Fall Quarter 2024

For day, time, room, and TA information, see our PDF Schedule or the class search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
For all courses not described here, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/courses-subject-code/fre/

Language Courses

FRE 001-003: Elementary French
FRE 021-022: Intermediate French
See Placement Guide or Catalog Descriptions

Undergraduate Courses

FRE 100: Composition in French
Prof Warner T/R 12:10-1:30

The primary goal at this level is to introduce students to upper-division study in French. Together we will read and discuss a variety of works, including novels, poetry, comics, essays, films, and theater. Students will develop interpretive and analytical skills with broad applicability and practice writing in French in a clear and persuasive manner. We will also encounter a variety of expository and analytical writing styles, and emphasize organization, correct syntax, and vocabulary building.

Prerequisite: FRE 23 or permission of instructor. GE. AH, WC, WE

FRE 103: Intro to French Prose - Fairy Tales in French
Prof. Claire Goldstein

T/Th 10:30-11:50 This quarter we are going to read fairy tales as you never imagined them. Centuries before Disney, the fairy tale genre was invented by a community of mostly women writers, whose stories challenge preconceptions about gender norms and power. In their stories, we will discover monsters and enchantments, cross-dressed lovers, and brave heroines who rescue princes. The quarter will include tales from French-speaking traditions across the globe and modern rewritings and film adaptations.

GE Writing Experience.

A flyer for FRE 103, pink pastels and an old illustration of a lord bowing to a lady

FRE 109: French Phonetics
Prof. Eric Russell

MWF 10-10:50

This course is designed to familiarize you with French sounds and structures, as well as the principles of phonetics applicable to all languages. Although we'll be looking very closely at French and different forms of this language, you will likely learn a great deal about other ones that you know or have studied in the process. You will learn how sounds are produced, how articulatory parameters differ between French and English (and other languages), and how sounds undergo changes depending on context, style, and other factors. By doing so, you will be able to better contrast and compare the two and other languages, understand the pronunciation mistakes commonly made by non-native learners, review the correspondence between written and spoken French, and explore regional variation. Phonetic transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet is a crucial component of the course, as is the mastery of appropriate terminology.

Unlike many "pronunciation" courses, we will not be attempting to learn any supposedly perfect, unmarked, or accentless way of speaking - in fact, we will see just how everyone has an accent and how no way of speaking is neutral, even if we must acknowledge that different ways are subject to biases and prejudices. Our primary objective is to understand better how French is 'phonetically done,' both across the French-speaking world and in different parts of it, and to compare this to English and other native languages. For this, we'll use a rather artificial (but probably necessary) target of le français convergent, a sort of "nobody's and everybody's French" : this is not to say it is better or worse than le français du Québec / du Sénégal / de Marseille..., but it does give us some common ground. We will also spend a bit of time exploring these and many differences. Prerequisite FRE 23 or permission of instructor. GE: SS

FRE 128: Topics in French Culture: Le rap et la culture hip-hop français

Prof Simon, MWF 11-11:50

This course traces the emergence of the French hip-hop movement and especially of rap as a means of studying sound culture. We will read historical and cultural analyses and study songs from the early 1980s through today. We will also study the banlieue as well as ethnic and gendered identities as they are reflected in hip-hop culture (rap, DJing, graffiti, dance, style). Because our analysis will focus on sound performance, we will also work on pronunciation and prosody in French. Prerequisite FRE 100 or permission of instructor. GEs: AH, WC, WE.

A red and black flyer with a course description

Graduate Courses

FRE 224: Francophone Literatures - Fugue States
Prof. Toby Warner T 2:10 PM - 5:00 PM
522 Sproul

This seminar will explore themes of fugitivity and refuge. Together we will read francophone literary and theoretical texts that center around a desire to run away from home (fuguer). In our readings we will study how such ambiguous adventures have helped to conjure new forms of intimacy, sociality, belonging, and insurgency. Literary works by Aimé Césaire, Maryse Condé, Ousmane Socé, David Diop, and Abdellah Taïa. Theoretical readings by Dénètem Touam Bona, Maboula Soumahoro, Françoise Vergès, Fred Moten, and Edouard Glissant.

FRE 291: Foreign Language Learning in the Classroom
Prof. Carlee Arnett

FRE 390A: The Teaching of French in College
Prof. Julia Simon