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Courses

This page contains content from the 2007–08 academic year. For current information, visit the Harvard Extension School website at www.extension.harvard.edu.

French Language and Literature

FREN E-1a Elementary French I
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $650. Limited enrollment.

Fall term, section 1 (10115) (Syllabus) (Printable version): Susan E. Bécam, PhD. Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 310.

Fall term, section 2 (11372) (Syllabus) (Printable version): Christine Hérot, EdD, Clinical Psychologist. Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 308.

This course is an introduction to French with an emphasis on communication. Extensive practice in all four skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—and a thorough review of the grammar necessary to support those skills. Students are encouraged to communicate in French through role-play and other interpersonal activities. They also read brief selections on French and Francophone culture, and write short dialogues and descriptions. For students with no knowledge of French. (2 credits)

FREN E-1b Elementary French I (20108)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Susan E. Bécam, PhD.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $650. Limited enrollment.
Spring term: Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 310.

This course, conducted largely in French, develops the basic communicative skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing with an emphasis on speaking the language. Students improve their conversational French through individual and group activities. They are introduced to French and Francophone culture. Prerequisite: FREN E-1a, or the equivalent. (2 credits)

FREN E-1x Reading for Information (10120)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Louise Marie Wills, PhD, Grants, Technology, and Alumni Relations Coordinator, Phillips Brooks House Association, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900. Limited enrollment.
Fall term: Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, 51 Brattle Street, Room 219.

This course is a systematic approach to written French involving grammar and usage. Differences between French and English are pointed out and illustrated by reading simple French texts. Students gradually become familiar with French ways of expression. Conducted in English. Prerequisite: a basic knowledge of English grammar. (4 credits)

FREN E-1y Reading and Translation (20112)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Louise Marie Wills, PhD, Grants, Technology, and Alumni Relations Coordinator, Phillips Brooks House Association, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900. Limited enrollment.
Spring term: Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, 51 Brattle Street, Room 219.

Students read French texts of moderate difficulty and translate them into English. Differences between French and English ways of written expression are pointed out and emphasis given to translations that read not as literally translated French but as English originals. Conducted in English. Prerequisite: a basic knowledge of French and English grammar. (4 credits)

FREN E-1 Intensive Elementary French I
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900. Limited enrollment.

Fall term, section 1 (11846) (Syllabus) (Printable version): Ellen Moloney Detwiller, MA, Lecturer in Romance Languages, Tufts University. Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, Sever Hall, Room 210.

Fall term, section 2 (10119) (Syllabus) (Printable version): Mahalia C. Gayle, PhD, Teaching Assistant in Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, Boylston Hall, Room 105.

Spring term (21691) (Syllabus) (Printable version): Christine Hérot, EdD, Clinical Psychologist. Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 110.

An introduction to oral and written French for students with little or no background in the language, this course encourages students to communicate with each other and the instructor in simple language using role-play and other interpersonal activities. Students read short pieces on modern French culture, see a modern French film, and write compositions on subjects of personal interest. Grammar includes present and near future tenses and passé composé. (4 credits)

FREN E-2 Intensive Elementary French II
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900. Limited enrollment.

Fall term (11813) (Website) (Printable version): Wayne Ishikawa, PhD, Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University. Mondays and Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, 51 Brattle Street, Room 311.

Spring term, section 1 (20115) (Syllabus) (Printable version): Ellen Moloney Detwiller, MA, Lecturer in Romance Languages, Tufts University. Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, Sever Hall, Room 109.

Spring term, section 2 (22133) (Website) (Printable version): Mahalia C. Gayle, PhD, Teaching Assistant in Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, Boylston Hall, Room 105.

This course emphasizes oral and written communication using language structures that include the imperfect, future, and conditional tenses and the subjunctive mood. Students communicate using role-play and other interpersonal activities. They also read short pieces on modern French culture and write compositions on topics of personal interest. Prerequisite: FREN E-1b, E-1, or the equivalent. (4 credits)

FREN E-3 Intensive Intermediate French I: Grammar Review in Cultural Context (12747)
(Website) (Printable version)
Carole Bergin, MA, Preceptor in Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900. Limited enrollment.
Fall term: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Boylston Hall, Room 103.

