The Redeemer in France Program

Overview
Why study in another culture?
A semester or two at the Sorbonne
Facilities and lodging
Paris itself
Deadlines
Student comments

Overview

This program is administered by the Redeemer University College French Department.   It includes one or two terms of study in Paris at the Sorbonne, the section of the University of Paris which teaches international students.  Courses are available in a number of areas in addition to French language and literature.  Other French civilization topics include:  history, history of ideas, art history, history of instrumental music, social and economic geography, philosophy and politics.  In addition to the regular requirements for off-campus studies, the following stipulations apply:

  1. Students apply directly, through Redeemer University College, to the Sorbonne for a term or two of study abroad.

  2. Only Redeemer University College students are eligible to apply.  Students normally go to France the second semester and need one semester of preparation at Redeemer beforehand.

  3. The applicants must be enrolled in a French major or minor, or have permission of the French Department.

  4. The residency requirement that a student must be in residence at Redeemer University College during the final year of a program may be waived providing that a student has completed a full year of residency before the final year.

  5. A student who participates in this program will not satisfy graduation requirements until transfer credits from the Sorbonne have been evaluated.

  6. An administrative fee of $100.00 is charged in addition to the regular $25 letter of permission fee.  This fee covers the costs incurred by the Business Office (correspondence, billings, tax receipts and obtaining cheques in French francs) as well as the costs incurred by the French Department (written preparatory information provided to students and letters/phone calls to France before and during their stay).

 

Why study in another culture?

While the Redeemer in France Program will no doubt always attract mainly French majors, double majors and French minors, a non-tourist, cross-cultural experience is a highly desirable option for students wanting a Christian university education.   Our "neighbour" is also the "alien," the stranger who is near and the stranger who is afar.  Our neighbour cannot be loved, as the commandment bids us, without some sort of relationship based on knowledge and respect.

The world is rife with "group hatred" (to quote Elie Wiesel), people who hate or dislike others because they belong to a group that supposedly has an "x" number of set characteristics, one or more of which the hater may dislike: one not only dislikes people one knows or has seen, one dislikes people one has never even met.  While the secular world touts "tolerance" as a moral rule, the Scriptures require more: love.  Even amongst Christians, tolerance can sometimes lead to a kind of hands-off indifference; love on the other hand, requires interaction, including the will to always go beyond the stereotype.

The other side of the stereotype coin is the tendancy of some people (including some second-language teachers) to look through rose-coloured glasses at the people, history and culture of another place, as if each culture did not have its own peculiar sins and drawbacks just as people do.

Thirdly, often a different culture and its people are viewed simply as resources or even consumer items, something from which to take information or pleasure but which requires little or no commitment from the "user."  The foreign or different culture may also be seen as just another consumer group, a target audience for our goods.

The excuse is sometimes heard that other people must and will learn English to communicate with us.  This notion however relies on an egocentric, at best superficial view of communication.  Even when non-English speakers in another country, or in our own country, speak in English, this language is most likely their second or third language; often they are not communicating who they are as representatives of their own culture but are communicating on the more superficial or utilitarian level of their English language textbook.  It is language that opens the door and sets one on the path to interacting with the "stranger," to going at least half-way to meeting the other culture.

However, many Christians have difficulty entering into another person's culture, whether for an evening, a week or a year.  Entering another culture and understanding it is not easy, yet representing one's own culture while in the new culture is also a challenge.  In particular, North Americans visiting another culture have difficulty representing their own culture with its lack of formality or clear guidelines for behaviour.

In the past, much Christian theoretical writing on culture assumes that the "cultural mandate" applies to work done within the bounds of one's own culture or within the "world" or "nature" in a very general sense.   The "cultural mandate" has to be seen and taught also in a broader, trans-cultural way.  Christians should also consider how other cultures and other Christians in those cultures have responded to the creation and its norms--for making food, for interacting with people and the environment, and for worshipping, to name just a few.  Often what has been seen as "interesting" or simply "quaint" in another culture--"value- free" ways of doing things--can be understood instead as a culture's response, whether for good or for evil, to certain creational structures and norms.  Yet, even as the theoretical Christian knowledge on this subject increases, each person has to make it real in his or her own life.   Therefore Christians will always have a great deal of work to do on learning and living in a multilingual, multicultural world.

 

A semester or two at the Sorbonne

The University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) was chosen for the following reasons:

Focus

For many years the Sorbonne (founded in 1253) has provided programs of study just for foreign students.  Its various levels and programs are grouped under the title "Cours de Civilisation Française" (Courses in French Civilization).   It provides each semester approximately fifteen courses in the French language, literature and in French cultural subjects.  Various combinations and language levels are allowed so that students can tailor somewhat their program.

Size and Choice of Courses

There are over 1000 foreign students enrolled in the programs at the Sorbonne, so our students have the benefit of meeting people from all over the world who are in the same situation as themselves.  After a language placement test, students are directed to the appropriate classes for grammar and literary analysis, the "cours pratiques," but the choice of which lecture courses to attend is still theirs, as well as optional phonetic, conversation and translation courses.  One must do well enough on the grammar placement test to place in the "A" or "B" level of the "cours pratiques," that is, if one places in the "C" level (like French 121-122) or the "D" level (beginners), one will not be allowed to take the end-of-semester exams in the lit/civ courses and so would not receive any lit/civ credits.

