The French Department is proud to provide a strong base in Wellesley's tradition of liberal arts education. Beginning classes utilizeFrench in Action,a series of videotaped materials prepared by Wellesley College, Yale University, and Public Broadcasting Service. All courses are conducted in French, and courses at all levels draw on Wellesley's Knapp Media Center. Students may choose from more than 30 courses, including Perspectives on French Culture and Society; Saint-Germain-des-Pr?s; Versailles and the Age of Louis XIV; Images of Women in French Film; and Women, Language, and Literary Expression.

Goals for the Major

The French Department expects linguistic competence of its majors at graduation; students should be able to express themselves with a considerable degree of sophistication and near-native accuracy both orally and in writing. They should also be able to conduct rigorous in-depth research using primary as well as secondary sources on both literary and cultural topics.

• The two required courses in the major are French 211 (or for students entering in 2014 or later, French 210), which develops students' literary analysis and writing skills in the context of an intensive grammar review, and French 308, which focuses on translation and stylistics.

• All majors are expected to take at least one culture course (or spend a semester studying in a French-speaking country) and to take at least one literature course, no matter what the primary focus of their major.

• During her senior year, each major is expected to take at least one 300-level course other than 308 as a capstone experience to further develop her linguistic and analytic skills.