• 7. Make progress through developing skills of self-study and application and develop an awareness of and sensitivity to a foreign culture

Syllabus plan

The module provides a systematic approach to acquiring essential grammar structures in a communicative context and in accordance with the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

Grammar (non-exhaustive):

• Articles: definite, indefinite and partitives
• Interrogation and negation
• Gender and number: nouns and adjectives
• Adjectives: possessives and demonstratives
• Various prepositions
• Verbs: imperative, present, perfect and future; reflexive verbs

Topics (non-exhaustive):

• Self and family: introducing oneself, stating name, age, nationality etc... and talking about the family, describing members of the family
• World of work: professions, holiday jobs
• Home and the environment: describing house/flat, towns and villages, finding the way around town
• Shopping: buying food, clothes
• Talking about leisure activities
• Holidays and travel: buying train tickets, using various means of transport, booking various types of accommodation. Staying in Paris, sightseeing, some francophone countries.
• Food and drink

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

You will only be required to retake any failed assessments. Marks for any passed assessments will be carried forward. If you have failed any assessments but managed to pass the module overall, you will not be allowed to retake the failed assessments.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bougnec, Le Jean-Thierry, and Marie-José Lopes. Inspire 1: Meéthode de Français A1. Hachette Français Langue Étrangère, 2022. ISBN:978-2015135755

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11256 

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Grammaire progressive du français - Nouvelle édition : Livre débutant A1 + 440 exercices, CD. 2nd edition by Maia Grégoire, Publisher: Cle international (July 2018), ISBN-13: 978-2090380996

Key words search

French, Beginner