[FREN W1101] Elementary French I

Thomas Martin is a genial, somewhat Falstavian guy with an extensive background in, and a passion for, all kinds of literature. His good humor, occassional wit, and accentless English effect a much better classroom atmospheric than you'd find in the other sections of 1101. Unfortunately, while Thomas may be the kind of guy that you'd like to make good friends with, he's less interested in putting in an honest effort to teach to his students the rudimentary French outlined in the 1101 syllabus. To his credit, he's a talented and fun pedagogue - the lack of lesson plans hardly detracted from his ability to impart knowledge upon us - but halfway through the year, he seemed to stop caring about the class. The five minutes of French spoken at the beginning of the class gradually descended into literature and kitten discussion time, and we'd cover all the grammatical concepts, but since 1101 put such an absurd emphasis on random (and oftentimes useless) vocabulary, this would leave much of the rest of the sixty minutes open. A downward spiral of disinterest encompassed both teacher and students, which led to amusing class periods, but higher education at a place like Columbia should be more rigorous. And of course, there were still the tests.
Doing the readings out of the book was useful, but proved to be an insufficient method to score well on the four midterms, which again valued knowledge of random words over mastery of grammatical material. The final test of the semester, written by Thomas himself, felt like the ultimate betrayal, as he seemed to have spent more time making the test difficult than teaching us to do well on it. The blissfully lazy ethos of the class was subverted into something sadistic, leaving a weird distribution of grades and a smattering of disgruntled students.
On the whole, I would recommend against taking introductory French at Columbia, as there's almost no intellectual benefit to doing so, tons of people with (sometimes extensive) high-school experience take 1101 and screw up the curve for us neophytes, and getting a good grade is pretty tough, unless you're one of the aforementioned douchebags with prior experience. The rest of the French department must suffer through the same ridiculous tests that Thomas's students do, but under the unfortunate authority of a native French speaker, who probably also requires his or her students to complete the workbook, which Thomas does not. So if you must take 1101, do take Thomas, but do be forewarned that, in order to excel, you'll have to put in a lot more individual effort to learn the material than he does to teach it.

Very capable in the French language, as it his native language (even though he is from England), however, it would be hard to tell that from his classes, since he rarely speaks French. A very down to earth guy, who we rarely stumped with translations (even for some of the weirdest requests). Didn't encourage students to answer questions in French, which made speaking in French an odd thing to do. If you're looking to get through your language requirement with an easy grade, than I would recommend Rod, but if you're looking to actually learn the language, a classroom with more immersion would be more beneficial.

While a nice teacher with a good sense of humor, Thomas lacks certain skills that makes his class somewhat of a struggle. The Foreign Language Department, as most departments, requires that the teachers teach the class completly in the language. Thomas taught 80% of my Elementary French class in English. This may seem easy, but once you get to the tests with the oral sections, you struggle.

At the beginning of the course, he corrected our mispronounciation of words. However, he fell short in that he stopped doing so after. I found it disconcerting when at the end of the semester, people in my class, myself included, would still pronounce C'est as "Say-T" instead of the correct "Say" (not T sound). My friend, who's in another section, had to correct my pronounciation while we were studying together for a final.

On a positive note, Thomas does incoporate fun and engaging activities into his class. Yet, I noticed that once, the class did not enjoy it as much because most people did not understand people's skits. Hence - the lack of Thomas not speaking French 99% of the time.

This said, I would not recommend Thomas as an instructor for French I. As I already noted, the class seems easy at first, but once you hit the tests and exams, expect the majority of your time to be taken up by studying Français.

She is absolutely awesome. Consider yourself lucky if you end up with her as your introduction to the French language! She is always smiling, with unbelievable amounts of energy and willing to help you however she can.

I too, had no clue she was the head of the department as she is in no way pretentious and very good at teaching the basic levels of the language. Sometimes, I think big time professors lose that spark or ability to connect to what they are teaching and the students whom they are teaching. This was never the case with her as she is incredibly enthusiastic and down to earth.

I have never had a language teacher like her and it is unfortunate that she is not teaching the follow up course next semester (similar to the other review last year)!

No complaints. young british guy with a strange but enjoyable sense of humor. nice. makes pretty easy quizzes. flexible. grew up in a french-speaking part of england so he knows his shit. dont be intimidated by his army-print pants.

