“French is a part of me”

It’s a sunny Friday afternoon and we’re edging closer and closer to the summer which seems like a good time to introduce you to another of our undergraduate students. Many of our students in French at Stirling join us having studied French until the end of their secondary school studies but we also welcome students onto our Beginners’ stream every year, students who have either never studied any French before or who have perhaps done 1 or 2 years but who usually haven’t studied it for a few years at least. For these students, the first two semesters focus on intensive language learning (alongside whatever other subjects they are studying), then in 3^rd semester they begin to study French and Francophone cultures while continuing to build their language skills and confidence, and they merge with our Advanced stream from Semester 4 onwards. Today’s post is by Valeriia who has just finished the first 2 semesters in our Beginners’ stream:

“Bonjour tout le monde! My name is Valeriia, and I just completed my first year at the University of Stirling. I’m pursuing a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in International Management Studies with European Languages and Society. Let me tell you, choosing this programme has been the best decision of my life. In my 20 years, I have experienced many changes, just like everyone else. Among these changes, foreign languages have played a significant role. I first discovered French when I was in 5th grade. It caught the attention of my teachers, who noticed my interest in French culture and recommended that I start learning the language. Subsequently, I enrolled in an academic lyceum where I delved deep into English and French, participating in various Olympiads and scientific competitions throughout Ukraine. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, and I thought nothing could disrupt this harmony. However, German unexpectedly entered my life, diverting all my efforts and time to this new language. Consequently, I began to forget French since, as they say, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

In 2022, I made the decision to study at a university in Scotland. I had no doubt that Stirling was the perfect choice for me. When I discovered that the university offered the opportunity to study French and even spend a semester in a French-speaking country, I felt a rush of excitement. I once again fell in love with the French language, even after a long break. The native French-speaking teachers provide incredible assistance and support, whilst the university campus and the entire community continuously inspire and motivate me to strive for new knowledge. It’s almost like having a piece of France in Scotland. I’m extremely glad that the University of Stirling offers language learning opportunities for beginners, those looking to refresh their skills, and those who already have a strong foundation. But is there a limit? Personally, I strongly believe that perfection knows no bounds.

You know, they say that knowing at least one foreign language becomes second nature. If you were to ask me what the nature of the French language is, I would tell you that it varies for everyone. For some, it’s the language of love, for others, it’s the world of cinema, and for some, it’s the pages of timeless French classics or the pleasure of gastronomy. For me, it encompasses all of these aspects. In a nutshell, it is life itself. You come to realise that a foreign language is so is so intricately woven into your life that it becomes a part of who you are. So, French is a part of me.

Through personal experience, I have come to understand that even when life takes unexpected turns, it is important to hold onto what you love and what gives you strength. I look forward to the upcoming years as a student and rejoice in my progress and the progress of my ‘camarades’. We, like all students, have a lot of work ahead of us, with so much more to learn about the French language and culture. However, at the University of Stirling, we are never alone. In unity, there is strength!”

Many, many thanks to Valeriia for this great blog post and we hope the summer will offer many opportunities for you to continue to build your language skills so you’re ready for the language and culture combination that awaits in the autumn!

Congratulations all round!

It has been a busy couple of weeks in French at Stirling, hence a bit of radio silence from the blog. However, before the month ends, we wanted to take a bit of time, firstly, to congratulate all our students, from Beginners to non-Beginners, from Year 1 to finalists, undergrads and postgrads, on having got through this very challenging year. Undergraduate teaching finished a couple of weeks ago and we’ve all been making our way through assessments and essay deadlines and oral exams and all the other work that comes, for students and staff, with the end of a semester. It has been intense but, on behalf of all of us in the French at Stirling teaching team, well done to everyone!

We’d also like to say thank you to all of the students who voted for French at Stirling colleagues in this year’s RATE teaching awards, particularly in the Best Tutor and Excellence in Teaching in Arts and Humanities categories. It really does mean a tremendous amount to receive the nominations and to see the quotes that explain why students have voted. Whether it’s for ‘insightful comments’, ‘excellent feedback’, for our ‘words of encouragement’, for being ‘friendly and approachable’ and ‘knowledgeable’ and ‘passionate’ about our subject and ‘very encouraging’, because we ‘make learning very enjoyable’  or because we ‘go the extra mile’ or because we give ‘every student their chance to air their views’, we’re all very grateful (thanks to all the individual students who put those lovely comments in their nominations!).

We were also particularly chuffed to be part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities this year and to have been voted Faculty of the Year!

There’ll be more news and updates over the weeks ahead but, in the first instance, well done all round and thanks, in particular, to our students for all their hard work this year.

