Professor Kathryn Talarico

Office: 2S-110

Office Hours: Mon/Wed 9:30-10:00; 2:30-3:30; and by appointment

Telephone (Voice Mail): 718-982-3709

Essential Links for French 213:

E-Mail:  kathryn.talarico@csi.cuny.edu

Home Page for Professor Talarico: http://scholar.library.csi.cuny.edu/~talarico/
(The home page contains links to French sites, course information, "Objectives," for each level of French language courses, activities geared to language courses as well as this syllabus.)

Modern Language Media Center Home Page: http://www.ml.csi.cuny.edu/lab
(This is the website that you will use in the lab as a starting point for all your web-based activities.)

Quia Electronic Workbook/Lab Manual Website: http://books.quia.com
You will be using an on-line electronic workbook for this class: Quia. Instructions for registering will be distributed in class. You need a "Book Key" to register for the course. It will be given to you in class. Note: If you purchased a used textbook, you need to purchase a book key separately.

French in Action video website: http://learner.org
This is the Annenberg site with a link to the French in Action video series. You will receive exercises to do that correspond to the lessons in Allons-y!

CUNY Portal:  http://www.cuny.edu/portal-login.html.  This is where you log in to BlackBoard, eSims, and the CUNY e-mall.

CSI Library Laptop Lending Program:  http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/faqs/121-laptop-loan.  You can borrow a laptop for up to four hours. 

Objectives of the Course and Student Responsibilities:

Welcome to French 213! The teaching staff for French includes the following people, who are all here to help you succeed in your learning experience:

Professor Kathryn Talarico, Professor of French

Professor Noëlle Rouxel-Cubberly, Assistant Professor of French

Ms. Nicole Fennimore

Ms. Solmaz Lee

In addition to the full-time teaching staff, there are tutors for French in the Media Center, and computer specialists who can help you in navigating around the web, using the special programs for French, and learning how to use the International Keyboard so that you can type accents easily on any computer.

In this course you will gain a deeper understanding of many of the grammatical structures you studied in previous courses and you will learn about the different regions of France, all the while deepening and perfecting your pronunciation, reading and writing skills.  You will become more comfortable with speaking and writing in French, and you will read more difficult cultural texts.  These texts include magazine articles and ads, songs, advertisements, film clips, and websites.  Classes are conducted in French and are very interactive.  A further objective of this course is to make you "independent" learners--that is, to help you continue using your French on your own. To achieve that end, there will be several activities to help you gain the independence you need:  learning the phonetic alphabet (to dicipher the pronunciation of new words you come across in your reading and to help with your pronunciation); work using monolingual online dictionaries.  On the French Resources Pages on my home page, you will find a section on language/grammar with links to monolingual dictionaries.

As in all the French courses, there is a capstone project due at the end of the semester which ties together all the information you learned over the course of the semester.  In this course, you will each become specialists on one region of France and your project objective will be to convince the other members of the class to come to your specific region.  You will begin this project very early in the semester.  There will be a series of "mini presentations" due throughout the course of the semester as you learn more and more about your region.  In addition, we will be using the textbook, Allons-y! very selectively.  We will focus on the grammar presentations and exercises (with lots of supplementary exercises!) and the readings that are relevant to your projects.  It is the project--your specific region of France--that will be the basis of our readings about the French economy, jobs, gastronomy, study abroad, tourism, etc.  We will be doing some "jumping around" in the textbook, which will serve as a reference more than something that will guide us in each of our class sessions. 

One of the biggest differences between FRN 213 and the previous levels, 113 and 114, is that the grammar you have learned is reinforced and expanded upon.  You have become accustomed to doing fairly mechanical exercises.  In FRN 213 you will need to think about why you are using certain structures. 

A separate handout is linked to this syllabus and sets out in detail what is expected of you (and what you can expect) during the course of the semester. The Course Objectives can also be accessed from my home page by clicking on Objectives for French Courses. You should consider it, along with this syllabus and the homework page, as your "contract" with your instructor and read it carefully. It will be discussed in class on the first day.

Students are required to prepare their work for each class ahead of time. Our class time together is limited, so the drills in the mechanics of grammar and pronunciation are your responsibility in the lab and at home. Language learning can be a lot of fun as well as a lot of work. Students must come to class with their textbook for each class session!

Required Textbook:

1) Allons-y! (textbook, and Student CD, 6th edition).  Make sure that you buy the textbook version that has the Student CD in it.

2) Your textbook will come with a "key card" for registering for the on-line workbook, Quia (ISBN:  0838460410). Instructions will be provided for activating your key. If you drop the course during the regularly-scheduled add/drop period, you will not be able to receive a reimbursement for the Quia material. If you purchase a used textbook, you will need to purchase a separate Quia book key. The standalone cost is $69.95. 

These materials are required for the course and are available at the CSI Bookstore. The Bookstore sells the BUNDLED package (new textbook, student CD, and Quia access card) for $201.35 (ISBN:  9781413092097). 

You can also access the publisher's website at www.cengagebrain.com.  There is a spring promotional code for a $10 discount.  Enter the code:  SPRING2011.  At the publisher's website you will also find information about renting textbooks or individual chapters. 

