The Summer Language Institute/MA in French Language Teaching has a unique curriculum designed by teachers to maximize your potential as a language teacher. Through courses on language acquisition and pedagogy as well as language and culture courses, you will improve both your language proficiency and cultural understanding while becoming a better teacher. The curriculum has three types of courses:
- Core required courses in areas such as second language acquisition theory, assessment, and teaching for proficiency
- Language and culture electives
- Pedagogy courses which accompany each language or culture elective and focus on practical application of various pedagogical practices.
The descriptions below give you more details on each of these types of courses.
Overview
The Summer Language Institute for French Teachers offers you the opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in French Language Teaching (a total of 48 quarter credits) over three summers. You may earn up to 18 credits each summer.
Five 3-credit required core courses:
- FL 511, Second Language Acquisition: Theory and Practice
- FL 514 Action Research
- FL 512 Teaching for Proficiency: Methods and Strategies
- FL 513 Foreign Language Assessment: Principles and Strategies
- FL 515 Teaching with Technology
A minimum of 29 credits of French Language and Culture courses:
These elective courses vary each summer, providing students with a variety of options. They are designed to build students' linguistic and cultural knowledge and enhance their pedagogical skills. Each of these courses is accompanied by a pedagogy course (2 credits) The following are examples of courses taught in the past.
- Communicative Grammar (3 credits) with Teaching Grammar in Context (2 credits)
- French Heritage Cinema (3 credits) with Teaching Language with Film (2 credits)
- La France et ses immigrés (3 credits) with Teaching Culture (2 credits)
- Le Théâtre du 20è (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Theater (2 credits)
- Expression écrite (3 credits) with Teaching Writing (2 credits)
- Contes et nouvelles (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Literature (2 credits)
- Peinture du 19ème siècle (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Art (2 credits)
- La Phonétique française (3 credits) with Teaching Pronunciation (2 credits)
- Les Régions de France à travers le cinéma (3 credits) with Individual Differences (2 credits)
A minimum of 4 credits Action Research Project:
During the school year prior to your final year in the program, if you are a masters candidate, you will conduct an action research project with your own students/at your own school. You will write a 30-40 page paper (plus bibliography and appendices) documenting the project. The action research project, presentation and paper take the place of a thesis project, and are graded based on the AR project rubric and the AR presentation rubric.
NOTE: Students take the FL 514 Action Research class during the second summer. Beginning with students enrolled in Action Research in Summer 2019, students must enroll for 1 credit per term of FR 503 Thesis while working on their Action Research Project during the following year. During the final summer, they must register for 1 credit of FR 504 Action Research Presentation in order to present their Action Research project. Students who do not finish the Action Research Project during that academic year must register for 1 credit of FR 503 Thesis each term they continue working on the project until it is completed.
Core Courses
Summer Session 1 (June 24 - July 13, 2018)
FL 511, Second Language Acquisition
Provides students with an overview of the most current theories of second language acquisition and the teaching methodologies that result from these approaches. Students will detail differences between and similarities among the various models of second language acquisition as they learn how to identify and integrate them into the foreign language classroom. Syllabus
FL 514, Action Research
Introduces students to research methodologies that pursue action (change) and research (understanding) concurrently. Students will learn how to do a systematic inquiry into the teaching/learning environment of a classroom with the goal of developing reflective teaching practices. This course is intended as preparation for an action research project that students will conduct over the course of the following year.
Dr. Kristin Hoyt hoytk@sou.edu Syllabus FL 514
FR 504, Action Research: Presentation, Session 1
During the school year prior to your final year in the program, if you are a master’s candidate, you will conduct an action research project with your own students/at your own school. You will write a 30-40 page paper (plus bibliography and appendices) documenting the project. The action research project, presentation, and paper take the place of a thesis project, and are graded based on the AR project rubric and the AR presentation rubric. FR 504 Syllabus
(1 credit) Dr. Kristin Hoyt hoytk@sou.edu
Online Courses
FL 515, Technology in the Classroom (Winter Term)
Transforms knowledge into practice about Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and pedagogy, while focusing on the use of technology in the foreign language classroom. Fosters professional development as students formulate critical skills for creating, integrating, and assessing technology into the classroom. Topics may include interactive and non-interactive hypermedia technologies, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), language testing and technology, distance learning, online discussions, and software selection.