Bridging Materials Part II: Written Language

[Updated on 25 February 2021: To enable us to update the Bridging Materials for our incoming Year 1 students for later this year, you’ll notice that the links to the materials via these blog posts have stopped working. We’re delighted these materials have been helpful over the past months and look forward to using them with our new Year 1 students in 6 months!]

Following on from the first part of our Bridging Materials which focused on exercises relating to Oral/Aural Language, if you click here you’ll get access to the second section of these resources. This time, the focus is on Written Language which forms the basis of a weekly hour of teaching for our students on the Advanced Semester 1 module. (We have separate Beginners’ modules that run in Semesters 1-3 but, as the name suggests, these are intensive language learning modules for students who have not studied French before or who have not studied it for a long time.)

The Written Language Bridging Materials – just like the Oral/Aural ones – try to give you a sense of how we approach Written Language at Stirling. As you’ll see, there’s a mixture of grammar exercises, supplementary online resources, articles to read, videos etc. Some of these would be used in class, others would be linked to for students to use in their independent study. And, once again, as you’ll see, the materials are set out in a week-by-week structure so do pace yourself as you work through them. Give yourself a chance to read through articles, to think about them, to read further around the topic, to explore some of the online resources that are linked to via the document itself, and so on.

The Culture Bridging Materials will be posted over the next few days.

Bonne lecture!

Congratulations all round!

As well as congratulations to our students who are about to graduate next week, it’s also the time of the year for other prizes to be announced so the perfect time to congratulate a range of French at Stirling prize-winners:

First and foremost, many congratulations to Jack who has just finished his second year in French and Spanish with us at Stirling where he is part of our Tennis Scholarship Programme. Jack has recently discovered that he has been awarded a Stevenson Exchange Scholarship which he will hold next Spring while he is on Study Abroad. The scholarship will enable him to study the internal structures of tennis development in France to understand how tennis within the United Kingdom might grow and what role he could play in that process. French at Stirling has a great success rate for these awards as you can see here and here! Posts from this year’s Stevenson scholars should appear on the blog over the next few weeks and we look forward to updates from Jack when he starts his Semester Abroad.

Congratulations, too, to the winners of this year’s Division of Literature and Languages prizes for French. Our annual Simone de Beauvoir prize which goes to the student who has achieved the Best Performance across their French Honours modules has been awarded to Jeanne who graduates in International Management with European Languages and Society next week. Our two other final year prizes with a French element go to Calum who graduates next week in French and Politics and has won our Translation prize for the Best Performance across the final year translation assessments and to Anne, one of the students on our Integrated Masters in International Management and Intercultural Studies, who has won our Languages, Cultures and Religions Research Prize for her dissertation. Strictly speaking, the dissertation is in Spanish but we’re happy to add to the congratulations here since Anne’s programme falls under the French remit!

And students at earlier stages of their degrees have also been receiving news of their prize successes… For the Best Performance by a student in our Year 1 Beginners’ stream, congratulations to Monika who is studying French and Spanish, while the Best Performance in Year 1 by a non-Beginner award goes to Yamina who is studying International Politics and Languages. The Year 2 prizes have gone to Jennifer Graham on our Primary Education and Modern Languages programme (for the Best Performance in our Advanced stream) and to Laura Castane Bassa who studies English and French (for the Best Performance in Year 2 by a former Beginner).

Extremely worthy winners all round and félicitations to you all!!

Grammar books and summer holidays

And following our catch-up with Emily at the end of her 2^nd year, another update. This time from Paige who, this time last year, was also just reaching the end of Year 1:

‘I’ve just finished my second year of university, which is crazy that I’m halfway through my degree already! This year was the first year since changing my degree programme from English Studies and Secondary Education to English Studies and French and I was surprised how well they linked.

French has been completely different to first year in the beginner stream. Rather than three classes a week which comprised of grammar and vocabulary; there was a Matière lecture, Matière seminar, Written language class, Conversation class and Langage Parlé class. I enjoyed the Matière lectures and seminars the most because they’re so different to anything available at high school – they are known as French culture classes but they are also a mix of French history and current issues.

There were more opportunities to speak French this year with two dedicated classes: Langage Parlé and Conversation classes. The Conversation class was more relaxed and informal which encouraged everyone to join in the discussion, whereas the Langage Parlé class was slightly more formal. I enjoyed the Langage Parlé class too, as every week there was a short topical article to read to prepare for the class and they were always really interesting and informative.

