Run once over 2 semesters

Unit(s) of Assessment	Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)
Portfolio	25%
In-class presentation	25%
Spoken test	25%
In-class written test	25%

This is a Level 2 module for French. It is taught in the target language over Autumn and Spring semesters, one contact hour per teaching week. Attendance is compulsory.

Successful completion of HE1 or equivalent

This module aims to prepare students for the linguistic and cultural encounters of their placement year at a university or company in a French-speaking country. The module enables students to participate in the society the language of which they study and to operate confidently and flexibly within different linguistic and cultural contexts. Language work is embedded in challenging and relevant situations of intercultural communication; students use the target language to analyse the relationship between language and culture.
Students will be encouraged to self-assess their progress in communicating at an advanced level in French and to map their competence against the descriptors of the Common European Framework for Languages.

Upon successful completion of the module students will be able to:

• Differentiate between cultural and linguistic characteristics within the French-speaking communities;
• Communicate efficiently in everyday and work situations;
• Reflect on and learn from the close relationship between language and culture.

Case studies taken from the fields of law, business and sociology serve as the stimulus for linguistic and cultural training. The emphasis is on spoken communication and on informal writing. Students are encouraged to:

• reflect on the influence of cultural values on behaviour;
• perceive cultural differences as appropriate and enriching;
• become conscious of stereotypes and prejudices;
• be willing to deal with conflict;
• communicate with others using their ways of expression, both verbally and non-verbally;
• adopt a comparative perspective on other cultures and their own;
• view the foreign culture from the inside and as outsiders;
• mediate between the target culture(s) and their own culture(s);
• evaluate and maintain a critical distance towards sources. 
  

Students use the target language to:

• gather and assess information;
• express opinions and impressions;
• talk about and interpret pictures clarify meaning;
• research meaning;
• make comparisons;
• design questionnaires;
• keep a reflective log.

Teaching will be in small groups. The module is taught entirely in the target language and the stimulus material used will be drawn from a variety of texts. Students learn how to write a reflective log and how to use ethnographic research tools to record and evaluate observations.
Self- and peer-assessment will be used to foster students' insight into their learning progress.

There is no set text for this course. Materials will be drawn from a range of resources:

Recommended texts:

Vivez les affaires (vidéo), Patrick Guédon, Hachette 2002
Manwatching, Desmond Morris, Grafton, 1977
The Human Animal, Desmond Morris, BBC Books, 1994
Savoir-vivre avec les Français : Que faire ? Que dire ?, Odile Grand-Clément , Hachette, 1996
Sacrés Français ! Un Américain nous regarde, Ted Stanger, Editions Michalon, 2003
Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t be wrong, Jean-Benoît Nadeau & Julie Barlow, Robson Books, 2003
Les Nouveaux Anglais : clichés revisités, Anne-Catherine Poirier, Alvik éditions, 2005
Au secours les Anglais nous envahissent !, José-Alain Fralon, Editions Michalon, 2006
Le Dossier of Hortense de Montplaisir or How to Survive the English, Translated by Sarah Long, John Murray Publishers, 2007
Living and Working in France, David Hampshire, Survival Books, 2006

6.5.10