Intermediate French Conversation International Business Program Fall 2019 Semester - Early Start - Paris

Designed for the student having had a minimum of 3 semesters of university-level French, Intermediate French Conversation refines and builds upon oral production skills acquired at the Beginner and Intermediate levels. Learning French in France, you have a considerable advantage as far as active, language acquisition is concerned: the reality of continual contact with the French and all their linguistic and cultural idiosyncrasies. Your goal, therefore, is to develop such conversational skills which will extend, on one hand, from practical, communicative situations to, on the other hand, more complex and demanding acts of speech such as "defending your point of view?" and "giving and receiving compliments" among people with whom you are involved in daily life.

To this end, you will learn and integrate into your daily usage an extended vocabulary of words, phrases, idioms and expressions. For the many political, cultural and current events and issues raised and debated in class, you will use different levels and styles of French, from the most formal to the most familiar.

Conducted entirely in French, this class requires daily preparation as well as a high level of engagement on your part during class meetings. And while the instructor does not expect you to understand every word said in class, you should listen/look for patterns and contextual clues in order to gain a global understanding of the situation and sense behind it. Learning to derive global meanings from speech and text that you may not entirely understand is a powerful tool that will hone your ability to understand your environment as you navigate your way through French-speaking cultures, both literally and figuratively.

Your constant attention and dynamic participation are indispensable ingredients for making real and observable improvements in your cross-cultural competency. As an active student you will be expected not only to come prepared to class, but also to discuss there the new cultural facts or discoveries you have encountered outside of class.