French Course Offerings (Fall 2025)

Fall 2025 French Courses  

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Introductory Courses 

FREN 1101, Elementary French 1 

5 sections are open: MWF 11:15am-12:05pm, MWF 12:20-1:10pm, MWF 1:25-2:15pm; and Tu Th 12:30-1:45pm, 3:35-5:20pm. 

It’s never too late to start learning a foreign language! This class welcomes students with minimal or no prior knowledge of French. Its goal is to help beginners acquire the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) within French and Francophone cultural contexts. 

FREN 1102, Elementary French 2 

MWF 12:20-1:10pm. 

This course is designed for students who have some basic knowledge of French.  It will continue the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing through the study of vocabulary and structures. 

FREN 1103, Intermediate French 1  

3 sections are open MWF 11:15am-12:05pm; and Tu Th 11am-12:15pm, 5:30-7:15pm. 

This course will deepen students’ awareness and understanding of French language and culture.  It is based on a variety of short projects and activities designed to reinforce all language skills. 

FREN 1104, Intermediate French 2  

MWF 12:20-1:10pm 

It’s never too late to brush up on your French! This course provides a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points and vocabulary items. It includes the study of two French films as well as a project based on a short novel. 

FREN 1171. French Cinema  

M 6:25-9:45pm 

Weekly screenings of French films from the first comedies and surrealism to the New Wave and the young filmmakers of the 1990’s. Introduction to film history, analysis, and interpretation of films. CA 1. CA 4-INT. Taught in English. 

FREN 1177. Magicians, Witches, Wizards: Parallel Beliefs and Popular Culture in France  

Tu 6:30pm-9:10pm 

The search for traces of a counterculture which grew out of pagan beliefs and remained latent despite the domination of Christianity from the Middle Ages to modern times. Tales of magic and witchcraft, as presented by texts and films. The evolution of exemplary figures like Merlin or Nostradamus. CA 1. CA 4-INT. Taught in English. 

Courses for a French major/minor  

All the 3000-level courses count towards the French minor (6 courses)  and the French major (10 courses). 

TAUGHT IN ENGLISH 

FREN 3270W French literature and Civilization in English 

2 sections are open: Tu Th 11am-12:15pm, Tu Th 12:30-1:45pm, MWF 3:35pm-4:25pm 

  • Explore a different culture through literature and broaden your horizon.  
  • Enhance your writing skills by improving your grammar, style, and ability to present persuasive arguments.  
  • Develop critical thinking through the analysis of representative works and literary forms, honing your ability to articulate complex concepts effectively. 

Representative works of French literature, on a particular theme. How literary forms articulate the ideas and values of different periods. CA 1. Prerequisite: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 

TAUGHT IN FRENCH 

(Prerequisite for courses taught in French: three years of high school French, French 1104, or instructor consent) 

FREN 3101. French for Engineering I  

M 6-6:50pm 

  • Master essential technical vocabulary specific to engineering, enabling you to communicate effectively in both French and English.  
  • Enhance your bilingual proficiency by learning to discuss complex engineering concepts in a professional setting.  
  • Tailored for dual-degree students, this course bridges the gap between French language skills and engineering expertise. 

Particularly important for dual-degree French and Engineering students. 

Provides students with the technical and scientific vocabulary needed to discuss a wide variety of topics in engineering. 

FREN 3103. French for Engineering III  

M 5-5:50pm 

  • Advance your technical vocabulary in French, learning to describe scientific processes and follow presentations in a professional context.  
  • Gain valuable job-seeking skills by practicing French-style CVs, cover letters, and interview techniques tailored for engineering careers.  
  • Enhance your bilingual career readiness with specialized knowledge and preparation materials for interviews with engineers in the French-speaking world. 

Particularly important for dual-degree French and Engineering students. 

Provides students more advanced vocabulary, methods, and field-specific knowledge. Students will learn to describe scientific processes, to follow presentations in French, to do research to create preparation materials for their interviews with engineers. Students will also learn practical job-seeking skills, including practice with French-style CVs, job letters, and interviews. 

