French

[sksandorff90]

I already speak a little bit of French (enough for travel purposes and my reading and listening skills are at a lower intermediate level) and considered the class at UMPI very easy. During one activity (I can't remember if it is part of a milestone or just one of the "add to the discussion board" activities) you are supposed to say why you're taking the class, so the professor knew that I had prior knowledge and the class was mostly me brushing up on my writing and speaking skills.

There is almost no speaking in the class, just a small recording for a milestone, and then the final has a speaking portion. I wish there was more speaking because I wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce a few words, though she does give a website that will "read" whatever you type in the correct accent. The hardest part was the final because I was scared she would accuse me of cheating. There is a word count you need to reach that just doesn't seem to be reachable given the very limited vocabulary and grammar that the course covers. I made sure to ask if I was allowed to use a French dictionary to help and provided the link to the one I was using. Using a French dictionary is allowed, but translating services aren't. I just barely made the word count by adding as many redundant sentences that I could ("My dad is 65. He lives in Washington. He is a salesman. He has gray hair and brown eyes. My mom is 60. She also lives in Washington." etc.).

I think if you haven't taken French since high school, you will be fine. I think where people struggle with the language classes at UMPI is if they have too much knowledge on a language, or are perhaps a native speaker as whatever languages people learn growing up are very different than how that language is taught in a classroom setting.