Sports & Culture in France —

Program Details

Program Eligibility

About Sports & Culture in France

Montpellier is one of France’s fastest growing cities and an emerging cultural and educational center. Within easy reach of both mountains and the Mediterranean, and home to 100,000 university students, Montpellier is a young, vibrant city with a centuries-old history of intellectual advances and social tolerance.

Long known as one of France’s most sporty cities, Montpellier is a great place to learn about French sports culture. This course will cover such topics as sports tourism, sports psychology and sports pedagogy. Students will also learn about several European sports, such as pétanque and team handball, as well as visit several sports-related cites in and around Montpellier.

Housing & Meals

Students are housed in an extended stay hotel with other program participants. Students are responsible for their own meals.

Excursions

The program includes excursions to several local sports and recreational facilities. Students will participate in local visits, such as hiking in the national park of Cévennes, observing a training session of the Montpellier handball club, and attending a professional handball game.

Flight

Learning Outcomes

• Deepen cross-cultural understanding through interaction with faculty and community members
• Gain French, European, and international perspectives on sport
• Increase independence and self-reliance by learning to navigate French society
• Acquire practical knowledge in sports-related professions such as coaching, sport management and kinesiology

Faculty & Staff

Françoise Defrecheux-Chaton

Françoise has been the On-Site Director of the program in Montpellier since 1990. With her staff, she oversees student services, excursions, housing arrangements, and academic coursework. She is also a professor in Business English at the Université de Montpellier and is well-connected in the local university community in Montpellier.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Germanic Languages from the Université de Liège and a Master's from the University of Minnesota in French Literature. She has also taught at the University of Minnesota and Carleton College in Minnesota.

Corrine Dumas

Corinne has been the Assistant Director of the University of Minnesota Program in Montpellier since 2006. She currently teaches the course on Leadership and Experiential Learning for the program.

She received a MA in English from the University of Orléans in France and a MA in French and ESL from West Virginia University. Corinne studied for five years at the University of North Carolina where she was also a teaching assistant in the French department. She completed her course work and passed her PhD exams in Comparative Literature.

Cedric Carpanedo

Cedric is the logistic coordinator for the program in Montpellier and teaches the Conversational French class. He has been part of the team for ten years and has lived in Montpellier for 12. He spent two years as a teaching assistant for the French Department at Macalester College in Minnesota.

Originally from Avignon, he studied English and American civilization and literature at the Université d'Avignon et des pays de Vaucluse. 

Paul Rogers

Paul is the Academic Adviser for the Montpellier programs. He has been teaching university courses for over twenty years, and currently teaches in his specialty for the University of Minnesota program and at the Université Paul-Valéry in the Lettres Modernes department.

Paul holds a PhD in medieval French literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is originally from southern Rhode Island.

Kim Mousseron

Kim is the Housing Coordinator for the Montpellier programs.

Kim received her BA from Mount Holyoke College and MA from Middlebury College. After teaching French for a year at Boston College, Kim permanently moved to France where she obtained her TEFL certification. Kim has lived in Montpellier for over 20 years. She was born and raised in western Massachusetts.­­­

Program Structure

Coursework

Sports & Culture in France

MONT 3701

May Session

3 Credits

Spend your morning examining sports, sports psychology and the nature of professional sports in France and the USA and then engage in a variety of sport activities in the afternoon. Classes are taught by University of Minnesota experts in the field.

Syllabus for Sports & Culture in France (PDF)

Sports Management B.S. major focus elective and minor elective; Kinesiology B.S. focus elective; Recreation, Park and Leisure Studies B.S. focus elective.

Approved for Global Perspectives Theme

Dates & Deadlines

Orientation Dates & Locations

Fees for Sports & Culture in France

Cost of Participation, May 2020 (PDF)

Billing & Payments

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Bridging Loan

Cancellation Policy

Prepare

Submit

Complete

After you submit your application, you will receive an email notification confirming that your application was received.  Submitted applications are assigned an application checklist, which will include the following items:

• Application Essay
• Transcript (Non-UofM students only)
• Home Institution Nomination (Non-UofM students only)

Detailed descriptions and instructions for submitting each checklist item are included on the application checklist assigned to you.

If you do not meet the GPA requirement for this program, you will be required to submit two additional application items: the Low GPA Essay and Special Circumstances Recommendation. Both items will be added to your checklist after your start your application, and you will be notified when they have been added.

Application Review Process

After your application checklist is complete, your application is reviewed by our program team. You will be notified of an acceptance decision by email. If accepted, you will be assigned a confirmation checklist, which you will complete to confirm your participation in the program. If you decide not to continue with the application process, log into the online application system and submit a Cancel Request.