This intermediate course gives students with a basic understanding of French the opportunity to review systematically the major points of French grammar, from the present tense and gender of nouns to the subjunctive. The review is also intended to foster vocabulary development and cultural awareness, and sharpen the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing within thematic contexts such as politics, social class, family values, city and country life, the arts, sports, and the French-speaking world. Reading selections are drawn from major French and French-speaking writers such as La Fontaine, Voltaire, Hugo, Baudelaire, Molière, Roy, and Laye. Prerequisite: one year of college French, or the equivalent. (4 credits)

FREN E-4 Intensive Intermediate French II Online (22587)
(Website) (Printable version)
Judith Frommer, PhD, Distinguished Service Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $700.
Spring term
This is an online course with a choice of four on-campus immersion sessions or seven teleconferences. See Distance Education. Lecture 1 video.

This course offers an opportunity for improvement in French for those with a good foundation in the language. Students view films, read texts, and use websites related to France and Francophone regions and countries. The interactive course website helps them to progress in speaking, reading, and aural comprehension; to increase their personal lexicons; and to master more complex structures in contextualized, self-correcting activities. Online communication through e-mail, a discussion forum, and blogs is supplemented by four Saturday immersion sessions on campus or seven teleconferences. Prerequisites: at least three semesters of college French or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor. Frequent access to the Internet (cable or DSL) on a computer with AV input/output. Students who choose the on-campus sessions must be available to meet in Cambridge from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm on the following Saturdays: February 2, March 8, April 12, and May 10 in 1 Story Street, Room 302. The dates and times of the teleconferences are decided at the beginning of the semester. (4 credits)

FREN E-5 Oral Expression: Le Français parlé (22556)
(Website) (Printable version)
Wayne Ishikawa, PhD, Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900.
Spring term

*** FREN E-5 has been CANCELED.***

This course emphasizes communication strategies that make it easier for students to communicate convincingly in a French context. Through creative classroom activities and exercises, students learn how the French interact while discussing ideas, exchanging opinions, and giving advice or information. Practical spoken vocabulary is stressed. Course materials are accessible electronically. Prerequisite: three semesters of college French, or the equivalent. (4 credits)

FREN E-15 Masters of the Short Story in French (12977)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Raymond F. Comeau, PhD, Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900, graduate credit $1,625. Limited enrollment.
Fall term: Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 109.

In this course, students read and analyze a variety of narratives by some of the masters of the short story in France and Francophone cultures. The development of character, plot, setting, and theme are studied from the writer's perspective, that is, the process of creating a fictional slice of life. Using the conceptions and techniques of these writers as models, students write their own short stories in stages throughout the course. Writers include Camus, Colette, Chedid, Diop, Flaubert, Maupassant, Roy, and Yourcenar. Prerequisites: good reading, writing, and speaking skills; at least three years of college French, or the equivalent. (4 credits)

FREN E-26 French Literature as Opera (22809)
(Website) (Printable version)
Paul-André Bempéchat, DMA, Visiting Scholar, Deparment of Romance Languages and Literatures and Affiliate, Center for European Studies, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $900, graduate credit $1,625. Limited enrollment.
Spring term: Thursdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, Lowell Lecture Hall, Room B13.

This course focuses on the processes by which composers, from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, some in direct collaboration with authors and librettists, incarnated French novels and plays into either opera or lyrica drama. Buttressed by lesser-known works of their times, the following masterpieces are studied: Beaumarchais–Mozart, Le mariage de Figaro; Mérimée–Bizet, Carmen; Prévost–Auber/Massenet/Puccini, Manon Lescaut; Hugo–Verdi, Le roi s'amuse/Rigoletto; Maeterlinck–Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande; France–Massenet, Thaïs; and Bernanos–Poulenc, Le dialogue des Carmélites. Attention is paid to the operatic scenes that most directly project—and also fail to project—the integrity of the literary work. Prerequisite: a good command of written and spoken French. For students whose French skills need fine-tuning, the course materials are provided in English and French, and the videos of the operas have subtitles. (4 credits)