Module Descriptors

This module is aimed at total beginners of French. No prior knowledge is required.  Students will be introduced to some fundamentals of French: for example articles, demonstratives, pronouns, possessives and the present tense. There will be a systematic approach to explanations of sentence structures in communicative scenarios and to vocabulary development.

Classes will be a mixture of lecture and seminar. In the lecture session of the class the main grammar points will be introduced. In the seminar section the grammar will be practised through grammatical exercises to make students aware of the workings of the language; presentations; role plays; pair-work exercises; and other interactive activities.

The topical content of these activities will include: greeting, asking and giving personal information about yourself and your family, numbers, telling time and dates, describing people. The students will also be introduced to some basic cultural conventions of France and other French-speaking countries.

French will be the working vehicle of the class, where all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) will be developed. Students will be expected to practice outside class time by means of written assignments and other pieces of homework. Learning will also be supported by the use of Moodle and other on-line environments.

The level of success of the students will be evaluated by means of a mixture of written and oral tests.

The mode of delivery will typically be  2- hour classes per week for 12 weeks.

On successful completion of this module the student will be able to:

L1. Communicate orally at a basic level in situations involving personal information and daily activities at approximately lower level A1 of the CEFR;

L2. Demonstrate basic competence in listening skills in French at approximately lower level A1 of the CEFR;

L3. Extract a gist and some specified detail of uncomplicated texts relating to letters as well as short and uncomplicated pieces of written news at approximately lower level A1 of the CEFR;

L4. Write short texts in French regarding personal information and describing people, at approximately lower level A1 of the CEFR.

Understanding basic grammatical and syntactic concepts and elements of the French language

Demonstrating basic understanding of social conventions of French-speaking cultures

Use of language skills relevant to basic everyday situations;

Understanding of basic written and recorded texts based on everyday situations;

Giving basic personal information and information about the environment

Addressing basic day to day problems in French speaking countries

Gathering basic and straight-forward information from a variety of uncomplicated sources.

Communicating in routine situations and in everyday problem situations at a basic level.

Interpreting uncomplicated written and aural texts.

Use of the Library and other learning resources such as Moodle.

Use of IT to present documents in an appropriate form.

Working individually or in teams, demonstrating initiative and decision-making skills.
Managing basic resources and being able to address own learning needs.
Managing time in order to meet deadlines.

The following materials form essential underpinning for the module content and ultimately for the learning outcomes:

In line with the Academic Engagement Procedure, Students are defined as academically engaged if they are regularly engaged with timetabled teaching sessions, course-related learning resources including those in the Library and on the relevant learning platform, and complete assessments and submit these on time. Please refer to the Academic Engagement Procedure at the following link: Academic engagement procedure

Where a module has Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Body requirements these will be listed here:
All fulltime students (part-time and distant learning students should check with their programme leader for any queries) are required to attend all scheduled classes and participate with all delivered elements of the module as part of their engagement with their programme of study. Consideration will be given to students who have protection under the appropriate equality law. Please refer to UWS Regulations, Chapter 1, 1.64 – 1.67, available at the following link: http://www.uws.ac.uk/current-students/rights-and-regulations/regulatory-framework/

1.04

1. More than one assessment method can be used to assess individual learning outcomes.
2. Schools are responsible for determining student contact hours. Please refer to University Policy on contact hours (extract contained within section 10 of the Module Descriptor guidance note).
   This will normally be variable across Schools, dependent on Programmes &/or Professional requirements.