[FREN W1202] Intermediate French II

Intermediate French

Out of all the French classes I've taken at Columbia, this has by far been the most frustrating one. Right off the bat, Professor Mack is no doubt a really nice guy. He makes time to speak to students and is generally just very pleasant. That's probably why it's so irritating to dislike this class as much as I do.

It's not hard to get an A in this class--do the homework, study for the tests, and participate every once in awhile. What really drives me crazy though is this man's lack of a systematic grading system. In every French class, you'll get two opportunities to write any given composition--the first and second draft. He hastily grades all of the first drafts, gives you a preliminary grade and then makes you do the corrections he's made for a second grade. It's all pretty standard, except when you get your second draft back and realize you did worse the second time around than the first. How is this possible? Well, he realizes while reading the second draft that he completely forgot to catch and correct a number of things and then punishes you for them by lowering your grade. Why would a student be punished for what the professor did not grade the first time? What's even more annoying is the paragraph he makes you write in english on the second draft about all the mistakes you made. Really, how many times can you say conjugation errors? Does he want you to list out every specific mistake you made? This does not help in any way whatsoever.

In general, class is fine. regular grammar and reading samples. a few times, he just won't know something but i suppose that's normal with french teachers. if he really can't explain something, he'll say it in english, which i'm incredibly against. At this level, we shouldn't be speaking english in class at all, but that's just my opinion.

don't be surprised on the test (which are way too long) if he includes things that we never went over or things he never even mentioned. he STRICTLY follows the department-wide syllabus for all the material covered on the test, despite the fact that we are never on schedule with it. this makes studying quite annoying.

Erin is a great french teacher. She is consistently prepared for class, always on time, and returns assignments in a timely fashion (with good feedback on written items). Her expertise is in French literature, which makes 1202 especially enjoyable because of all of the poems/stories we read. Erin is very approachable and always encouraged us to see her at office hours. She will accomodate your schedule if you can't make it to class, or have to turn in an assignment late. Definitely not a push over, but generally quite understanding and clearly wants her students to have a solid understanding of French language.

What does it take to get a gold star on this thing and why does Heidi not have one?!! Heidi is without a doubt the best professor I have ever had and a true gem of the French department at Columbia. If you have any interest in actually learning the French language from someone who is knowledgeable (read: encyclopedia of French grammar), passionate and pretty much the nicest person around, you should take her class!! She is extremely organized, definitely the fastest grader of all time, and very methodical. You can't help but improve in her class. 1202 with her is also an amazing class because it combines grammar and literature. Luckily for you she is incredible at both! So basically the point of this review is to say that you are crazy if you don't try to take a class with this professor because she is THE BEST.

Prof. Holst-Knudson is amazing! She really helped me improve my French, making me feel very comfortable going into Advanced Grammar and Comp. Although she does have an American accent, she makes sure to pronounce everything very clearly and accurately. She's a fair grader, and although there is a lot of homework, it's not busy work. She lets you know what to expect, and is passionate about the class. (especially the lit component) She cares about her students, which is definately a plus. She's one of the best professors I've had here! (Why doesn't she have a gold star??!?) Also, she's probably the fastest grader I've ever seen! It's not uncommon to take a quiz and see the grade by the time you get back to your room. I would definately highly recommend her. She's the best!

Though I agree with the previous reviewer that Monsieur Eskew probably shouldn't be a teacher, I think that's caused more by his personality than by anything else. He did take forever to get our tests and compositions back to us, but he otherwise seemed like he put a lot of work into preparing for every class. He's just *painfully* shy and awkward and seemed unable to make people pay attention if they didn't want to. It probably didn't help that the class was much larger than the other French courses I've taken.

On the plus side, he's willing to meet students outside of class and was pretty good at leading discussions on the days we worked on literature instead of grammar. He just shouldn't have a career where he has to interact with large groups of people.

J'ADORE Sarah. She obviously has a lot of fun teaching, and that is infectious, even when she's teaching a class full of half asleep/sometimes hungover students at 9 am. She's bubbly and charming and obviously cares both about the French language and her students. Plus she's super nice and very understanding. She'll give you an extra credit opportunity near the end of the semester which will help if you've slacked off on attendance or something. As a grad student she's obviously working within the boundaries set by the French department, but she does her best to make what is for quite a few students just something to fill the language requirement an entertaining and worthwhile experience.

Take this class if you are not at all interested in French and are just trying to fulfill the requirements. It's easy and straightforward and you won't be at all stressed out. The only thing that might be a pain is the final project -- you have to write and memorize a sketch and then perform it in front of the class and it requires actual effort.

If you are even slightly interested in learning French--it's not the right class for you. Erica is nice, but she doesn't really teach. The exercises in class are pretty pointless, and the stuff on the exam is based on the homework which she doesn't address at all in class. I wasted my time in this class, and now I'm discouraged to take another French class.

