For French majors...
 For double majors in French and... Sociology, or Theater, or English, or Computer Science, or Peace Studies, or any other field taught at Goucher College...
 For any French-speaking Goucher student...

Whatever your academic focus, the Goucher Paris Program is a chance to learn alot about what’s going on in France and Europe today, through both coursework and contact with society, while improving your French language skills tremendously.

You can even chose to work in/on an area of specific interest, as part of the program.

Goucher College chose IFE, a French educational organization, to operate this program because of its track record in providing students innovative opportunities and programs for getting inside France today.

The small size of the student group ensures individual attention and a high level of participation in classroom discussion and debate.

How exactly does the program work?

The Goucher Semester in Paris is a tightly-constructed, integrated approach to getting to know France today, while becoming conversant with contemporary French and European issues, and perfecting French language skills.

This is accomplished through four principal program elements:

 Cours de Langue Française de la Sorbonne

 Art, Politics and the State
French cultural identity between patrimony and modernity For understanding France today, the theme of cultural identity is a highly useful, even essential, approach.. France has been both a great melting pot where so many of the major modern and avant-garde movements have been forged, as well as the cradle of such notions as cultural heritage, History, and memory. France is in perpetual hesitation between its past and its future. Heir or pioneer, reactionary or progressive, French culture is heterogenous and rich in opposites. A crossroads of European and Mediterranean cultures, French culture is continually renewed through dialogue, integration, and appropriation. After a period of being relatively turned in on itself, France is back in touch with this special alchemy and as a result is once again fully immersed in global society and its issues. This course takes a look at (read more)

 Paris, France : A journey through contempary French history
Centered on contemporary history as seen from/by the Capital, and on the relations between city and State, this course will articulate three main avenues:

- places (City Hall, les Halles, Montparnasse, Belleville, and places outside of Paris) will be looked at as spaces that reflect policies, practices and social habits. They will be studied using a broad range of media and documents and – as often as possible – on-site lecture visits.

- moments (the Paris Commune, May ’68, Colonial Exhibition 1931, the liberation of Paris, etc), siezed as situations the analysis of which carries important lessons for reflecting on French history.

- processes affecting the capital and the nation. These include urbanization, democratization, changing forms of protest, and digesting the colonial heritage, among others.

This course puts special emphasis on using a wide range of sources in addition to scholarly literature: witnesses, literature, films, documentaries, exhibitions, news media, etc. Recourse to on-line resources is frequent. . Topics include...

 Intensification Workshop
This course is a three part exercice in encountering France today, focusing on personal engagement with civil society, current events debate, and individual research... (read more)

For all information concerning practical matters such as dates, fees, housing, application etc. inquiries should be addressed to Office of International Studies at Goucher College: cdonhaus@goucher.edu

The Goucher Paris Semester page on the GC website