UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
SSCs 2015-2016
French Syllabus C
Prerequisite for entry
Successful completion of French Syllabus B at the UCL CLIE or a similar course and have experience of dealing with
relevant authentic material. Oral and written skills will be briefly tested at registration interviews.
Course duration
Year 1 students: double-block (16 x 3-hour classes. Block 1: 8 x 3-hour classes; Block 2: workshops and tutorials related
to Project).
Year 2 students: single block (8 x 3-hour classes).
Self-Study
40 hours in total.
Course codes
LCFM6003.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of the course is to enable students with a reasonable intermediate knowledge of French and medically related
French documents to develop the four skills further. Students should then be able to communicate in most situations
within French speaking countries.
On completion of the course students will be able to converse reasonably fluently with native speakers and discuss
personal, social and current issues using appropriate structures.
Cultural awareness will be further developed. Language learning skills, including autonomous learning and how to
approach authentic material, will be enhanced. Some transferable skills will also be covered.
Functions
FOCUS ON MEDICAL CONTEXT:
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Enquiring and explaining;
relating past events (news or personal circumstances);
extracting and presenting information from written or visual material and expressing their opinion;
commenting, debating and criticising;
suggesting and speculating;
producing short emails for practical purposes in answer to reading material (e.g. getting information, enquiring
and researching information on medical topics).
Course Content
Main topics/themes to be covered
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Consultation (Patients and doctors relationships)
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Diagnostic and prescriptions;
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Medication and drugs (generic medicine);
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French medical system (la carte vitale; French medical institutions);
Diseases and vaccination;
At the hospital;
Emergencies;
Work experience (actual and prospective job experience as a student);
Press and Media (basic analysis of reality TV, the press and media);
Inviting people out, accepting and refusing invitations;
Descriptions of people and places – the practical use of objects.
Skills
Reading
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Getting familiar with texts on specific topics for gist and scanning;
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Reading and understanding medically related documents; developing medical lexicon.
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Introduction to newspaper reading – for gist;
Writing
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Simple reactions to text;
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Practice exercises based on medically related documents /see syllabus SSC C.
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Personal projects and past experiences;
Listening
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Targeted material for scanning information;
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Gist and detail – used for discussion;
Speaking
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Talking about yourself / and your medical environment;
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Starting to debate;
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Starting to express opinion;
Transferable skills
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Personal introduction / presentation of a project.
Linguistic Structures
Grammar
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All tenses of the indicative mode (present, future); and introduction of the present conditional;
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Contrasted use of the past (past perfect / imperfect);
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Prepositions of space;
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Direct and indirect objects;
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Personal pronouns;
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Relative pronouns;
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Agreeing / disagreeing;
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Negatives (personne… ne / ne…rien / ne… plus / ne… jamais);
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Passive knowledge of subjunctive.
Learning Resources
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Santé-médecine.com CLE INTERNATIONAL (2004); www.cle-inter.com
La Grammaire en Clair (+ answer book), Long and Rodgers, (Editions Nelson) – ISBN: 9780174444206
Bilingual Dictionary – Pocket Edition (Collins/Robert)
A selection of authentic material will also be used.
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.