French Literature Advanced Placement (AP)
Recommended Prerequisites: French I, II, III, AP French Language and/or IB French
Grades Offered: 11-12
Credit: ½ to 1
SDE Course Code: 3046
MNPS Course Code: FLA1550
Course Description
French AP Literature is an advanced course designed to be the final step of preparation for advanced Spanish study at the university level. This course focuses on preparing the literary selections on the AP Literature list, which can be found at www.apcentral.collegeboard.com. Students read, analyze, discuss, compare, and write extensively on these selections. This course also maintains fluency and hones the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The literature prompts the refinement of vocabulary and grammar structures. Students pursuing this course must have acquired advanced communications skills in the French language in order to read a selection of French literary works. This course is not a survey of French literature, but rather a course in which students learn to read selected French literary works from a critical perspective. This course is based on the National Foreign Language Standards and serves as a terminal course at the high school level.
Course of Study
The student is expected to use and understand simple to complex structures. French AP Literature reviews and refines structures previously studied in depth. It provides an opportunity to use the appropriate structures in real communicative situations, to analyze French literature, and to compare literary works.
Objectives: The student will….
- Read and understand prose and verse of moderate difficulty and mature content.
- Provide critical opinions about the French works orally and in writing.
- Read, analyze, and understand French literary texts via discussion and written essays.
French AP Literature List includes…
Novels
Camara Laye, L’Enfant noir
Maupassant, Pierre et Jean
Voltaire, Candide
Plays
Giraudoux, La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu
Molière, L’Ecole des femmes
Poetry
Appolinaire: “Le Pont Mirabeau,” “Les Colchiques,” “Mai,” “Automne”
Baudelaire: “Correspondances,” “Hymne à la Beauté” “L’Invitation au
voyage,” “Chant d’automne,” “Spleen” (“Quand le ciel. . .”),
“Recueillement” (From Les Fleurs du mal)
Du Bellay. “France, mère des arts, des armes, et des lois,” “Heureux qui
comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage,” “Si notre vie est moins qu’une
journée,” “Ces cheveux d’or sont les liens, Madame”
Hébert: “Baigneuse,” “Une fois seulement,” “Nos mains au jardin,” “Les
grandes fontaines,” “Le piano”
Labé: Sonnets: “On voit mourir toute chose animée,” “Je vis, je meurs:
me me brule et me noye,” “Oh si j’estois en ce beau sein ravie,” “Las!
que me sert, que si parfaitement”
La Fontaine: “Les Animaux malades de la peste,” “Le Chene et le Roseau,”
“La Mort et le Bucheron,” “Le Loup et l’Agneau”
Assessments
Students will be evaluated by taking the Advanced Placement Literature Exam in May of the 2nd semester of study. Assessment strategies will involve . . .
- multiple choice questions on the literary texts
- questions prompts that illicit a two to three sentence response
- writing a well-organized essay in French on a given literary topic
Standards
Standards are based on the American Council of Teachers of French (AATF) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) standards.
ACTFL: http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3392#standards
College Board: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com
Tennessee Standards: http://www.state.tn.us/education/ci/ciforeignlang/ciflmodern1.htm
Textbook
Trésors du Temp published by Glencoe
Sources
Texts from the recommended reading lists
The College Board Advanced Placement Program