You would never know that she is head of the department. She is totally unassuming and charming.

Prof. O'Keeffe has so much talent as a professor, but a lot of the time is too disorganized/lazy/apathetic to use it. He has a lot of enthusiasm for French and explains everything clearly and even reviews for tests and quizzes in class. He's very nice and funny but didn't seem to ultimately care enough about students as individuals to encourage us to improve our overall language skills. He has also been known to come to class hung over and seems to wing certain lectures, but they're still good--just wish he'd try/seem to care more about the students.

Severine's class is light on the techincal grammar, but it seems to work well. Due to the onerous burden of mandatory Frontiers lectures, I am unable to take her class for 1102, and my new professor is definitely not up to par. In addition, most of the students from other 1101 sections seem less prepared than those from Severine's class. Since she is a native French speaker and speaks French naturally in class, Severine is not as easy to understand as some of the professors who slow and modify their speech for elementary students. This makes the course more difficult, but also more useful. It is also a lot of fun, since Severine is incredibly good-natured and not nearly as stiff as some of the other grad students teaching classes.

Dr. Hubert-Liebler was simply incredible. She came to our 10AM class everyday with incredible amounts of energy and the 50 minutes just flew by. She explains everything very well and takes all questions and really wants her students to succeed. I think our entire class fell in love with her, she was always going out of her way. When we learned about animals she brought in stuffed animals, and she created all sorts of fun and hilarious exercises for us to do in class. She also showed some of Amelie and an old Truffaut film, the parts she selects are perfectly relevant to what we study in class that day. Her courseworks is always updated and if even the slightest change happens or she has an idea to help the class, she immediately sends out an email. My only regret is that Dr. Hubert-Liebler is not teaching the sequence course this semester.

I COMPLETELY agree. I found Professor Skippon to be an exemplary language teacher. He makes learning fun and interactive, and has a fabulous sense of humor, and doesn't take himself too seriously. He does, however, have a genuine concern that students are learning and that the class can forge ahead at the same level without leaving anyone behind. I have taken French before, and thought that the class would be too basic, but he keeps class interesting, and his forays into contemporary French culture and language would keep anyone interested. Altogether a fabulous teacher, and every effort should be made to get into his section.

I thought Prof. Skippon was great. His pronunciation of both French and English are great as said before. He is very understanding and nice. Is very willing to explain things if you don't understand or have any questions. He seemed to be a out of place for some time this semester, since we fell behind when he got sick and had to cancel class twice but is an incredibly good teacher. I give him my highest recommendation.

-If you study once in a while and are good at memorizing vocab quickly, you can do good cuz I didn't study all the time. Only like 1 or 2 a week, when I did homework or were going to have a quiz or test.

This guy is absoluetly awesome. He really knows his stuff, and you actually learn a lot without really trying. His tests are usually easy and he lets you know what material is on them. Best Class I've had!

Samuel is a great instructor with a hilariously dry sense of humor who loves to teach. He is a native speaker, so that definitely helps, but he also speaks English with complete fluency and an American accent. He is always available for questions, is quite clear and really wants his students to be successful. The class is very well organized and the written assignments are creative as well. Very enjoyable overall, which is a good thing as the class is at 9am Mon-Fri. Highly recommended.

Generally a positive experience within the context of French 1. He seemed to be a fairly generous grader and prepared us pretty well for the coursewide exams. We also managed to cover all the material in a similar depth, unlike some other sections that fell behind. He was generally very approachable and nice, but didn't always remember when he had given extensions. Study the book's grammar lessons carefully because he often teaches the exceptions before practicing the basics.

I would recommend against taking French at Columbia. The other language departments seem less intent on trick exam questions and embarrassing presentations. Our exams and tests were full of unfamiliar vocab and structures, and they were always too long. This lets students with an advanced background screwup the curve. However, if you do take French, Benjamin is not a bad option.

daveed was the best teacher! i had him for both elem 1 and 2 and her really challenged his students but helped them out. although we had to meet 5 days a week he made it entertaining. he is canadian and he is a native french speaker so he is also very familiar with the culture. if he ever noticed you struggling he would do anything to try and help you and was very available to meet outside of class. anyway, he was the best teacher ive ever had and i want him to teach me french for the rest of my life

Jason is a phenomenal teacher. His personality attracts participation and he has no problem making fun of himself. You'll want to learn French so one day you can aspire to hang out with this Texas native in a Parisian cafe. Get into this section if you can- you won't regret it.

