Winter Paris Program
Please note: Study
abroad programs sponsored by the undergraduate College of the University
of Chicago are open to University of Chicago students only. Applications
from outside the University are not accepted.
The Intermediate French Language, History and Culture program in Paris is a language immersion venture pitched at the upper intermediate level. It is, in other words, for students who have completed elementary (first-year) French and the first course of intermediate French (FREN 20100) at Chicago or who have comparable credit by examination (but see the Special Note below). In Paris they are registered for the following courses:
FREN 20200-20300 or 20300-20400: Language
FREN 20600: Phonétique
HIST 12300: History of Paris
The fourth course, currently treating the history of Paris, is a "content course" designed to focus the student's study of French language on a particular topic in French culture. Like all components of this program it is, in essence, a language exercise, but with the addition of a significant substantive component. A central element of the Winter Intermediate French Language, History and Culture program, apart from daily instruction in French, is a system of language partnerships in which students are paired with French counterparts for conversational practice. The conversation sessions will take place twice a week, in locations outside of the Center in Paris. These exchanges are designed to give students an opportunity to explore the social life of Paris while speaking spontaneously in an authentic context.
The program also includes a series of excursions to sites of historical or artistic interest. The goal of the program is to help students achieve a "personal best" in French in the course of their ten weeks in Paris. This is a serious goal, and there is a concomitant expectation of seriousness on the part of program participants. Paris itself, France's glittering capital and the chief center of French culture, plays a central role in the program, and it is expected that program participants, through official excursions and their own wanderings, gain a knowledge of the city deeper than that of the breathless tourist.
Special note: Students who have gone just beyond the pre-requisite for this program (who have, that is, French through the first two quarters of the Intermediate French sequence) may also be eligible for admission. In such cases the precise courses that the student takes in Paris will be slightly adjusted to reflect his or her situation.
Headquarters for all of the College's programs in Paris is the University of Chicago Center in Paris. Chicago's Center in Paris builds upon the University's long association with various Parisian institutions, as well as its eminence, recognized by the French government, in interdisciplinary scholarship related to France. It acts as a gathering place for undergraduates, graduate researchers, and alumni as well as a site for lectures, conferences, and receptions. For participants in the various programs sponsored by the College in Paris, the Center, with its classrooms, offices, computers, language lab, and (modest) library, provides an administrative and instructional home as well as a supportive environment. Its location, in a "new," academically-oriented neighborhood in the thirteenth arrondissement, places it within easy walking distance of the relocated Bibliothèque Nationale (Bibliothèque François Mitterand) and just across the street from the new home of the Université Denis Diderot (Université de Paris VII).
As a participant in the Intermediate French Language, History and Culture program you will live in one of the residence halls of the Cité Internationale Universitaire, a campus-like assemblage of houses for international students. In addition to its various national residences, the Cité comprises a library, restaurant (with adjoining cafeteria), and several sports and exercise facilities. Located at the southern edge of Paris (the fourteenth arrondissement), the Cité offers easy access, by metro and bus, to all of Paris.
You receive one credit for each of the four courses offered through this program. The language courses are of course usable in the French major as well as in majors requiring a second year of (non-specific) foreign language study. Normally, the substantive course may be applied to the corresponding major (a history course, for example, in the history major), but this must be approved by the program chair of that major. Certainly any of these courses may be used as a free elective. Course titles, units of credit, and grades are placed on your Chicago transcript.
You remain registered full-time in the College and pay regular College tuition, the Winter Paris program fee and the non-refundable study abroad administrative fee required of all participants in Chicago's programs abroad. For precise figures, see Study Abroad Program Fees.
You retain your financial aid eligibility. However, two expenses--the study abroad administrative fee and the round-trip airfare to Paris--are not underwritten by College Financial Aid. On the other hand, since you cannot be expected to work part-time while in Paris, the self-help component of your financial aid package does not include a term-time employment factor.
The Winter Intermediate French Language, History and Culture Program in Paris is designed for undergraduates in good standing who are beyond their first year in the College. It is designed for students who have completed the full year of Elementary French (FREN 10100, 10200, 10300) and the first quarter of Intermediate French (FREN 20100) or who demonstrate by examination a comparable competence in the language. In most cases the program will be open also to students who have completed the second quarter of Intermediate French (FREN 20200). For such students that French course registration in Paris will be adjusted. Naturally, the chief criterion for judging an application will be the quality of the student's work in French. While the program stipulates no minimum grade-point average, you should present a transcript demonstrating that you are a serious student who will make the most of this opportunity.
Applications are available on the study abroad website. To apply to the winter-quarter Intermediate French Language, History and Culture in Paris program, a student submits a general study abroad application electronically, then downloads the supplementary application specific to this program and submits it on paper, normally in mid-winter quarter of the previous academic year.
A student accepting an offer of admission is expected to secure his or her place with a $500 non-refundable study abroad administrative fee. (To begin the application process, click on the Study Abroad General Application.)
If you would like to discuss the Paris Intermediate French Winter Language, History and Culture program and the possibility of your participating in it, you are invited to contact Sarah Walter (Harper 207A; 834-3753; scw@uchicago.edu).
Statements contained on this site are subject
to change without notice.
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Study Abroad Office, Harper 203