Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - FREN 201 B100

Intermediate French I : Cultures and Communication (3)

Class Number: 4903

Delivery Method: Blended

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: TBA, TBA
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    Grade 12 French or FREN 102 or FREN 122 or permission of the Department of French.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This is the first of two intermediate level courses in French. Through a variety of original documents in French (descriptive articles, audio-visual interviews and presentations, recorded testimonies from French speakers, …), students will be introduced to francophone cultures and communicative situations related to one’s personal environment such as city life, housing, relationships, education and work. A strong focus will be made on the development of listening skills and oral production, as well as reading and writing. Grammar will be introduced and practiced mostly online with only short review sessions in class. It will cover present, past and future tenses as well as some basic sentence structures. Classes will be taught entirely in French and students will be expected to communicate in French. Students with credit for FREN 210 may not take this course for further credit. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course has a blended format with both online and in-class activities.

Online activities: explore, learn and practice key concepts.

Students should expect to spend 2-3 hours working on the weekly assigned modules. Module completion is expected by their due date and will count towards your participation grade.

In person tutorials: practice communicative activities and review some pronunciation and grammatical concepts when needed.

Attendance to tutorials is expected and will count towards your participation grade.

Evaluations will be done both online and in class.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

At the end of this course students will be able to:

  • understand the main points of clear standard speech found in authentic material related to the course topics, including the cultural diversity of the francophone world. (Listening)
  • understand the main points of factual texts on subjects related to the course topics, including the cultural diversity of the francophone world. (Reading)
  • describe their close environment, experiences and events, and express a simple opinion comprehensibly, with few grammatical errors, accurate vocabulary, clear and well-paced pronunciation. (Spoken production)
  • enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are related to the course content. (Spoken interaction)
  • write short descriptive paragraphs related to the course topics and express a simple opinion with few grammatical errors and accurate vocabulary. (Writing)
  • illustrate examples of diversity within the francophone cultures and compared to their own. (Culture)

Grading

  • Participation in online and class activities 30%
  • Online grammar tests (x3) 10%
  • In-class written tests (x2) 20%
  • In-class listening tests (x2) 15%
  • In-person final oral interview 25%

NOTES:

This course is not intended for French immersion students.
For course placement, contact the French student advisor: french_advisor@sfu.ca

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

NO TEXTBOOK! All course material will be available on Canvas.

REQUIRED READING:

All course documents are available on Canvas.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Department Undergraduate Notes:

 

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.