La France contemporaine à travers ses films by Anne-Christine Rice. Ideally suited for a culture course on contemporary French society as well as for any course intended to prepare students for a semester or year in France, La France contemporaine á travers ses films is an engaging textbook that combines written documents and films to present a lively and relevant picture of contemporary France. Noted author Anne-Christine Rice employs a three step approach to each chapter of the text. Students first gather information, then draw conclusions, and finally are asked to challenge their conclusions. The inclusion of a single modern French film in each chapter adds listening comprehension and authentic cultural material to the research and readings.
The topics covered in La France contemporaine à travers ses films are broad and numerous, pertaining to a wide variety of issues related to contemporary French society. The topics and the films themselves have been carefully selected in order to maximize student interest, foster a better understanding of contemporary France, and provide a balanced view of French society today.
La France contemporaine á travers ses films is truly a unique textbook: one that is flexible enough to allow chapters to be assigned in any order. Additionally, activities within the chapters can also stand alone, providing instructors the ability to assign those activities that best suit their time and interests.
· Concise yet thorough, this manageable text can easily be covered in a single semester
· Unique, fresh and engaging approach to teaching French culture, accommodating a high interest level course with substantial material for classroom discussion and student interaction
· Chapters end with more opportunities for research and study, affording students and instructors alike to further their knowledge of a particular concept, bringing to light the fact that there is always more to know
· Flexible design and presentation affords instructors the ability to easily customize the text to fit their particular syllabus
· Carefully chosen research opportunities, discussion topics, contemporary articles and interviews with actual French citizens provide students with a meaningful and relevant grasp of current French culture
· Comprehensive Instructor’s Manual, available to qualified adopters, provides valuable teaching aids and suggested classroom activities
· Viewing and discussing feature-length French films with strong, meaningful images of what France really looks like, how it operates, and its cultural norms leads students to a better understanding of a world outside their own
Anne-Christine Rice is an instructor in the Department of Romance Languages at Tufts University. She completed her Masters degree and DEA (doctoral coursework) in Angers, France, and holds a CAPES, the French national certification for teaching. She is the author of Cinema for French Conversation, Second Edition, as well as theCine-Module series. She also serves as advisory editor for Focus Publishing's French text series.
The films are:
Je vais bien, ne t'en fais pas (Don't Worry, I'm Fine)
Entre Les Murs (The Class) 
L’esquive
L'Auberge Espagnole - The Spanish Apartment
Ressources humaines - Human Resources
Une hirondelle a fait le printemps (The Girl From Paris)
Le Petit Lieutenant
Le goût des autres - The Taste of Others
What makes this culture book different? Other culture books usually present materials drawn from the press, classic books and government resources.
La France contemporaine à travers ses films has a 3-step approach. Each chapter opens with a variety of guided activities that present the topic to the students. They gather information, understand the subject matter better and draw conclusions. By the time they watch the film they have enough cultural awareness to understand the finer and more subtle points presented by the story and context. The last part of the chapter is meant to challenge the conclusions that the students have drawn so far. They are encouraged to view the film and their research in a broader light, to make comparisons with their own culture, to read interviews of people in the field as well as articles presenting opposing or complementary views.
By including film, La France contemporaine à travers ses films adds listening comprehension and authentic cultural material to the research and readings.
The topics are broad enough to cover a variety of issues pertaining to French society. They are also of high interest to students looking to better understand contemporary France. The films were selected because, as a group, they give a balanced view of French society today.
How to use the book: The book can be used alone in a culture course, or can be paired with a grammar review text in a composition and conversation course.
The chapters can be assigned in any order. They can be done entirely, or the instructor may pick and choose the activities that best suit his/her time and interest.
Paperback, 214 pages.