Information for Self-Placement: French

Simpson College
Information for Self-Placement: French
FREN 101 Culture through Language 1
(offered every semester)
This course is for students with no background in
French. Some students with only 1 year of high
school French also find this course helpful; others
are ready for FREN 102. Students with 2 or more
years of high school French generally find this
course too simple for them. However, all students
who want to work on the following are welcome:
FREN 102 Culture through Language 2
(offered every semester)
This course is for students who have had some
French before. Usually students with 1 or 2 years
of high school French feel comfortable in this
course. All students who are familiar with the
content of FREN 101 and who want to work on the
following are welcome:
FREN 203 Comparing Cultures
(offered every fall)
This course is for students who have studied French
before. Usually students with 3, 4, or more years of
high school French feel comfortable in this course.
All students who are familiar with the content of
FREN 102 and who want to work on the following
are welcome:
Themes and vocabulary
• Greetings and introductions (“Bonjour. Je
m’appelle…”)
• Numbers 0-100
• School subjects, schedules
• Telling time
• Family
• Describing people
• Cities and towns
Themes and vocabulary
• Sports
• Holidays and celebrations
• Months and seasons
• Weather
• Clothing
• Vacation and travel
Themes and vocabulary
E-mail surveys of people around the Frenchspeaking world on the following topics:
• Daily life, stereotypes, and realities (the role of
geography, views of time, views of money,
food, etc.)
• The role of tradition (stories, myths, legends,
customs, celebrations, etc.)
• Current struggles and future goals (both
societal and individual)
Grammar
• Irregular verbs être, avoir, faire, aller
• Regular –er verbs
• Adjective agreement (masculine, feminine,
plural)
• My, your, his, her, their, etc. (Mon, ma, mes,
ton, ta, tes, son, sa, ses, etc.)
• Negation: ne… pas
• Questions: est-ce que, quand, où, pourquoi,
etc.
Culture
• French educational system
• Friendship and family
• Café culture and food
• Geography of the French-speaking world
Grammar
• Passé composé (with avoir and with être)
• Imparfait
• Direct and indirect object pronouns (me, te, le,
la, les, lui, leur, etc. : « Je te parle », « Tu veux
l’acheter ? », etc.)
Culture
• Free-time activities
• Holidays and celebrations
• Vacation destinations and travel in the Frenchspeaking world
• Food
• Fashion
Grammar
• Narrating in the past (using passé composé,
imparfait, and plus-que-parfait)
• Conditional (“would,” “could,” “should”)
• Future (“will”)
• Introduction to the subjunctive
Culture
This course uses surveys designed and analyzed by
students to compare cultural information collected
from French-speaking people around the world.
Using this data, students generate hypotheses
about culture in general and about specific cultural
points of view.
Simpson College
Placement Diagnostic: French
Read each item carefully and decide if you would be able to provide a similar answer.
I can…
Example
Yes / Kind of
/ No
Bonjour, je m’appelle Sue Smith. J’ai 18 ans. J’habite à Indianola avec mes parents et mon petit frère. J’étudie la biologie
… introduce
myself something parce que je voudrais être médecin. Je suis sportive. Je joue au basket et au volley. J’aime aussi faire du jogging.
like this:
J’habite à Indianola dans l’Iowa. C’est une petite ville de 15 000 habitants près de Des Moines. A Indianola, il y a une petite
… describe my
université qui s’appelle Simpson College. Il n’y a pas de centre commercial, mais il y a un Walmart. Il y a aussi un cinéma,
town something
des restaurants, de beaux parcs et beaucoup d’églises. J’aime Indianola parce que c’est une belle petite ville très calme.
like this :
Ce week-end j’ai beaucoup de choses à faire. Vendredi soir, je vais aller au cinéma avec mes amis. Nous allons regarder The
… describe my
Hunger Games. Samedi matin, je vais me lever tôt parce que nous avons un match de basket. Dimanche, je vais faire mes
plans for the
devoirs et dormir !
weekend
something like
this:
If you have answered “yes” to this point, you will be bored in FREN 101! Keep going to see whether 102 or 203 is the best placement for you.
