Debuts

An innovative new film-based program designed to motivate and inspire beginning French students. Based on the French film, Le Chemin du retour, Débuts is a completely integrated program for the first year French course. Le Chemin du retour is a two-hour feature-length film, divided into twenty-two episodes and an Epilogue. Each episode includes on-screen pre- and post-viewing activities that make the film accessible to students. Episodes are about fifteen minutes in length and correspond to the chapters in the textbook. Over eight hours of viewing bring the richness of French language and culture to beginning students, while at the same time exposing them to clear and natural French that they CAN understand. Le Chemin du retour is an engaging story about a young French journalist, Camille Leclair, and her pursuit of the truth about her grandfather's past. Through Camille's quest, students are introduced to many facets of today's French and Francophone cultures as well as to important historical events in France. They learn language in the functional context provided by the film, and concepts are reinforced by the on-screen activities that help students verify their comprehension. Débuts, the textbook, is coordinated with the individual episodes of the film and offers students additional pre-and post-viewing activities. Vocabulary and grammar presentations and exercises recycle and expand on dialogue and concepts in the film and also help students to talk about their own lives. Finally, the cultural content of the film is further explored in cultural notes and readings in each chapter.