Heidi is an outstanding teacher who puts 110% into her work. She is an enthusiastic and highly approachable teacher. She is always willing to give extra help outside of class, which she encourages frequently. She teaches with clarity, focus, and grace. The workload she assigned in class was well-geared for the abilities of the students in the class who had never taken french before. She is such a very warm, friendly person and rarely isn't smiling. There is not one negative thing anyone could say about Heidi.

She was by far the worst French professor I've ever had. If you want to learn anything about the language, I reccommend you find yourself another instructor. She was confusing, unwilling to review difficult concepts, and almost always unable to clarify herself when she was butchering an explanation.

I'll admit when I first saw this man I doubted his ability to teach. A man pushing on 25 and a peculiar fashion sense couldn't possibly teach a class full of near contemporaries, right? Wrong. I learned more French in 16 weeks with this man than I had in 3 years of French in high school. He is a great motivator, introducing new content each and every day. The pace of the class could be rather intimidating (study is a must every night), but taking a class with this man from Montreal was quite rewarding.

Heidi is a fabulous teacher. She seems to genuinely care about her class... if someone had a problem with the material, she told them to meet with her afterwards. Very understanding as far as paper/test-taking extensions and she seems very willing to accomodate. She's probably one of the best teachers for a no-brainer class there could be.

Quite simply a perfect language teacher. Makes French fun and interesting and you learn quickly and well.

Please do not take any classes with this woman. There was one no one who would not admit taht she is extremly unhelpful.

What a teacher, seriously this instructor was patient and had a unique ability to make his students feel comfortable with the french language. Simply speaking, his transition from french professor to tutor to a person understanding that people are doing the best they can with the language and will, eventually, get better...was flawless.

He is such a great instructor! He is organized, intelligent and completely engaging. He is methodical in his teaching which makes the material easy to absorb. Not only that, he's a lot of fun in class and offers a great deal of help in office hours. Completely approachable and genuinely kind.

Greet was wonderful. Because the class was too large (28 of us), she worked quickly to get approval from the registrar's office to divide the class into two. It must be difficult to teach the same class twice a day, each lasting 2 hours, but she came to the second class with great enthusiasm (often more than the students) and was always fair and encouraging. Made learning French a pleasure.

I find this professor to be on top of things. She is also very passionate about teaching French, and really goes out of her way to make the class interesting. She also makes sure no one gets lost in the class. What I like most about her is that she's 'human.'

Andrea is definitely a good reason to learn French. She is incredibly energetic and her personality gets the class to participate without the usually required force. Her easy-going but professional demeanor takes away your fear of making a fool out of yourself by talking like a child in another language and allows you to really experiment with speaking French. Andrea will surprise you with a new and generally pretty quirky daily activity that is aimed at getting the class to interact. She expects her students to do some preliminary studying as well as complete the assigned workbook exercises since she does not lecture the grammar and the vocabulary during class but rather applies it after only a short introduction. To make a long story short, be prepared before you go to class! All of the tests and the compositions are graded fairly; she is also very readily available outside of class in case you ever need help. Andrea will generally allow the class to participate freely, unless she feels that certain members are not really giving their part, at which point she will call on them. So, there's no way out of participation in this one. Conclusion: Hard work, but you learn French.

Professor Postlewate is one of the most helpful French language professors in the French dept. Her classes are very organized and completely easy to follow, interesting (occasional video viewings), and most importantly, she's very friendly to her students. She's a fair grader, and she makes sure that every student gets an equal amount of attention in class.

After taking my requisite four semesters of Spanish, I decided to try out French, just for fun. Yikes. I'm glad I got Daniel Johnson as the instructor for my noble experiment, or I think it would have been an even more enormous pain in my butt than it already was. He's very nice and pretty laid-back, which helped, and he has an excellent dry sense of humor. My only real complaint would be his class management and organization: nitty-gritty stuff like what would be assigned when, what we would do in class each day, when the tests would be and what they would be on, etc. He would do stuff like forget what exercises we had done in the last class and, seeming not to hear the class's protests, go over the same exercises all over again. But if you don't mind a little flakiness, this class is definitely not a bad experience.