The Modern Languages Media Center (2S-114) also has copies of the textbook that you can use in the lab.  You will need to refer to earlier chapters in the textbook, so you need to have the whole textbook. 

Attendance Policy:

Instructores keep a record of attendance.  Since much of your grade is based on your in-class performance (in addition to laboratory hours, homeworks, quizzes, etc.), any students absent in excess of 4 fifty-minute sessions will be assigned a grade of either WU (if the student disappears from the class before the mid-term exam) or an F (if there is work missing or performance is poor), at the discretion of the instructor.
You are expected to be in class and prepared for the day's work.
Absences can only lower your final grade. There are no extra rewards for being present in class and there is no "extra credit" work permitted. There are no "excused" absences: this includes trips, plane tickets, and Caribbean vacations! If you fall ill or have some emergency which prevents you from being in class on a regular basis, you need to either drop the course or get a medical withdrawal. In all cases, you should contact your instructor.

Lateness will be calculated accordingly: two latenesses equal one absence. Anyone who comes to class one hour late will be counted as absent for the entire class. No make-ups are permitted for either quizzes or homeworks. Quizzes are given at the beginning of class, so if you arrive late you can use the remaining time to take your quiz. If you are absent from the mid-term examination and request a make-up, you need to provide a doctor's note. Students who are absent from the final examination, and if they are doing passing work, will receive a final grade of I. A doctor's note is required for absence from the final examination as well.
Disabilities: Please discuss specific needs with me by the end of the first week of classes.
Religious observances: These must be approved during the first week of classes. (Halloween and Valentine's Day do not count!)

Failure to adhere to the above procedures will result in a grade of F.

Note on required work: Absence from class does NOT excuse you from any work that is due or exams given on the day of your return. You should make sure that you have the phone number and e-mail address of at least one other student in the class so that you can find out what was missed. You will note as well that you have my office phone and e-mail addresses. There is no excuse for coming to class and saying that you didn't know what was due!

Disabilities and Religious Observances: Please discuss specific needs with me by the end of the first week.

Cheating, Plagiarism, and Other Grim Things:

CUNY has a very strict policy concerning cheating and plagiarism, and we adhere to the rules in all our classes. The Media Center has copies of the full text, including policies for dealing with cheating and plagiarism. You can also link to it on the CUNY Website. You are expected to be familiar with the policies and procedures outlined in those documents.

The "short" version is the following: No instances of cheating or plagiarism will be tolerated. Students who are caught cheating or plagiarising will be automatically failed on the particular exam or assignment and may also receive a grade of F for the course. The CSI website with the CUNY policy includes the following: "Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by such acts as borrowing or purchasing assignments (including but not limited to term papers, essays, and reports) and other written assignments; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying the work of others and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data, including Internet sources, must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in a lower grade or failure in a course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as supension or dismissal from the College."

I will report any and all instances of cheating, suspected cheating, and plagiarism. The most rampant form of cheating these days is "cut and paste" plagiarism (copying) from the Internet. This is stealing. You must use your own ideas and words and acknowledge the source of your information.

No notes, cellphones, talking, walking out of the room will be allowed during any exam or quiz. All cellphones must be turned off at the beginning of each class session, whether there is an exam or quiz or not. In addition, you may not get up and leave and/or return at will. This is simple courtesy.

Grading and Assessing Your Work:

All the activities (in class, homework, lab work, exams, quizzes, etc.) work on developing and testing your mastery of the four skills of listening/speaking, reading/writing. The textbook, on-line workbook, and all quizzes and exams (oral and written), as well as the final project, emphasize developing the four skills.

Grades are based on the following:

Participation (attitude, preparedness, homework, having your book!) and Progress: 15%

Oral Work (oral quizzes, recording exercises, lab practice with Rosetta Stone and other resources, class oral work): 20%

Homework and writing assignments:  20%

Chapter tests and quizzes:  10%

Mid-Term Exam: 10%

Final Exam: 15%

Final Project (oral presentation, written report, multimedia component): 10%

Note: All quizzes and exams (which contain oral listening comprehension components) are given at the beginning of class. You should arrive at class on time. No make-ups are permitted for either quizzes (or missed parts of quizzes) or missed homework assignments.

Department Grades:

95-100      A
90-94        A-
85-89        B+
80-84        B
75-79        B-
70-74        C+
63-69        C
56-62        D
0-55          F

While the grading scale appears more generous than students may be accustomed to, you should note that in our courses we do not give partial credit for instance, for verbs that are "partially correct," or missing accent marks. As such, there are lots of points that can be lost for mechanical mistakes. As you begin to learn a new language it's extremely important that you understand and master the mechanics. It will make your future work that much easier. In your writing and speaking (the "active skills"), you are encouraged to use what you know and what you have practiced. It's much safer and a lot less frustrating!

Important note:  No final grades are given to students either by e-mail or phone, so please do not ask.  Grades are available on eSIMS and will be posted on Black Board.

Calendar of Lessons:

Your homework assignments are found on the "Homework Page" found on my home page.