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Infos - Activities - FREN 295 Syllabus - Photo Gallery - Administrative details on the OIP site - Q & A
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Based
in France's fabled Loire valley, this program offers seven weeks
of linguistic and cultural immersion through a program of courses
and field trips complemented by homestay with native host families.
First, all students attend a two-week “Cultural Integration
Workshop,” (CIW) taught by Georgetown faculty members and
surveying current socio-cultural and linguistic realities in France.
After a few days off, each student is placed in one of 9 levels of a four-week, multi-level intensive language session at the Institut de Touraine, a renowned institution specializing in French-language programs for foreigners. Co-curricular activities include visits to late Medieval and Renaissance citie /châteaux (Amboise, Chambord, Langeais...), lectures, as well as wine and cheese tastings. • The program is open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students at all levels of French (except full beginners). • Participants earn six GU "French Abroad" credits that can be applied to a French minor/major (consult with the French department for the exact modalities). • SFS students can take the Oral Proficiency exam in French at the end of the session with excellent chances of success |
Aartie Manansingh and Jill Schroeder enjoy a taste of local wine during a visit to the Vouvray cellars |
Acceptance to the program
is competitive. GPA (2.7 minimum), statement of purpose and letters
of recommendation are taken into account in the selection process.
Some
program-specific financial aid is available from the French Department's
McCarthy
Fund.
The application deadlines for the program are on December 3, 2007 (early admission) and February 11, 2008.
Contacts
Academic
Matters: |
Application
Materials and Procedures: Cristina Dinu, Summer Programs Administrator Office of International Programs Phone (202) 687-5867 oipsummerabroad@georgetown.edu |
GENERAL
INFORMATION
On
Saturday and Sunday (June 14 and 15 in 2008), various meetings, visits
and field trips are scheduled for the whole group. On Sunday afternoon,
students will be dispatched to their respective host families. •
First, all students attend a two-week “Cultural Integration
Workshop” (FREN-295-62) surveying current socio-cultural and
linguistic realities in France. This workshop is taught by the program
director, Professor Guy Spielmann, and two additional Georgetown faculty
members; it includes classroom instruction three hours a day, field
trips, guest lectures and assignments. See
the syllabus here.
The city of Tours For
detailed maps and directions, see the Mappy site at http://www.mappy.fr TRAVEL
TO TOURS FURTHER
DETAILED PRACTICAL INFORMATION WILL BE PROVIDED TO ENROLLED STUDENTS
AT ORIENTATION
Program dates / Arrival in Tours
The program begins
on Thursday, June 12, 2008 and concludes on Wednesday, July 30.
Students are expected to arrive in Tours in the afternoon of the first
day (Thursday, June 12). They should not plan on leaving France until
after classes are over, i.e. on Thursday, July 31 (it is possible to
leave Tours on some week-ends in July, and during a 5-day break on June
27-July2). The CIW will run continuously, including week-ends,
from June 12 through 27.
For their first
three nights in Tours, students will be staying at a downtown hotel.
the Relai Saint-Éloi, located near the Gare Centrale (a 10-min.
walk), at 20, rue Giraudeau (near the intersection of the Boulevard
Bérenger).
See hotel details
at http://www.hotel-relais-saint-eloi-tours.federal-hotel.com/page_fr_1.html
Program outline / Academics
This
opportunity is open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students (from Georgetown
or other colleges and universities) at all levels of French proficiency
(except full beginners), who will earn six GU "French Abroad"
credits that can be applied to a French minor/major.
The
program is divided into two distinct components:
• After a five days off, each student is placed on the basis
of a test in one of 9 levels of a four-week, multi-level intensive
language session at the Institut de Touraine, a renowned institution
specializing in French-language programs for foreigners. The session
at the Institut includes 19-24 hours of classes weekly, taught by
its own native instructors. The more advanced levels include classes
on content areas (civilization, literature, art history, translation).