(3 credits) Dr. Brianna Jannsen Sanchez
FR 503, Thesis (Fall, Winter, and Spring Terms)
Beginning with students enrolled in Action Research (FL 514) in Summer 2019, students must enroll for 1 credit per term of FR 503 Thesis while working on their Action Research Project during the following year. During the final summer, they must register for 1 credit of FR 504 Action Research Presentation in order to present their Action Research project. Students who do not finish the Action Research Project during that academic year must register for 1 credit of FR 503 Thesis each term they continue working on the project until it is completed.
(1 credit each)
Summer Session 2 (July 15 - August 3, 2018)
FL 512, Teaching for Proficiency: Methods and Strategies
Explores how proficiency standards can be applied in the classroom in conjunction with state and local standards based on the national standards for foreign language education as established by the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Students learn how to integrate the five Cs of foreign language education: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, with clearly defined proficiency standards for foreign language performance. FL 512 Syllabus
FL 513, Foreign Language Assessment: Principles and Strategies
The goals of the course are to equip participants with up-to-date knowledge of best practices in assessing foreign language development and to provide them with meaningful opportunities to practice creating assessment tools and evaluation criteria in a collaborative setting. The approach to assessment emphasized in this course is multidimensional and Standards-based. Course participants complete a portfolio of assessment tools for classroom use, including an Integrated Performance Assessment. Syllabus
Dr. Heather Willis Allen heatherwillisallen@gmail.com
FR 504, Action Research: Presentation, Session 2
Presentation of Action Research projects. This course is open to students presenting their final Action Research project. The course should be taken during the session when students present their project. FR 504 Syllabus
(1 credit) Dr. Kristin Hoyt hoytk@sou.edu
2018 Electives
Students must choose both "a" and "b" of one course-grouping.
Summer Session 1 (June 24 - July 13, 2018)
1a. FR 526, Le Théâtre Français du XXe Siècle: Art Littéraire, Dramatique et Révolutionnaire
Ce cours est une approche ciblée qui permet de comprendre le développement du théâtre français. Le cours commencera avec une introduction au théâtre comme art littéraire et dramatique. On apprendra à lire le théâtre pour comprendre les rapports du texte et du spectacle. On considérera ensuite les (r)évolutions théâtrales, langagières, et sociales provoquées par les pièces étudiées dans leurs contextes socio-historiques. Des extraits des textes théoriques et des films proposeront une vue plus large du développement du théâtre. Syllabus
Dr. Susan McCready
1b. FR 516, Expression Théâtrale et pédagogie
Apprendre une langue étrangère, c’est bien souvent commencer par faire fonctionner sa tête. L’esprit focalise son attention sur la construction syntaxique d’un nouveau modèle linguistique ; la mémoire se concentre sur la répétition ; le cerveau est en ébullition.
S’exprimer en langue étrangère, c’est aussi accepter un lâcher-prise intellectuel pour donner vie au corps. Ce cours d’expression théâtrale est un espace où chaque individu, apprenant et acteur s’exprime et crée à partir de son énergie, de sa voix, de ses émotions, de ses mots et de ses ressources langagières. Ce cours a pour objectif d’expérimenter des pratiques théâtrales afin de communiquer autrement en langue étrangère, et de montrer aux enseignants/étudiants comment l'expression théâtrale pourra servir pour enseigner une langue étangère. Préréquis : énergie et bonne humeur ! FR 516 Théâtrale Syllabus
Dr. Marie-Noëlle Cocton
2a. FR 528, Le Monde Francophone
Dans ce cours, on analysera l'influence de la France sur les anciennes colonies françaises des points de vue historique et culturel et les réactions des autochtones face à ces influences par le biais de textes et de films francophones de l'Afrique de l'ouest, de l’Algérie, de l'Indochine, du Québec et des Antilles. Syllabus
Dr. Marianne Golding
(3 credits)
2b. FR 516, Teaching Francophone Cultures
Students will develop a portfolio of teaching exercises and activities that bring the Francophone world (from Europe to Africa to North America) alive for students while maintaining a consistent methodological approach to language teaching. Students will consider different pedagogical approaches and formulate their own approach to the teaching of French and its cultures. Syllabus
Dr. Robert Reichle
3a. FR 581, French Phonetics
This course aims to help students improve their pronunciation and comprehension of French in multiple contexts, both formal and casual. Emphasis will be placed on sound discrimination and prosodic features (intonation patterns, linking phenomena such as liaison). Articulatory description and phonetic transcriptions will serve to understand sound production and to refine discrimination skills respectively. The course will progress from standard, to everyday, informal French using audio segments from various sources and bringing together language and culture.
