FRNCH 14
Introduction to French Culture and Civilization, in English
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 14W. Study of contemporary French institutions and issues in cultural, political, and socioeconomic realms. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Carron is a very charismatic, effective teacher. The way he teaches is interesting, and I felt as if I were learning a lot about French society, govt, culture, etc. What is also cool about him is that he doesn't have a structured plan on how to teach the class, but asks us what we want to steer more towards (culture or govt or etc.). He's also not too difficult =) (multiple choice tests). He is very concerned about the students' needs. The only downfall of his class is that he tends to jump around a lot. Otherwise, it's very interesting. I took him during the UCLA Travel Study trip to Paris this past summer, and in addition to being an awesome teacher, he was the coordinator for the program. He was very concerned about the students, very organized, and just a great person. I really recommend him as a teacher.
Professor Carron is a very charismatic, effective teacher. The way he teaches is interesting, and I felt as if I were learning a lot about French society, govt, culture, etc. What is also cool about him is that he doesn't have a structured plan on how to teach the class, but asks us what we want to steer more towards (culture or govt or etc.). He's also not too difficult =) (multiple choice tests). He is very concerned about the students' needs. The only downfall of his class is that he tends to jump around a lot. Otherwise, it's very interesting. I took him during the UCLA Travel Study trip to Paris this past summer, and in addition to being an awesome teacher, he was the coordinator for the program. He was very concerned about the students, very organized, and just a great person. I really recommend him as a teacher.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - This class and prof are absolutely amazing. I don't think I can stress enough that this is the easiest and more entertaining GE you could take. The lectures are light, interesting, and easy. The 'textbook' is very light reading and doesn't require much focus or effort to understand. The class is much more about getting the gist right than getting the details. The class consists of a midterm, powerpoint presentation on a subject of your choice (on any aspect of French culture), a 5-7 pg 'research' paper due at the end of the class (again on any subject of your choice), and a very easy final during week 10. All of these are graded super easy and I got 95%+ on each with putting in only a decent amount of effort. Not only is it easy, but you'll have fun learning it. Lastly, discussion section consists of people's powerpoint presentations so if only 2-3 are signed up to present that day, class will only be 20-30 min long. Overall amazing class and prof. Strongly recommend. P.S. She sometimes brings in French food to try, like macaroons and pastries. :)
Winter 2016 - This class and prof are absolutely amazing. I don't think I can stress enough that this is the easiest and more entertaining GE you could take. The lectures are light, interesting, and easy. The 'textbook' is very light reading and doesn't require much focus or effort to understand. The class is much more about getting the gist right than getting the details. The class consists of a midterm, powerpoint presentation on a subject of your choice (on any aspect of French culture), a 5-7 pg 'research' paper due at the end of the class (again on any subject of your choice), and a very easy final during week 10. All of these are graded super easy and I got 95%+ on each with putting in only a decent amount of effort. Not only is it easy, but you'll have fun learning it. Lastly, discussion section consists of people's powerpoint presentations so if only 2-3 are signed up to present that day, class will only be 20-30 min long. Overall amazing class and prof. Strongly recommend. P.S. She sometimes brings in French food to try, like macaroons and pastries. :)
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - I enjoyed this class as a pretty standard GE. It honestly felt like I was taking AP European History again, just with a focus on France. It's definitely a lot of work in terms of reading. If you're a fast reader, then you should be able to read the three articles per week pretty quickly. You have to do a forum post of 350 words per week about the readings or what you learned during lecture. Additionally, you have a reading quiz of about 10-12 questions per week but they are relatively pretty easy, especially because you can take your time on them. It's just a lot to remember to do per week. That's the only challenge. You also have a midterm and a final. The midterm is a open essay format but you only have 50 minutes to do it because it's in class, so it's pretty painless. I just remembered the story behind the Dreyfus Affair, and only wrote about that topic and was good repeating my knowledge on each question. The final is a take-home essay. You have the weekend to do it. It's only 2 questions, 350 words each. I just took my reading forums and used them to inform my answers. The best part of this class is that it only meets 3 times a week for 50 minutes. There's no discussion section because the class is only 60 students, so be sure to participate for credit. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TAKING THIS CLASS WITH A FRIEND. I literally knew nobody by the end of the class because the way the professor formats it makes it really hard to speak to your neighbors, and trust me you want people you know in this class. It's a lot of just lecturing at your face with slides. The lectures were on a different topic each week and gave me a deeper appreciation of French culture. I especially liked the fashion part that occurs week 10. The good thing is that this professor offers extra credit if you see a performance or watch a French movie and write a 350 word response to it. She also gives out a study guide and goes over everything in class before the tests, so you're good. This was a overall decent history class.
