La France d'aujourd'hui: Annie Knudsen

Course Overview:

France Today – a Multicultural Society    
How does France strive to create a cohesive society in a multicultural country? How is France both similar and different in this respect from the United States? Various aspects of French society (for example, the relationship between the people and their government, the immigrant situation, minorities and their different challenges, the school system, the approach to universal health care) will be explored in order to provide students with a thorough understanding of this diverse country and an appreciation for the fact that there is not just one way to create and sustain a modern society.  Sources of information will be a civilization reader, a grammar review text, a novel (Kiffe Kiffe Demain - written by a young girl of Algerian descent growing up in an housing project), daily news broadcasts from French television, the internet, French radio, films (La Vie est un long fleuve, La Haine, la Bataille d’Algers), articles from the press and popular songs. Activities will be based on discussions and presentations. Each student will do an independent project at the end of the second semester on a topic of his or her choice. Students are free to choose a topic that deals with an aspect of French society today. Each topic must have a listening/speaking component and a literary research component and will be presented to the class in place of a final examination. All students prepare for the Advanced Placement French Language Examination.

Other Class Resources:

Student Work

Examples of student work prepared for this course.