French · Columbia University
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.
If you want to spent the entire semester in a class wrought with inexperience, go ahead and sign up. She seems incredibly nice and sweet, and does know french (you'd think that was just expected) however, she has no ability to impart that knowledge to students. Essay comments like "There's a better way to say this in french" will knock your grade down very quickly and when you go to ask her about it she'll say things like "well, yes, it's grammatically correct, but that's not how we say it in France" and you will stupidly inquire "Oh, how would you say that in France" and she will say "Oh, you just have to understand it to use it" Honestly. This class is the world's biggest waste of time. You'll learn nothing, and pass fail it out of frustration if you're even halfway worried about your GPA. She has no idea what she's doing so she pretty much asks the class what they want, no one agrees naturally, and she tries to cater to all of it, the department, and her own style. It's a mess.
Prof Roustang-Stroller has very good intentions. I think she genuinely wants her students to improve, but she doesn't always know the best way to explains things. Sometimes in fact she actually contradicts herself about grammar rules, or sometimes she contradicts the text book, but she's receptive to questions and clarifications and she's accessible outside of class if you ask her in advance. But even when I was frustrated by her (which was not particularly frequent) I definitely feel like my French skills improved, though more in terms of writing skills as she rarely corrects students' grammar in class. I wouldn't seek out a class with her, but I wouldn't be upset in any way if I ended up in one with her later on. Don't fret--if you're good at French at all you'll do fine in the class, and you'll learn something without working too too hard.
Seems straight forward, chapter tests, three compositions, midterm, final, class participation, but you really have no idea what's being graded and what's not. Also, only teacher who doesn't pretty much just automatically give you all the credit for class participation.
If you are looking for a class that reviews all of the tenses (présent, imparfait, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur, conditionnel, etc.), then this class is perfect for you! Professor Roustang-Stoller is very nice and is always willing to go over confusing exercises. In the beginning of the semester she asks the class what would be most beneficial to them and then revises her teaching methods. For our class we chose more time spent on reading and speaking, and less time spent correcting homework exercises. There were often awkward silences where either the class didn't know how to respond, or the professor didn't know what someone was asking. She is originally from Paris, so she gets confused sometimes by questions. However, the awkward silences are usually followed by some of her dry French humor, and by the end of the semester most of the class could understand her jokes. It is not difficult to get an A in the class and the professor is very accomodating. Overall, I enjoyed the class and I'd be willing to take another class with Professor Roustang-Stoller.
We read excerpts from Madame Bovary and Le Spleen de Paris, each of which had vocab and reading questions we worked on as homework and in class. Everything was pretty straight-forward, if not easy (we usually had to read one or two a week and answer questions). There were also four 1-2 page compositions, not too hard, graded fairly-- we were allowed to turn in a second draft with corrections to improve our grades. We had two quizzes, mostly on grammar stuff and some vocab, with a small written section, again, straightforward, no trick questions or surprises. It was the same with the midterm and final-- as long as you study, you should have nothing to worry about.
not particularly hard--four or five tests, a mid-term, a final, a packet of vocabulary over the course of the semester, and we read a challenging play.
not difficult: 3-4 Compositions (20%), one test per chapter(25%), Midterm (15%) and Final (20%)...the rest is participation (20%)