Vincent is the best French instructor I've ever had, and really one of my favorite professors at Columbia. Like most, I took this class to fulfill the language requirement and expected it to be at worst a huge pain in the ass and at best tolerable. To my surprise I found myself actually looking forward to this class every day it met. This was entirely due to Vincent's skill as a teacher. He's incredibly energetic and funny, and truly seemed to care about our progress as students. I left this class feeling like I had a solid working command of French for the first time ever. I'm amazed by how much I learned.

Also, I agree with the last review that Vincent needs a nugget upgrade.

Vincent is outstanding.
He is passionate about what he does and is eager to generously share that passion with his students. He is determined to give students the tools necessary to be able to read older, classical works of French literature AS WELL AS to be able to carry on intelligent, fluid conversation in modern, slang-filled French. Vincent is a vivacious, wonderfully energetic professor whose solid, information-packed lessons are always littered with useful peeks into French culture, as well as hilarious anecdotes about his experiences in and out of France. It's impossible to leave the classroom in a bad mood after an entertaining (yet challenging and intellectually provocative) class with Professor Aurora. No matter how your French compares to that of other students in the class, Vincent will instill in you the confidence and the working knowledge to go out and speak intelligently, assuredly, and with ease!
If you are lucky enough to get the chance, absolutely take a class with Prof. Aurora. Your life and your French will be better for it.

brian o'keeffe is the by far one of the best professors i have had during all my years at barnard/cu. no joke. his knowledge is extensive and he approaches the language from a philosophical perspective whilst explaining things in a very coherent and engaging manner. furthermore, his attractive personality is bound to keep anyone captivated and it is no wonder why the class time passes by so quickly. brian makes french sexy, period. his style of teaching definitely makes the rest of the french department look rather bland --- everyone knows this to be true, why not say it out loud. brian has this natural spark, talent and intellect (let's not forget his intuitive sense of humor!), all of which are qualities that most professors lack these days. amazing amazing amazing.

She's really a great teacher. She's super prepared for classes and has a lot of assignments to give you. I took French for 7 years in high school and middle school, and I feel like I learned more in one semester with her than I did in all those years.

Professor Roustang-Stoller is an absolute doll! She has a great sense of humor and is a very fair teacher, always concerned with how her students are performing/how she can help them. The course itself was, as any lower level French class is, somewhat dry, but it definitely wasn't as bad as it could have been. The homework was light and definitely do-able, and the readings were sort of nice-- we got to read some classic French literature, but nothing was excessively difficult. The quizzes and work were all straightforward, and the compositions were short and graded fairly. With the compositions, we were allowed to turn in the first draft, have it graded, and then turn in a second draft with corrections, which helped a lot grade-wise. As long as you do as you're asked and try to speak as much in French in class as possible, you shouldn't have any problems.

Erica is really sweet and tries to make the course interesting. If you took lots of French in high school this class will be boring, because most of it is review. She is not a harsh grader and allows you to do corrections for all quizzes, exams, and compositions to receive back half the credit you lost. A pretty easy course.

I was a senior taking this class for the requirement. Vincent made it unbelievably enjoyable. He always keeps you engaged cause he's hilarious and may just be the energizer bunny he jumps around so much. Pretty light workload as language classes go. Highly recommended

Everything previous reviewers have said about May is true- she is a nice person, tries to be fair, and tries (successfully) to make class engaging and useful.
My only criticism of May is that she does not seem to know how hard Arabic is, and sometimes equates not doing well and not trying hard. I guess this is not an uncommon problem among language teachers, and May is no different.

Sophie is was an excellent instructor for my French 1202 course; she was always well prepared for class, very responsive to student feedback, and adapted well to each student's level of French so that nobody felt left behind or too far ahead. The workload was average, we had a short quiz every week or two and a few assigned readings from the standard textbooks per week. What you'd expect for a 4 point course. On top of that, she's just such a sweetheart, and genuinely cares about your progress in the course.
Sophie will make an effort to let you know what areas are pulling your mark down so that you have a chance to boost your grade before it's too late to change anything.

Isabelle Saurin is a very nice teacher, although she does expect a lot from her students. She goes over the lessons, especially the texts, very thoroughly. On the first day of class, I was overwhelmed by her fast-paced French. It took me a few weeks to get used to it, but otherwise, the course was manageable.

For what it's worth, I had a very different experience with Kevin than the ones described below. I found him to be knowledgeable, energetic, creative and fair. In fact, I got the feeling that he genuinely cared if we understood the material and succeeded. It's true that he would sometimes get frustrated - though never losing his cool - with students who repeatedly complained that they didn't comprehend something. But mostly I found him a patient, approachable instructor. I thought it quite ironic that the reviewers below criticized Kevin's teaching style, since I've found the native instructors in the French department to be much more difficult to deal with. I'm just glad that, when registering, I kept in mind that my experience wouldn't necessarily mirror what I'd read. That said, it's also possible that Kevin has taken this criticism to heart.

bon prof! my french improved a lot during his class. you don't have to speak if you don't feel comfortable, but make sure that you are attentive (class participation is a part of the grade). his teaching style is awesome for a french prof. and he is very open and wants to see the students do well.

and if the work load is too much (which it rarely was) he will take a poll and alter it. great class overall, i'd recommend him to anyone :)