Overview
Advanced French Level 7 is for students who have completed Level 6, or who have equivalent advanced language skills (a very good A level or B1+ in the Common European Framework of Reference). Students will have a chance to learn about cultural issues and current affairs in the target language communities. The overall aim of the module is to reinforce students' receptive and productive language skills on a B2 level while helping them to widen their knowledge of social, cultural and political issues in France and the French-speaking communities. More specifically, students will improve their communication skills based on authentic spoken and written texts dealing with topical issues. By the end of this module students will have the confidence to hold a conversation about social issues and current affairs in the French-speaking world.
Syllabus
Week 1
- Introductions
- Healthy Eating – how can we eat well and remain in good health? Favourite foods
- Grammar: Verbs for reported speech
Week 2
- Healthy Eating – current trends (veganism, eating locally produced foods etc. )
- Grammar: Compound relative pronouns
Week 3
- Healthy Eating – the current eating habits of the French
- Grammar: nominalisation
Week 4
- The generation gap – What does it mean to be or to feel old?
- Grammar: Expressing nuanced comparison, intensity and progression
Week 5
- The generation gap – If youth only knew, if old age only could!
- Grammar: expressing comparison, using verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
Week 6
- The generation gap – Cross-generational friendships
- Grammar: the Future Anterior
Week 7
- Discrimination: definitions and the lexis of discrimination in France
- Grammar: negation and restriction
Week 8
- Discrimination: victims of discrimination
- Grammar: opposition and concession
Week 9
- Discrimination: individual cases in France
- Grammar: the Passive using ‘se laisser’ and ‘se faire’ and ‘se voir’
Week 10
- Love and Friendship: the impact of social media
- Grammar: expressing purpose, Subjunctive or Infinitive?
Week 11
- Love and Friendship: famous love letters
- Grammar: agreement of the Past Participle
Week 12: Written and speaking tests will take place this week. Completing the assessment is required for students taking the course as part of their degree, or if they would like to have the course recorded in their HEAR.
For all other students, taking the tests is also strongly recommended, as a measure of your progress and learning.
Textbook details:
Students need to acquire a copy of the textbook Entre Nous 4 – B2 Tout En Un: Méthode de Français Livre de l’Elève + Cahier D’Activités + CD, Ed. Maison des Langues 2016, www.emdl.fr/fle
ISBN: 978-84-16347-94-0
Please ensure that you get hold of the right edition, as some students in the past have bought the wrong version and have had to send it back, thus postponing an efficient start to their course. If in doubt, quote the ISBN number.
We recommend our students to buy their textbooks from Blackwell’s on campus. They have a price match policy and you can pre-order over the phone with them and pick the book when you are on campus.
Study Hours
The total number of study hours for this module is 150 hours, in line with undergraduate university modules. This includes class meetings, assessment preparation and self-directed study in line with guidance from the course lecturer.
If you are studying on the extracurricular mode, we recognise that the total number of hours that you may be able to study every week may depend on your availability and previous experience studying languages, however, expected contribution to classes, homework completion, and learning outcomes will not vary.
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier if courses are over- or under-subscribed. In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Dr Judith Aveling
Bonjour!
Thanks to my parents emigrating from Shrewsbury to France after they were married, my sisters and I grew up bilingually in the suburbs of Paris, where I also went to school. As a native speaker of French, I have taught this beautifully complex language for nearly 15 years in English secondary schools, often alongside Russian or Classics. More recently, I have taught undergraduates and for the last three years, in order to fit in with childcare responsibilities, I have taught students of Levels 4 to 8 for Open Languages.
Because I still have family over in France I go over there regularly, if only to get my fix of French cooking, stock up on DVDs, and bring back Reblochon cheese for the Winter’s Tartiflettes, and Crème de Cassis (or the Tesseire version for the kids!) and garlic.
When I’m not teaching I’m being a mum and wife, volunteering for my children’s primary school or for Merseyside Police, running a 5K (lockdown legacy), or singing for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and other local church choirs.
What better way to spend the year ahead, until our next Summer holiday in France, than to teach its language and culture?
A bientôt!
Fees for language courses are £180/£90.
Visit our fee bands page to see which fee applies to you.
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