No one can really comment on 1611 since it is a new course which is being introduced in 2006. I did, however, complete what was formerly known as introductory french 1102 (now replaced by 1612) in second semester of last year. I got special permission from Alice Caffarel (who is likely to be your lecturer) to do 1102, having not done the first semester course 1101, nor any HSC french. Despite this, with some hard work I managed to get up to scratch and got an HD.
Personally I found the course quite hard, but this will vary depending on your background knowledge. The course proceeds at a fairly rapid pace. This is because the purpose of the 1101/2 was to bring the introductory students up to the level of the intermediate students by the end of first year, at which point the introductory and intermediate streams are merged into a common stream known as "Senior" French. As such, the course is completely grammar/reading/speaking based, with no cultural component.
You are likely to be required to do weekly readings from the first few chapters of a not-so-easy novel called Le Rendez-Vous by Rob Grillet. A comprehension test near the end of the semester makes up a large portion of the assessment.
Although difficult, the course is highly rewarding and dramatically improved my French. In fact, after completing 1102, I have subsequently decided to major in French and will be doing 24 cpts of french in 2006 as part of my science degree.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
James
