Professor: Esposito Course format: Language Number of respondents: 15 Total Enrollment: 18 Class Composition: Froshs: 5 Sophs: 3 Jrs: 0 Srs: 6

Instructor Average: 1.30 Course Average: 1.48

“Basic French” is Brown’s introductory course to the French language. It meets five days each week and is a two-semester course. Knowledge of other Romance languages helps, but is definitely not required.

The TA, Claudia Esposito, received good reviews for her enthusiasm and understanding. Students praised her explanations and easy-going nature. She varied lessons, using different themes to teach new vocabulary and grammar. Class members felt that Claudia was very sensitive to their interests and made efforts to help individual students when they fell behind. The frequent class discussions helped greatly helped improve their speaking skills. However, they found some of the dialogues read aloud in class to be boring and repetitive.

Nearly all reviewers thought the test was useful but that some of the assignments seemed to be busy work that was unnecessary. Additionally, there were daily homework assignments, one project and written paper, and frequent presentations in class. Students found the weekly quizzes to be helpful but were disappointed when they did not count for their grade.

The number of hours spent outside of class on this course varied between two to five per week. Most respondents expected the amount of time and felt that it was necessary since the class met every day. Overall students seemed to enjoy the class and were pleased with the progress they made in learning French. They also liked Claudia’s teaching style very much.

View FR/0010 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.