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Kiosque à journaux – Paris
to allow students to develop analytical and communicative proficiency, alongside other crucial transferable skills, in English as well as in French. Learning the French language affords direct access to French culture, history and values, and to all the debates, contradictions and extraordinary creativity that characterise contemporary France.
Summary of Course Content
First Level (1st year) The First level language modules, taught in a combination of French and English, are designed to consolidate and develop skills acquired in secondary school and to increase fluency and accuracy in the target language. We do not teach French for beginners, so students must have requisite grades in Higher, Advanced Higher, A-Level or equivalent. Three literature texts, or two texts plus a film, are also studied per semester; these are read not just for their intrinsic merit, but also as a means of enhancing language learning and introducing students to wider issues of French history and cultural identity. Teaching includes four hours of language per week, including one oral class with a native speaker, plus literature lectures and seminars.
Second Level (usually 2nd year) At Second level the course broadens and diversifies, and is taught primarily in French. Students planning to take a Single Honours French MA or a Joint Honours French MA (French with one other subject) study French Studies I and II. These modules include French language (weekly classes, written and oral), history, and a French literature survey course, comprising a range of texts from the mediaeval to the contemporary periods, as well as a film. This integrated study of French language, culture and identity therefore provides our students with knowledge that will help them understand many of the issues they may meet during a year in France, and allows them to make an informed choice from among our Honours modules, many of which develop at greater depth topics touched on during the second year.
Students planning to take a three-subject MA will study French Language & Society I and II. These modules also include French language and history, but not a literature survey.
Honours (3rd and 4th years) Students study the core language modules, including final- year Communication Skills, a module which, along with the Translation Methodology option, was designed and launched in St Andrews and has achieved international recognition. Students also choose from a wide range of modules in language, literature, intellectual history and twentieth- and twenty-first century culture, politics and society, all taught by specialists of national and international standing. These modules are usually assessed with a mix of continuous assessment and examination but we also offer dissertation modules, allowing students to work on extended personal research with a tutor to advise them. Overall, therefore, students are able to put together a degree programme, the content of which is adapted to their skills, interests and career intentions.
Teaching Lectures are an important part of many undergraduate modules in French: they are used to provide information, to stimulate thought and to suggest directions for further reading and personal study. Lectures are supplemented by small language classes and seminars which allow students to work together and with their tutors, presenting papers and discussing texts and issues relevant to the course. Specialist Honours modules encourage students to develop their individual interests, to work together on texts and ideas and so to strengthen their knowledge base and develop spoken and written communication skills.
Study Abroad Many students take the opportunity to spend a year working in France, between their second year and their Junior Honours (third) year. This may take the form of a teaching assistantship in a French school, or a work placement found by the student and approved by the Department. Students may instead apply to spend their Junior Honours year at one of our Erasmus partner institutions; in these cases the work done in France replaces the Junior Honours year in St Andrews. Our current partners include the Sorbonne, the École des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, as well as the Universities of Toulouse and Perpignan. All students are fully briefed about the possibilities for study abroad during their second and third semesters in St Andrews. For more information on European or North American Exchanges, see pages 20-21.
Careers Recent graduates have gone to work for the British Council, HSBC’s executive training programme, Citibank, Christian Salvesen, Harper Collins, Glasgow City Council and even to work in Japan teaching English as part of the JET scheme. Many also go on to study for postgraduate qualifications or higher degrees.
Please see page 42 for details of the University’s Careers Centre. More information:
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/careers/ wiki/School_of_Modern_Languages
‘Parisiens and French Peasants’ from John Aspin, Cosmorama – 1848
French
“Studying French is more than learning the rules of the language – lectures and seminars also cover French history and a range of literature, with oral classes providing an insight into popular French culture. The French Society runs various events which are great fun and complement our studies.”
Katie (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire)
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