The only class I can’t say I enjoyed was the Written Language class which is a grammar class but I think it was because I was gently re-introduced to French after four years with Beginners’ classes so switching to the Advanced classes was a bit of a shock to the system. Suddenly the gaps in my knowledge (everything I forgot in the four years in between high school and University) became apparent to me and I felt I struggled in this class. So, this Summer my plan is to work through a grammar book and attempt to teach myself everything I’ve forgotten! University is all about taking responsibility for your learning and deciding on what degree classification you want, then putting in the necessary work to achieve it.

If anyone reading this blog is considering studying a language at University or doesn’t want to stop studying a language but hasn’t thought about doing a language degree (as was the case with me) I highly recommend going straight from high school or as close to it as possible! Otherwise it’s a bit of an uphill struggle trying to relearn everything to reach the same level of proficiency as everyone else on the course.

Last year I spoke about the opportunities available to those studying a French degree and my excitement to embrace the opportunity to spend a year in France in between second and third year, working as an English Language Assistant through the British Council. I have applied and in April I heard that I have been shortlisted! Now I have a nerve-wracking wait until the end of June to hear if I have been allocated a placement…’

Many, many thanks to Paige for this update. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for the ELA placement and really hope that works out!

Student Successes: Prizes and Graduating Students

On the day our finalists have received their degree results (félicitations à toutes et à tous!!), it seems particularly appropriate to post congratulations to all those French at Stirling students who have been awarded prizes for outstanding performances across our year groups.

In Semesters 1-3, we run both an Advanced stream (for all those with Higher or Advanced Higher French, or equivalent) and a Beginners’ stream (for those with no formal qualifications in French or whose previous studies are from years and years back) and we award prizes in both streams. This year, Prize for the Best Performance by a Year 1 Student in the A Stream goes to Jennifer who is studying Professional Education (Primary) with a Specialism in Modern Languages and the Prize for the Best Performance in Year 1 by a B Stream student goes to English and French student, Laura.

Best Performance by an A Stream student in Year 2 goes to International Politics and Languages student Stefano (who was also recently awarded a Stevenson Exchange Scholarship) while Charlene, who is studying French and History, has won the Prize for the Best Performance by a former B Stream student in Year 2 (Advanced and Beginners’ streams merge in Semester 4).

Our annual Simone de Beauvoir Prize for French which is awarded every year to a graduating student on a French programme for the best performance across their Honours modules has been won by David who has been studying French and Spanish with us, and Hannah, who has just completed her BA Hons in French, has been awarded the Translation Prize for French, thanks to excellent grades in translation assessments across her final year.

Many, many congratulations to all our prize-winners from all of French at Stirling!

French Prizewinners

Halfway between Exam Boards and Graduation seems a good point to post congratulations to the students whose excellent performances this past academic year have brought them success with our various French prizes.

Congratulations, first, to Alasdair who will be graduating in a couple of weeks in Psychology with a European Language and who has scooped our annual Simone de Beauvoir Prize for the best performance by a final year student in French. Alasdair was also the recipient of our annual Arts and Humanities Research Prize for French for his dissertation, supervised by French at Stirling’s Elizabeth Ezra, on ‘French Cinematic Representations of les années noires.’

The 2016 translation prize was jointly awarded to Alasdair and to his fellow Year 4 student, Jana, who will be spending 2016-17 at the Ecole de Management in Strasbourg to complete her integrated Master’s in International Management and Intercultural Studies. The translation prize is awarded to the student who achieves the highest combined grade across translation assessments in Semesters 7 and 8, and both Alasdair and Jana completed some exceptional work. Congratulations to both.

Congratulations, too, to Stefano who has just completed the first year of his BA Hons in International Politics and Languages at Stirling and who was the very worthy recipient of our prize for the Best Overall Performance by a Year 1 Student. And yet more congratulations to Jeanne who has just completed Year 2 of our Integrated Masters in International Management and Intercultural Studies and who is the very deserving recipient of the Best Overall Performance by a Year 2 Student this year.

We’re also delighted to congratulate Charlene who has won the prize for Best Performance by a Year 1 Student in our Beginners’ stream at the end of the first year of her degree in French and History. Congratulations!

Many congratulations to all our prize-winners and we look forward to following their success over the years to come.

International Graduates

More catching-up with recent graduates and tales of their lives since they finished studying with us. Today’s tales both happen to come from Scandinavian graduates… first, Silje, from Norway, and Terry, from Sweden.

Silje graduated from Stirling in 2013 with a BA Hons in English Studies and French: “I originally chose Stirling because of its opportunity to do French for beginners. It was also on the list of universities that the Norwegian organisation which helped me apply co-operated with. In addition, the pictures of the surroundings and campus looked amazing!