Winter 2019 - I enjoyed this class as a pretty standard GE. It honestly felt like I was taking AP European History again, just with a focus on France. It's definitely a lot of work in terms of reading. If you're a fast reader, then you should be able to read the three articles per week pretty quickly. You have to do a forum post of 350 words per week about the readings or what you learned during lecture. Additionally, you have a reading quiz of about 10-12 questions per week but they are relatively pretty easy, especially because you can take your time on them. It's just a lot to remember to do per week. That's the only challenge. You also have a midterm and a final. The midterm is a open essay format but you only have 50 minutes to do it because it's in class, so it's pretty painless. I just remembered the story behind the Dreyfus Affair, and only wrote about that topic and was good repeating my knowledge on each question. The final is a take-home essay. You have the weekend to do it. It's only 2 questions, 350 words each. I just took my reading forums and used them to inform my answers. The best part of this class is that it only meets 3 times a week for 50 minutes. There's no discussion section because the class is only 60 students, so be sure to participate for credit. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TAKING THIS CLASS WITH A FRIEND. I literally knew nobody by the end of the class because the way the professor formats it makes it really hard to speak to your neighbors, and trust me you want people you know in this class. It's a lot of just lecturing at your face with slides. The lectures were on a different topic each week and gave me a deeper appreciation of French culture. I especially liked the fashion part that occurs week 10. The good thing is that this professor offers extra credit if you see a performance or watch a French movie and write a 350 word response to it. She also gives out a study guide and goes over everything in class before the tests, so you're good. This was a overall decent history class.
Most Helpful Review
As a person of color, I respect anyone's right to define themselves. I must say, however, that it was kinda odd that she self-identifies as African and tries to bond with students of color, mainly because it was during class time, and made things awkward for everyone, caucasian and people of color alike. Apparently she had a great-grandparent who was black or something, but I thought that it was not necessary to go there. Just my opinion.
As a person of color, I respect anyone's right to define themselves. I must say, however, that it was kinda odd that she self-identifies as African and tries to bond with students of color, mainly because it was during class time, and made things awkward for everyone, caucasian and people of color alike. Apparently she had a great-grandparent who was black or something, but I thought that it was not necessary to go there. Just my opinion.
Most Helpful Review
Well, the non-writing version of this class with Melzer, in my opinion, was very easy. We wrote one paper the whole quarter which was incredibly simplistic. I'm an engineering major and i had no problem getting an A in this class. Tests were easy and consisted of essay questions broken-down into smaller topics. The class, while informative, lacked any sort of scope and really I think this class could have been taught as a seminar. Melzer is a nice prof, but as mentioned previously, somewhat flighty and disorganized.
Well, the non-writing version of this class with Melzer, in my opinion, was very easy. We wrote one paper the whole quarter which was incredibly simplistic. I'm an engineering major and i had no problem getting an A in this class. Tests were easy and consisted of essay questions broken-down into smaller topics. The class, while informative, lacked any sort of scope and really I think this class could have been taught as a seminar. Melzer is a nice prof, but as mentioned previously, somewhat flighty and disorganized.
Most Helpful Review
One of the most interesting classes I've taken at UCLA. The Professor is extremely intelligent, knows her stuff, and demands & expects a lot from her students. She took the time to set up extra office hours for any help I needed. Great Professor ! Take this class. (The previous person probably didn't do too well in the class because he/she wasn't putting in enough effort.) Just like anything in life, YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN.
One of the most interesting classes I've taken at UCLA. The Professor is extremely intelligent, knows her stuff, and demands & expects a lot from her students. She took the time to set up extra office hours for any help I needed. Great Professor ! Take this class. (The previous person probably didn't do too well in the class because he/she wasn't putting in enough effort.) Just like anything in life, YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN.
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