If you have a mixture of answers, see a World Language and Culture Studies professor for advice.
If you have mostly or all “no” answers, you can stop. FREN 101 is the best placement for you.
Le week-end dernier, j’étais malade. Je suis restée dans ma chambre. J’ai dormi et j’ai regardé la télé. Je n’ai pas beaucoup
… tell what I did
mangé, juste un peu de soupe. Je voulais sortir avec mes amis, mais je n’avais pas l’énergie. Je n’ai pas fait mes devoirs non
last weekend
plus. Quel mauvais week-end!
something like
this:
Si j’avais beaucoup d’argent et beaucoup de temps, je ferais un voyage en Asie. D’abord, j’irais en Chine où je rendrais visite
… describe my
à mon amie Lili. Après la Chine, je visiterais la Thaïlande. J’aimerais voir les temples bouddhistes et aller à la plage.
dream vacation
Finalement, j’irais au Viêt-nam. Ce pays me fascine avec son passé colonial. J’espère faire ce voyage un jour !
something like
this:
… write a
Bonjour Pierre,
postcard
Je t’écris de Thaïlande où je passe des vacances extraordinaires ! Hier il faisait très chaud et très beau. Nous sommes allés à
something like
la plage. Ce soir nous nous sommes promenés au marché des fleurs. C’était magnifique ! Demain, nous allons visiter le plus
this:
grand temple du pays. Je te montrerai mes photos.
A bientôt, Sue
If you have answered “yes” to this point, you will be bored in FREN 102! FREN 203 is the best placement for you.
If you have a mixture of answers, see a World Language and Culture Studies professor for advice.
If you have mostly or all “no” answers in this section but you answered “yes” to the first section, FREN 102 is the best placement for you.
Simpson College
Information for Self-Placement: German
GER 101 Culture through Language 1
(offered every semester)
This course is for students with no background in
German. Some students with only 1 year of high
school German also find this course helpful; others
are ready for GER 102. Students with 2 or more
years of high school German generally find this
course too simple for them. However, all students
who want to work on the following are welcome:
GER 102 Culture through Language 2
(offered every spring )
This course is for students who have had some
German before. Usually students with 1 or 2 years
of high school German feel comfortable in this
course. All students who are familiar with the
content of GER 101 and who want to work on the
following are welcome:
GER 201 Comparing Cultures
(offered every fall)
This course is for students who have studied
German before. Usually students with 3, 4, or more
years of high school German feel comfortable in
this course. All students who are familiar with the
content of GER 102 and who want to work on the
following are welcome:
Themes and vocabulary
• Greetings and introductions (“Guten Tag. Ich
heiβe…”)
• Numbers 0-100
• School subjects, schedules, school supplies
• Telling time
• Family
• Describing people
• Leisure activities
Themes and vocabulary
• Travel and transportation
• Regional sights and culture
• Austria and Switzerland
• Stores and shopping
• Following directions
• Typical school and university situations
Themes and vocabulary:
In this course students compare their own answers
to the following questions (among others) with
answers typical of a German speaker:
• Who am I?
• Where do I come from?
• What do I believe?
• What are my hopes and goals?
• How does my biography affect my views?
Grammar
• Irregular verbs sein, haben, lesen, sprechen …
• Regular verbs : gehen, kaufen, studieren …
• Direct objects
• Negation: nicht, kein
• Questions: wer, wo, wann, wie, etc.
• Modal auxilieries : müssen, können, wollen …
Culture
• German educational system
• Friendship and family
• Cultural events and food
• Living situations
• Chores, responsibilities, likes and dislikes
• Celebrations
Grammar
• Present Perfect (with haben and sein)
• Indirect objects
• Expressions with the dative case : Wie geht es
Ihnen ? Schmeckt das ?
