SMSU College Now French Program
The SMSU College Now French Program gives Minnesota high school French teachers the opportunity to enable
their students to earn college credit while continuing their study of French in their own school. Unlike other such
programs, we work with the curriculum and materials of the high school teachers to create courses which, while not
exactly the same as the corresponding on-campus course, are the equivalent of what we do here at SMSU. On the one
hand, our goal is to produce proficiency in French language and cultural knowledge which will allow successful students
to know exactly at which level they should continue their studies of French in college, so that they are able to make the
fastest progress and avoid wasting time and money by placing themselves at too-low a level. On the other hand, we
seek to support high school French programs around the state by encouraging students to continue their language study
as far as their high school curriculum allows. We offer three levels of concurrent enrollment.
High School French 3
High School French 4
High School French 5
French 102 (end of first year)
French 201 (first intermediate-level course)
French 202 (second intermediate-level course)
Our program does not equate directly what students learn in French 3, say, with what college students learn in a
second-semester Beginning French course. Instead, we consider that the entire 3, 4 or 5 years of high school French
equate to the college courses mentioned above. In this way, high school teachers can develop their own curriculum
over the entire range of their courses, rather than have to work with a textbook and/or other materials imposed by us.
We feel that this is the most pedagogically-sound way to structure a concurrent enrollment program, as foreign
language learning is truly sequential. We do not wish to replace what you do in your classroom, but to enrich it. While
we do not impose a specific set of vocabulary units or specific textbooks on the teachers who work with us, we do
identify basic linguistic elements for which the students at each level must show mastery.
High School French 3
Basic verbs, present tense: regular, irregular and reflexive
Calendar, clock time, adverbs of frequency
Articles and expressions of quantity
Adjectives and adverbs: form and use
Interrogatives and question formation
Passé Composé (avoir and être) and futur proche
High School French 4
All of the above, plus:
Passé composé, imparfait and plus-que-parfait
Comparative and superlative
Future Tense
Uses of the infinitive
Personal and disjunctive pronouns; y and en
High School French 5
All of the above, plus:
Relative and demonstrative pronouns
Future perfect
Conditional and Past Conditional
Subjunctive
Passive Voice: true passive and use of “on + active”
Passé Simple
We work closely with our high school colleagues, using their own tests and writing prompts developed
collaboratively out of their own curriculum, to assess student proficiency. We visit twice each semester, meeting with
students and the teacher and working on whatever we and the teacher decide would be the most useful for the
students. Unlike other concurrent enrollment programs, our writing component enables student learners to begin to
use their language skills in original and creative ways. The written essays are always based on the materials, vocabulary
and grammar the students have been working on in their high school class, and the prompts are created by the high
school teachers working cooperatively with us. Writing allows students to show mastery of entire sets of vocabulary
and grammar elements, rather than only taking tests on discrete items. In this way, the students learn to use all of the
language that they have been learning since they began their study of French. While the teachers administer and grade
their own tests and send grades and samples to us, the essays are graded by the SMSU professors. Students are
required to do complete revisions based on the corrections they receive and submit those, along with the original essay,
to the SMSU professor for further grading. A carefully revised essay will lead to a half-grade increase (from B on the
orginal to B+ on the final version, for example). This process helps students learn from their mistakes and avoid
repeating them over and over.
Our program has contributed to upper-level enrollment and retention in all of the French programs we have
worked with in the past twenty years. We place a particular emphasis on working with rural French programs, which
typically must struggle to survive. Here is a sample of schools we have worked with: Pipestone, Redwood Falls,
Proctor, Princeton, Elk River, Hastings, Lakeville, Blaine, St. Cloud Apollo, Forest Lake, Yellow Medicine East, Little Falls,
Sartell, Alexandria Jefferson and Pine-River Backus. We are in constant communication with our teachers and students
so that we can assist them in reaching their goals. Students may complete more than one class in a given year; for
example, 4th-year students can register for FREN 102 in the fall semester and FREN 201 in the spring, enabling them to
earn 8 credits of college-level French. There are rarely any obstacles to these credits transferring to the college of the
students’ choice, as SMSU is a fully-accredited university. We have had our high school students attend all kinds of
colleges, from the University of Minnesota to St. Cloud State to prestigious private colleges all over the U.S., and are
proud to report that their successful continuation of their studies in French has been proven year after year. SMSU
French College Now enables high school students to complete French majors and minors more quickly and at less
expense, and to participate in Study Abroad programs much earlier in their college careers than normal students
typically do. It is not necessary that the entire high school class enroll for college credit, as long as those who do attain
the appropriate proficiency as outlined above.
According to the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum, foreign language courses have as their identified student
outcomes the development of a global perspective, in addition to the normally-expected attainment of language
proficiency. In addition to the language outcomes outlined above, participating students must show progress toward
the following learning outcomes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Students will demonstrate awareness of personal identity as the result of a broad set of influences.
Students will engage in a variety of cross-cultural interactions.
Students will view other cultures and social norms from multiple perspectives.
Students will explore their biases while developing independent attitudes regarding the “difficult differences” in
society.
5. Students will integrate and apply diverse perspectives to increasingly challenging questions and real-world
problems.
6. Students will develop an informed concern for the greater good.
College Now teachers will arrive at these outcomes using a variety of materials agreed upon with the SMSU professor.
The French Program Rubric for Global Cultures and Perspectives will guide teachers as they assess their students’
cultural comprehension.
For further information, you may contact us at the following addresses.
Professor Diane Leslie
diane.leslie@smsu.edu
Professor Christopher French
chris.french@smsu.edu