Loch Lomond trip with Uni kayak club

 

During my time there I enjoyed both the English and French part of my studies. Stirling is also great for past-time activities and I tried to enjoy that to the full as well of course. I went on exchange to Geneva, Switzerland for my 2nd semester 3rd year. That certainly helped my language skills a lot and this compulsory time abroad was also a reason that I chose this course.

 

One of my favourite modules during my stay in Stirling was a module on Post-War France with Jason Hartford. This made me love history once again and was just so incredibly interesting on a cultural, as well as a social level.

After graduating and taking a year to travel, I did a one-year teaching course here in Norway to become a qualified teacher (like you can in Scotland). I am now a secondary school teacher (kids aged 12-15). I teach English and French, where English is a compulsory subject and French is not. This means that, often, the French groups are more motivated and can progress quicker. However, a difference between classes and groups is always interesting.

I certainly appreciate that I did French, as it certainly made me stand out and landed me a job. French-English was a great combination both for being relevant during my studies and after.”

We continue to offer that route into French via the Beginners’ stream for students who don’t have a Higher (or equivalent), overseen by our Language Coordinator, Jean-Michel DesJacques. Students in those classes focus on intensive language learning for the first two semesters, before beginning to study literary texts and films in Semester 3 (still alongside intensive language learning), and then merging with the non-Beginners in Semester 4. From that point onwards, there’s no further differentiation between Beginners and non-Beginners and, every year, we’re delighted to see a cluster of former Beginners among our successful graduates.

Thanks to Silje for this article and best wishes for the future!

Graduation and Prizes

We’re a couple of weeks from graduation at Stirling and this seems like a good time to congratulate all our graduating students and to wish them all the very best for the future!

We’d also like to congratulate our various prize-winners, both finalists and students in earlier years of their degrees. This year’s recipient of the annual Simone de Beauvoir Prize, awarded to the student with the best overall performance in Honours in French, is Jennifer who is graduating in French and Spanish, while the School of Arts and Humanities Research Prize for French has been awarded to Lewis who is graduating in French and History.

This year’s inaugural Translation Prize for French was jointly awarded to Stewart (French and Spanish) and Yuliya (European Film and Media).

Among non-graduating students, congratulations go to: Channon for the Best Performance by a Year 1 Beginner, Bethany for the Best Performance in Year 1, David for the Best Performance in Year 2 and Kitti for the Best Performance in Year 2 by a former Beginner.

Fantastic results all round!

Textbook problems…

As well as conferences and study days and the like, the summer months are also a time for preparing new classes, writing lectures, revising coursepacks, ordering new textbooks… Not always plain sailing as our Language Coordinator, Jean-Michel DesJacques, explains:

“J-1! Ah! Le soleil, les vacances, le verre de rosé le soir à la fraiche. Sauf que… en fait d’apéro, déboires à gogo! We need to talk about “the textbook”.  Have you heard of the curious legal incident in a faraway land?

Tout a commencé par un courriel anodin: “We wish to inform that there will be a substantial increase in some of the print textbooks that you have chosen” (US Supreme Court ruling Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons for those, if any, who wish to know). How lucky of me to have chosen a textbook whose sale price had to be discussed by the US Supreme Court. A few weeks later, I received another email saying that ‘my’ textbook was still available of course but it would cost £111.

I know, odd number, who would buy a book for that price I asked myself. Some students could be deterred from signing up to French for beginners, missing out on a potential lifelong love affair with the language. The timing of the decision was rather unfortunate: language tutors would tell you that a new textbook is a decision you make a good 6 months prior to the start of teaching so that you can reorganize your course accordingly. I certainly felt that I had done everything I could: I had met with the company’s representatives before teaching started in February and organized the purchase of the textbook with the added bonus of a range of on-line activities in the format of a virtual lab. A true example of blended learning, a combination of traditional methods combined with new technology, on which we pride ourselves at Stirling. The perfect mix!

What now? Well, I suppose I could go back to the previous edition which is still available at a reasonable price. I know conjugations and grammatical structures will be the same, but should I run the risk of having students who believe that M. Sarkozy is still president? And dare I mention Gérard Depardieu?

Dear beginners, fear not! You will have a textbook worthy of your efforts next semester. Remember, it’s an intensive course so I shall keep you busy and well prepared to eventually join the mainstream with the ultimate goal of studying at a Francophone university for a semester in 3^rd year (we have partners in France, Canada, Morocco and Switzerland) and maybe spending a whole year working as a Language Assistant. A worthy reward.

À bientôt!”