The
grade for the four-week session, given by Institut faculty,
reflects performance in oral and written expression as well as listening
and reading comprehension; it is translated into a GU letter grade according
to a standard conversion scale, for either FREN 099-62 (Elementary),
FREN199-62 (Intermediate) or FREN 299-62 (Advanced)—based on the
highest French course completed prior to enrolling in the program.
Because
these are dedicated "study-abroad" courses, you retain a great
deal of flexibility as to what course(s) you may take next from G.U.'s
French department (your choice of courses may be constrained by Major/Minor
requirements, however).
In
addition, SFS students who have already completed Advanced French II
have the option to take the oral proficiency exam at the end of the
program, with excellent chances of success.
See
the complete schedule of activities here.
The
Institut, although affiliated to the Université François
Rabelais, is an independent institution that caters to non-French students
only, who hail from over 80 different countries. To find out more about
the Institut, visit its site at http://www.institut-touraine.asso.fr/index-fr.html
With
250 000 residents, Tours is the largest city in the département
of Indre-et-Loire (37), in the Centre region. Located on the banks
of the Loire river, Tours combines the advantages of small-town size
and large-town amenities (shopping, museums, movie theaters, cultural/arts
festivals), with plenty of Old-World charm: the old town, which served
as capital city of the French kingdom in the 15th and 16th centuries,
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. See and learn more from the Tours
official city site http://www.ville-tours.fr
and the LIGERIS Regional Tourist Office: http://www.ligeris.com.
The old town, with its Renaissance half-timber houses (yellow area
on the map below), is nestled between two rivers, the Loire (which
flows westwards, into the Atlantic Ocean) and the Cher.
DOWNTOWN TOURS Click
on map belowto see larger version.
The location of the Institut de Touraine is marked with a
purple star, below the Place du 14 juillet, at the intersection
of rue Grandière and rue Néricault Destouches.
It is possible to take a high-speed TGV train directly from Roissy/Charles
de Gaulle Airport (Terminal 2) to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours). The
entire trip takes about 1 1⁄2 hrs. This is by far the best solution,
since you will not have to worry about getting through downtown Paris,
which can be lengthy, costly and complicated, especially when carrying
luggage.
When booking your train ticket make sure that you (ask your travel agent
to) look for a trip from "Aéroport CDG 2" (not Paris)
and "Saint-Pierre-des-Corps" (not Tours). Once you have found
this itinerary in the SNCF system, you can add on a ticket on the shuttle
train from Saint-Pierre to Tours Gare Centrale—but searching directly
for a ticket into Tours Gare Centrale may fail to bring up TGV routes.
If however you start from downtown Paris (or other location):
1) From the Gare d'Austerlitz, take a regular train ("Corail").
Advantages: usually arrives at the downtown Gare Centrale. Less expensive
fare than the TGV. Drawbacks: not nearly as fast (about 2 1⁄2
hrs) as the TGV.
2) From the Gare Montparnasse, by high-speed train (TGV) Advantages:
a shorter (about one hour) and more comfortable trip than on a regular
train. Drawbacks: More expensive fare. Arrives at the St-Pierre-des-Corps
Gare TGV, from which you have to take another shuttle train, a bus,
or a taxi to go downtown—a relatively minor inconvenience, though.
Train tickets may be purchased from the SNCF Web site (http://www.voyages-sncf.com),
BUT
tickets may not always be charged to a U.S. credit card—a glitch
that often does not become apparent until you have nearly completed
the transaction. In some cases, it is possible to get an e-ticket in
PDF format that you can print at home, but only for some types of tickets.
You can also purchase tickets at the station when you arrive BUT
you may have to wait in line and some trains do get sold out. Be advised
that the bornes (automated ticketing booths) inside train stations do
not work with a U.S. credit card (you need a card issued by a French
bank with a chip in it). All in all, the safest and easiest
solution for you probably is to buy a train ticket along with your plane
ticket from a travel agent in the U.S.
See also administrative
details on the OIP site