Therese Banks

French 102 is a very demanding and fast-paced course. New grammar, vocabulary, and concepts are introduced almost every day, leaving little time to fall behind. The workload is heavy, with frequent assignments and practice, so consistent daily effort is essential. Students who stay organized and keep up with the work will learn a lot, but it can be overwhelming if you fall behind.

This course was a huge stressor for me throughout the majority of the semester, only because going into finals week, we had one quiz and one paper entered in the grade book. Because of this, I felt that it was very hard to maximize my Middlebury education, specifically in language learning, because I wasn't getting feedback on my papers, and therefore didn't know what I was doing well and what I needed to do better. This was super frustrating. It seems like Prof. Banks ended up giving the entire class A's by the end, and I have no idea how that grade came to be, but I did put a TON of effort into this course with a huge unknown on the other end of things, so I am glad I earned a grade I deserved, but it was super frustrating in the moment, and I think there are better, more interesting French classes offered at Middlebury.

This course was a huge stressor for me throughout the majority of the semester, only because going into finals week, we had one quiz and one paper entered in the grade book. Because of this, I felt that it was very hard to maximize my Middlebury education, specifically in language learning, because I wasn't getting feedback on my pap …Read more

I took this course as a CW, and it honestly didn't feel like we did too much extra work. We wrote one additional essay, so the biggest challenge was having less time than the non-CW section for each essay. As for the content, Prof. Banks was clearly very passionate about what she was teaching. She had a wealth of knowledge of the historical timeline of the Enlightenment, which really helped me as someone who knows very little French history. My only problem with the course is that we only got one graded essay back all semester. I would have liked to know where I stood in terms of my writing, but Prof. Banks was very open to talking during office hours, which helped.

I took this course as a CW, and it honestly didn't feel like we did too much extra work. We wrote one additional essay, so the biggest challenge was having less time than the non-CW section for each essay. As for the content, Prof. Banks was clearly very passionate about what she was teaching. She had a wealth of knowledge of the his …Read more