FREN 3226 Inventing Cinema: French and Francophone Film Cultures 

MWF 2:30-3:20pm 

  • Explore the history of cinema from its invention to the digital age, examining the evolution of filmmaking and its global impact. 
  • Analyze the intersection of film and social issues, including themes of displacement, migration, and decolonization through the lens of iconic French and Francophone filmmakers. 
  • Develop critical media literacy by studying various film forms—narrative, avant-garde, and documentary and talk about them confidently like a film critic! 

This course allows students to become better acquainted with the language, conventions, and rules of filmmaking, as well as the advent of film culture as a new form of circulation of images and ideas. It will survey French and Francophone Cinema from its invention by the Lumière Brothers to its global spread, and from the silent era to the digital age, encompassing a diverse selection of French and Francophone filmmakers including Georges Méliès, Ousmane Sembène, and Agnès Varda. Exploration of the intersections among history, social issues, and formal experimentation across narrative, avant-garde, and documentary film. Topics include the birth of cinema as a new medium, social change and activism, experiences of displacement and migration, and representations of decolonization. Under consideration for the CLAS Skill Area: Information, Digital, & Media Literacy (IDML). 

FREN 3234 Reading and Writing the 19th Century 

Tu Th 12:30-1:45pm 

  •        Read captivating short stories and novellas 
  •        Play with different writing forms, media, and genres
  •        Place nineteenth-century literary trends within a broader context of change.
  •        Develop a creative project in which you experiment with genre.

Course description: 

By the nineteenth century, innovation had become such a dominant value that Gustave Flaubert complained the new was “falling out of everywhere”. New media, technology, science and art forms seemed to appear with increasing speed, reaching new audiences, scales, and degrees of specialization.  We are going to be paying special attention to the many literary innovations of the period, but always within this larger context of change. One of the ways in which innovation was most visible, was in the development of many new genres between 1790-1900, genres that often self-consciously positioned themselves against the trends that had preceded them.  The central question of the course is to ask what writers might have been thinking about when they introduced new ways of telling stories.   

Students choose the semester’s theme. We will then read a selection of novellas and short stories that provide different possible answers to the question “what is a genre”? Through in-class and at-home writing exercises, podcasts, and other exercises, students will experiment with different writing forms to gain a hands-on understanding of how genres vary and to their multiple communicative, artistic, and cultural functions. CA 1. 

FREN 3257. Phonetics: Mastering the Sounds of French  

MWF 11:15am-12:05pm 

  • Refresh and strengthen your language skills.  
  • Ideal for bridging the gap between 1104 and 3000-level French courses.  
  • Enhance listening and communication skills through songs, games, podcasts, and film dialogues.  
  • Boost fluency and comfort in spoken French, enhancing your communication effectiveness.  

This course can be used as a bridge course between 1104 and 3000-level courses, or for students who haven’t taken French in a while. This course will enhance students’ listening skills, pronunciation and communication effectiveness: with the help of songs, games, podcasts and film dialogues, we will decipher the phonetic alphabet, learn to ignore silent letters, stress words correctly, produce precise French vowels, work on the few difficult French consonants and on the boundaries between words and phrases. At the end of the course, students will become understandable and more confident when they speak up in French.  

FREN 3268W. Writing in French: Grammar and Style  

MWF 10:10am-11am 

  • Refine your French writing skills by practicing a variety of formats, from creative projects to structured exercises,  
  • Enhance your ability to express yourself effectively.  
  • Master the subtleties of French grammar and style, learning to craft compelling and persuasive writing while deepening your understanding of the language.  
  • Discover your unique voice in French, improving both your communication and creative expression through an engaging, hands-on writing process 

This course will help students write well and convincingly in French while delighting in each step of the writing process. Students will practice writing in a variety of forms, including a short, individualized creative project that will encourage reflection on and understanding of how the French language works. Our aim will be to grasp the subtleties of the French language and its grammar to help each student find their voice and develop their communication skills. CA 1. 

 

For more information on the Program in French and Francophone Studies, please contact Professors Ally Ladha (ally.ladha@uconn.edu) and Valérie Saugera (valerie.saugera@uconn.edu)