400-Level Credit:  The highest classes at the Sorbonne which treat literary or economic topics are given in the "Centre Expérimental d'Etude de la Civilisation Française-Sorbonne."  These are small, pre-M.A. classes with one course requiring a twenty-page dissertation.  Only those students who pass a supplementary three-hour placement exam (a sample is included in the Redeemer in France Program booklet, p. 53) can take the courses at the Centre Expérimental.  If all the 400-level courses at this Centre are passed, this fulfils Redeemer's requirement for 400-level courses for the honours major in French.

300-Level Credit:  Students who desire just a general French major or minor and who are adequately prepared may go second semester of their third or fourth year and take courses at the Sorbonne at the 300-level.  If one has had adequate preparation before going, the grammar exam will place one in the "A" or "B" section for "cours pratiques," and one may choose the lit/civ courses at the 300-level.  Whereas the first semester at the Sorbonne concentrates on courses from the Middle Ages to 1800, the second semester at the Sorbonne concentrates on the 19th and 20th centuries.  The 300-level lecture courses come in two-hour courses, except for the art history course which can be three hours if one adds the museum visits to the program.   Taking six hours (three two-hour courses) fulfils just two lit/civ courses at Redeemer; taking nine hours (three two-hour courses plus the art history course) fulfils three lit/civ courses.

It is the students' responsibility to make sure they know which courses they need, how many and how they fulfil Redeemer's requirements.  The French Department at Redeemer will go over this with each individual student.

All courses at the Sorbonne count as courses in French; however if one receives permission before going, one can receive credit in other areas such as political science or art history.  For a more complete description of the courses at the Sorbonne, Redeemer students can consult the Redeemer in France Program booklet.

 

Facilities and Lodging

The Sorbonne has a full complement of services to offer the foreign student including offices dealing with excursions, temporary health insurance information, low-cost student cafeteria information and lodging.  Some options for lodging include the Maison Jeanne d'Arc, the Maison du Canada, agencies in Paris that specialize in family-lodging for students, sharing an apartment with another student or renting a "chambre de bonne" (maid's room) on the top floor of an apartment.  It is possible to find part-time jobs or other lodging on bulletin boards located near schools and churches in Paris.  As for meals, students either do their own cooking, buy food from the many delis or eat in the student university restaurants.  Near the Sorbonne, lunchtime food is also bought in kiosks and taken by many students to be eaten in the Luxembourg Gardens.  The French Department at Redeemer provides an abundance of information and advice on practical matters before the students leave for Paris.

 

Paris itself

Students receive substantial discounts for museums (over 50 of them), theatres (over 40 of them), opera, concerts, student restaurants and day, weekend and and week-long excursions.  There are special weekly museum lectures which take place at various museums in front of the art works or historical artifacts themselves.  Transportation is inexpensive for the student and wide-ranging: the Paris bus lines and metro are linked to suburban metro lines and to easy cross-country rail travel, including the TGV (Train à grande vitesse).  Students never need enter a car while studying or travelling in all of France.

One is immersed in history--within a few blocks of the Sorbonne exist the Roman baths, the arena of Lutèce, Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, the medieval museum of Cluny, the Conciergerie (Marie Antoinette's prison cell), the French Senate and St-Jacques' Tower where pilgrimages began and Pascal did his experiments into the weight of air....

 

Deadlines

The official deadline for applying at Redeemer for a Spring Semester at the Sorbonne (approx. Jan. 25-May 31) is August 1 of the preceding year.  Those who go two semesters, doing both the Winter Semester (approx. Sept. 25-Jan. 31) and the Spring Semester, will have to apply by March 1 of the year in which they are leaving.

 

Student comments

Students who have gone on the program have found it to be one of the most exhilarating and maturing experiences of their lives.  Part of their growth resulted from surviving the stress of culture shock and learning to live and express their Christian faith without the familiar crutches of everyday life back home: family, church and school.

"...There are about 125 young women from 30 different countries who live here [her residence].  My roommate is a francophone, and she doesn't smoke.   She comes from Burundi in Africa in order to study civil law.  I am happy to have had the chance to come here.  Sometimes I still feel like a child.  Each day there is a monument, a work of art or an interesting place that I have never seen, I learn a word or a phrase that I have never known and I meet someone who I have never known.  This experience is really unbelievable..."  CM (trans. TvTR)

"...The courses are difficult [400-level].  The profs are gifted but a little tough.  Nevertheless, I am learning a lot of things each day, and I am motivated to improve.  I am writing my essay on the character of Salomé, [...].   I am walking everywhere; I chose not to buy a monthly subway card so that I wouldn't become too lazy.  Paris is so beautiful this time of year, and time is passing by so quickly!  Perhaps I will go to Holland during the Easter break..."   DV (trans. TvTR)

"...Deb and I go to the Evangelical Baptist Church.  I really like this church!  There are lots of young people, and they often have Bible studies and special evenings.  I see the importance of meeting other Christians during my stay here, and I am beginning to realize that the Redeemer in France Program is much more than an academic experience.  I would encourage future students to go to this church..." MP (trans. TvTR)