• Prepositions using accusative
• Prespositions using the dative
Culture
• German regional geography and traditions
• Transportation
• German school and university system
• Germans, Austrians and the Swiss
• European Union
• Regional and national stereotypes
Grammar
• Narrating in the past (using present perfect and
simple past)
• Prespositions using accusative and dative
• Future (“will”)
• Subjunctive (“would, could, should”)
• Genitive
Culture
This course uses students own answers to the
questions above as the starting point of
comparisons with speakers of German on the same
topics. Using this data, students generate
hypotheses about culture in general and specific
cultural points of view.
Simpson College
Information for Self-Placement: Spanish
SPAN 101 Culture through Language 1
(offered every semester)
This course is for students with no
background in Spanish. Some students
with only 1 year of high school Spanish
also find this course helpful; others are
ready for SPAN 102. Students with 2 or
more years of high school Spanish
generally find this course too simple for
them. However, all students who want
to work on the following are welcome:
Themes and vocabulary
• Greetings and introductions
• Numbers 0-100
• School subjects, schedules
• Telling time
• Family, describing people
• Shopping
• The home
Grammar
• Regular and Irregular present tense
verbs (-ar, -er, -ir verbs and hacer,
oír, salir, ver etc.)
• Ser and estar
• Adjective agreement
• My, your, his, her, their, etc. (mi/s,
tu/s, su/s, etc.)
• Questions: qué, quién, dónde, por
qué, cuánto, etc.
Culture
• Educational system in the Spanishspeaking world
• Friendship and family
• Homes in the Spanish-speaking
world
SPAN 102 Culture through Language 2
(offered every semester)
This course is for students who have had
some Spanish before. Usually students
with 1 or 2 years of high school Spanish
feel comfortable in this course. All
students who are familiar with the
content of SPAN 101 and who want to
work on the following are welcome:
SPAN 201 Culture through Language 3
(offered every semester)
This course is for students who have
studied Spanish before. Usually students
with 3, 4 or more years of high school
Spanish feel comfortable in this course.
All students who are familiar with the
content of SPAN 102 and who want to
work on the following are welcome:
Themes and vocabulary
• Foods
• Holidays and celebrations
• Free-time activities
• Vacations and travel
• Health
Themes and vocabulary
• Digital identity in online social media
• Immigration and ancestry
• The environment
• Politics and governments in transition
• Study abroad and travel
Grammar
• Introduction to preterit tense
(regular and irregular)
• Introduction to imperfect tense
• Introduction to preterit versus the
imperfect
• Introduction to direct and indirect
object pronouns (me, te, lo, la, les,
etc. : « Yo le doy mi tarea », etc.)
Grammar
• Narrating in the past (using the
preterit and the imperfect)
• Introduction to conditional (“would,”
“could,” “should”)
• Introduction to future (“will”)
• Introduction to the subjunctive
Culture
• Free-time activities
• Holidays and celebrations
• Vacation destinations and travel in
the Spanish-speaking world
• Food
Culture
• Social media and self presentation to
others digitally
• Environmental attitudes around the
world
• Politics
• Travel
SPAN 202 Gateway to Adv Span
(offered every semester)
This course is for students who have
studied Spanish before. Usually
students with 4 or more years and
those who took AP courses feel
comfortable in this course. All
students who are familiar with the
content of SPAN 201 and who want
to work on the following are
welcome:
Themes and vocabulary
• History of Spanish-speaking
countries
• Politics
• Contemporary issues
(immigration, economy,
poverty, social class, the media)
• Global issues (the environment,
dictatorship, civil unrest, etc.)
Grammar
• Narrating in the past
• Expressing opinions
• Continued use of the
subjunctive
• Introduction to the past
subjunctive
• Introduction to If clauses
Culture
• Gender roles
• Social class
• Personal responsibility
• Education