FREN 100 AMU Week 1 French I American Military University assistance is available on Domyclass
Week 1 Overview
- Bienvenue à mes étudiants à Français 100! Welcome students to French 100! It is a pleasure to have you in my class. First, I would like you to read your syllabus in full, make sure you are correctly configured for Rosetta Stone, and complete Unit One, Lessons One and Two on Rosetta. This week, please complete Forum 1, Oral Exercise 1 (under Assignments), Skill Builder 1 (under quizzes), and Rosetta Stone (Lessons 1 and 2). Under Forums, introduce yourself in French. You must have 250 words for your introduction. You are not required to write all 250 words in French for this first forum. Write a few sentences in French, based on what you have already seen in the lesson and what you see from the suggestions below. Then continue in English. Your initial post must be 250 words in order to avoid APUS system dropping you automatically from the course. Remember that the secret to learning a new language is persistence. So get off to a good start this week, and no matter what happens, stick with it persistently this term! And enjoy it! That’s the most important part. For effective language learning, it is best if you can do a little each day rather than trying to cram it all in in one sitting. It’s also good to mix rigorous activities with fun activities that are less taxing in order to get as many engaged/immersed minutes in the language as possible every day. If you feel comfortable, I would like you to record your introduction. If you do not feel comfortable recording yourself in French yet, that is ok, but please do make a test recording with Kaltura (above), Vocaroo.com, mp3mymp3.com, Voice Recorder, or Audacity. If “technically challenged,” I recommend Vocaroo. It is very easy to record there and make a link we can access. Instructions for uploading your recordings are under course Resources. This week, it is also very important for you to make sure you have purchased a USB microphone. If you do not have a USB compatible microphone, Rosetta Stone will not work properly. Instructions for selecting a working microphone and for adjusting your voice recognition settings are also under Course Materials and Resources. Bienvenue! Welcome aboard! Students will be able to: Identify structures, sounds and vocabulary for greetings, chit chat, singular, plural, present progressive, articles, and pronouns. Identify French articles and describe people and animals.
In this lesson, we will discuss: Greetings, chit chat, singular, Plural, Present Progressive, Articles, Pronouns, and Describing People and Animals.- Greetings
- Chit chat
- Parts of Speech Review
- New Vocabulary Terms
- Reading: Sakai Lessons 1
- Assignment: Unit 1, Lessons 1 and 2, Rosetta Stone
- Forum 1
- Skill-builder 1, under quizzes
Introduction
Topics to be covered include:
- The French language
- Greetings and introductions
- The country of France
- Pronouns
- Counting
Salut! Welcome to French 1. In this course, you’ll be introduced to conversational French. You’ll also learn about France and French culture, including the country, food, culture and customs. In this lesson, you’ll tackle greetings and small talk—what you need to be able to say hello, introduce yourself, and engage in a basic, short, friendly conversation with a stranger, as well as some basics about French language and culture around the world.
These lessons will accompany your other work in the course. You’ll find all of the words and phrases discussed in this lesson translated in the Key Terms at the end of the lesson. Remember to commit new words and phrases to memory each week. Language study is most effective when you work on it daily, practicing and reviewing your vocabulary. Consider supplementing your classwork with French films and television—hearing the language spoken can improve your own pronunciation!
The French Language
Around 354 million people speak French, to a greater or lesser degree. French is a romance language, derived from common or vernacular Latin. Roman colonists spread Latin throughout the Roman Empire. In different regions, over time, the language changed, developing a distinct vernacular. Other romance languages include Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. French evolved from the Gallo-Romano dialect, and became the official language of France by royal decree in 1539 (Wood “How Many People Speak French”). Grammatical structures in French are similar to both Spanish and Italian.
French is spoken in France, Monaco, Luxembourg, the Canadian province of Quebec, parts of the states of Maine and Louisiana, portions of North and Central Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia, French Guiana and Madagascar (BBC “Languages: French”). Around half of all French speakers live in Africa. The population of French speakers is growing rapidly in Africa. French is the second-most studied language in the world, after English.
French is one of the recognized working languages used in the United Nations, and is the procedural language of the European Union (EU). It is also the only language used in the European Union Court of Justice for deliberations (Wood “How Many People Speak French”). French is, therefore, a politically useful language for anyone involved in diplomacy or similar activity.
With a growing population of French speakers, particularly in Africa, it’s no surprise that French is a popularly studied language. In terms of the total number of speakers, French may surpass Mandarin by the middle of this century (Wood “How Many People Speak French”).
There are a number of different dialects of French found around the world. Dialects of French include Acadian French, Belgian French, Louisiana French, Quebec French, and Swiss French. Sometimes the word patois is used to describe dialects of French; however, this word has negative connotations.
Within France, there are several other spoken languages, some sharing French roots, and others significantly more different. These include a Brythonic language found only in Breton, Alsatian, a Germanic language with strong French influences, French Flemish and a range of languages that fall into the category of Langue d’oil. These languages bear a close resemblance to French, and are considered Gallo-Romance languages, like French. Occitan, found in the South of France, is also a Gallo-Romance language. Many of these languages are relatively uncommon today (Kennedy “Languages and Dialects of France”).