course
Third Year French Conversation

Regardless of what course it is, if Laurence Marie is teaching, sign up for her class. She is simply incredible. Professor Marie genuinely cares about her students and works hard to develop activities that suit their interests. She is constantly asking for our feedback and always open to suggestions on how to make class more fun, engaging, and fulfilling for all. Professor Marie can talk about practically anything with eloquence and clarity, explaining the nuances of French culture, literature and current events with an expertise like no other. Despite class being at 8:40 on Zoom, I always looked forward to the lively discussions and dynamic exercises Professor Marie would lead. Her class was the best way to start the day! If you're looking for an energetic, passionate, and attentive French professor with a great sense of humor, Laurence Marie is the one!

As a non-French major who just wanted to have a way to keep up my French, this class was exactly what I wanted. Every week we had a new topic (e.g. cuisine, art, film) and we basically just came into class and had discussions about those topics. If you put a decent amount of effort into your oral presentations (*and made sure all of your vocab and grammar were correct), getting a good grade was easy enough. Participation in this class does count for a good portion of the grade (it is a conversation class, after all), so making sure to participate in the discussions every class is a good thing to do. Alexandra is a really great professor. She made sure to correct us on our grammar and pronunciation—and especially on our “anglicisms”—and was always helpful in class when we were lost for words and didn’t know how to say things in French. She also took the time to make up a bunch of helpful grammar practice sheets for us when she thought we needed a brush-up with specific grammar concepts, which was great because it made the class really tailored to our needs. Her grading was always fair, and her feedback on our presentations was great and really helpful.

Fantastic professor. Great lecture, he manages to put together wonderful content that teaches us a lot about what seems to be less stereotypical aspects of French culture. He's also a great character and makes you feel like you're drinking in French culture from a hose. I mean, the guy dresses like a Frenchman from the late 30's, how could you not feel frenchicized after an hour with him. Outside of a couple of uncomfortable jokes made (people in the class will remember march 27th), he's a wonderful professor.

Such a sweetie. :) If you're looking to practice speaking with a heavily accented professor, Benjamin is your guy. Hearing a native Parisian accent is super, super helpful and great for you if you're planning on studying abroad. Benjamin is hilarious, and makes the class hilarious. Once everyone gets comfortable speaking french with each other, you end up joking around a lot, talking about real things (i.e.: not about going to the supermarket or getting on a plane). We discussed women's rights, french politics, philosophy, and um oysters. And on the last day of class he brought in lots of food and we talked about oysters. Benjamin is great. Such a lovable guy.