FR 581 Syllabus
Dr. Stephanie Pellet
(3 credits)
3b. FR 516, Teaching French Pronunciation and Phonetics
Designed as a complement to FR 581 (La phonétique et la pronunciation du français), this course will address theoretical and practical aspects related to teaching French pronunciation. First, we will identify what to teach (e.g., native vs. approximate pronunciation, isolated vs. contextualized forms, problem areas for English speakers, varieties of spoken French), then we will explore how to teach pronunciation to engage students in different learning processes using a variety of pedagogical tools (e.g., music, film, idiomatic expressions, tongue twisters). Coursework will include analysis and creation of pedagogical materials to teach pronunciation. FR 516 Phonetics Syllabus
Dr. Stephanie Pellet
Summer Session 2 (July 15 - August 3, 2018)
4a. FR 528, A table citoyens! Gastronomie, Culture et Identité en France
Dans ce cours, nous ferons une étude du rôle de la gastronomie en France en commençant par une approche historique. Nous analyserons le développement de la cuisine française et nous verrons comment la gastronomie contribue à l’identité nationale de la France. Nous concentrerons surtout sur le rôle de la cuisine dans la culture française contemporaine à l’aide de plusieurs articles, extraits de textes littéraires, films ou clips vidéos, et visites de ceux qui travaillent dans les professions culinaires, aussi bien que visites aux marchٞés et à d’autres institutions culinaires. FR 528 Syllabus
(3 credits)
Dr. Daniel Morris
4b. FR 516, A Culinary Approach to Teaching French Language and Culture
This course will bridge teaching theories and practices by exploring the possibilities that the food and gastronomy of the Francophone world offer a beginning French language classroom. Specifically, students in this course will develop instructional materials and practices to foster beginning language learners’ intercultural communicative competence (language skills and intercultural sensitivity) by investigating, explaining, and reflecting on diverse perspectives about food (products and practices) from the cultures studied and their own while using the target language. Coursework will be built around readings and discussions on food, such as: (1) Food and eating practices across la Francophonie; (2) The relationship between the environment and eating practices and products; (3) The evolution of culinary sciences in France; and (4) Globalization and changing dietary trends. Each topic will result in the design of a wide array of practical activities and performance assessments for beginning language learners to demonstrate their language gains and critical cultural reflection within common thematic units for introductory French instruction. In sum, the learning outcomes for this class are: (1) Students deepen their knowledge about the instructional possibilities of food, and (2) Students develop a wide repertoire of activities to use in the classroom. FR 516 Culinary Syllabus
(2 credits)
Dr. Paula Garrett-Rucks
5a. FR 528, Jeux de culture et culture du jeu
Les jeux sont le deuxième produit culturel le plus utilisés en France après les livres. il existe donc dans le paysage culturel français un rôle privilégié pour le jeu comme véhicule ludique mais aussi comme véhicule de construction du lien social et mode d'apprentissage. Nous allons examiner quelques traditions autour du jeu en France et voir ce que l'on peut apprendre de la langue et de la culture française à travers des pratiques ludiques. Syllabus FR 528 Games
(3 credits)
Dr. Sebastien Dubreil
5b. FR 516, Learning Language and Culture Through Games
Games are effective learning tools because their mechanics teach players to be effective as they are playing the game. We are going to examine how to leverage the principles of game design to structure language and culture pedagogy and build fun, educational games. Syllabus FR 516 Games
(2 credits)
Dr. Sebastien Dubreil
Optional Courses
Summer Session 1: FR 511, Advanced French Grammar
Addresses selected topics in French grammar, with particular focus on grammatical difficulties for English speakers in the goal of helping students improve proficiency in the language. Course conducted entirely in French.
(1 credit. Up to 3 credits may be applied to degree requirements.)
Angers Faculty
Summer Session 2: FR 510, Advanced French Conversation
Designed to improve French conversational skills by focusing on linguistic functions appropriate to student levels. Students will narrate and describe, state and support opinions, and hypothesize using current events and topics from contemporary French culture as the content of discussion.
(1 credit. Up to 3 credits may be applied to degree requirements.)
Angers Faculty
Online: FR 503, Data Exploration and Analysis (Winter Term, Five Weeks: February 12 - March 16)
Provides a brief introduction to data analysis with the goal to help you analyze the data you gather for your Action Research Project.
(1 credit)
Dr. Kristan Hoyt
