“Cultural Tourism” specialization
A brief overview
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The "Cultural Tourism" specialization starts, like all the other specializations, from the second semester of the second year onwards. This specialization is composed of cultural heritage and art history modules and mainly concerns students wishing to work, at the end of their university studies, in sectors such as tourism and culture. Regarding direct opportunities, this specialization trains students to apply for several jobs such as cultural mediator, guide speaker, travel guide, cultural project manager, etc.
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Semester 3
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For the 304 teaching unit, this semester consists of a choice between:
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The “Culture of the Middle Ages and of Renaissance” option;
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The “Arts and Cinema of the English-speaking world” option;
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The “Interculturalism” option.
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And, for the 305 teaching unit, of a choice between:
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The “Linguistics” option;
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The “Overview of International Press” option.
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Semester 4
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The fourth semester of the "Cultural Tourism" specialization is organised around three different modules. The contents of these three courses are all linked to the history of French and European cultural heritage in order to answer several questions such as: where does our cultural heritage come from? What are the different types of heritage? The first module, “History of built heritage and museums,” focuses on the history of museums, their birth in Europe and their role across time. This course is very interesting insofar as it allows us to acquire historical knowledge on museums, but also on art history. The second module, “History of Libraries and Archives,” focuses more on the heritage of archives as protected documents: who manages archives? Where are they kept? Who can have access to them? What are the laws around the heritage of archives? Finally, the third and last module, “Industrial Heritage and Memories of the Industry,” is based on industrial heritage and on how industry has influenced memories through its factories, its inventions, or the workers’ way of life.
Semester 5
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The course entitled “Memory Tourism” allows students to discover the notion of memory surrounding different themes such as literary tourism, dark tourism, industrial tourism…;
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The course entitled “Cultural Tourism: Contexts and Practices” highlights varied definitions, such as those of a tour operator, of a tourist, of a short stay…;
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The course entitled “Tourism and Cultural Marketing” is based on the study of strategic marketing and operational marketing. Students are told about the importance of studying all the aspects that revolve around a cultural or touristic product (for example a museum or a festival), that is to say its environment, its audience, competition, etc.
Semester 6
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During the sixth and final semester of the LLCER degree, the "Cultural Tourism" specialization focuses on heritage. Courses are, at first sight, more theoretical, such as "History, Heritage and Memory" which reactivates, one year after the 404 teaching unit, the reflection on heritage and its issues by giving examples of sites and celebrations involving memorial issues and their vectors of diffusion. Moreover, the course of "Heritage Law" involves speakers from the Faculty of Law who are specialized in these issues. Openness to the regulatory aspect introduces students to this decisive concern in the professional world.
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Afterwards, students have courses that could be described as more professionalizing since there is a course on the approach of heritage professions, which is considered as a major and rewarding course thanks to the intervention of field actors. There is also a course on the methodology of heritage competitions, with a presentation of selection, recruitment mechanisms, related professions and practical exercises drawn from actual tests. It is the opportunity to put students in competition situations in front of questionnaires, essays or even summaries of documents.
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This last semester therefore gives students the tools to be able to apprehend a future career in the heritage sector.
303B Teaching unit: Professional English
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What goes hand in hand with the "Cultural Tourism" specialization is the "Professional English" teaching unit, chosen from the second year onwards, since it is dedicated to students who have chosen a specialization different from the Teaching one. This teaching unit aim to develop written and oral skills in order to use English at an advanced level in a professional context, that is to say in the professions of translation, culture, tourism, journalism etc.
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Semester 3
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The course entitled “English – Translation of Specialty” aims at translating specific texts concerning the cultural and touristic environments. For example, we translated the brochure from a holiday site, a museum cartel, a billboard;
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The course entitled “Oral English in professional situations” prepares students to have a telephone conversation, to host a meeting and to be prepared for job interviews.
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Semester 4
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The course entitled “The English of Media” enables students to learn the vocabulary of news, media, analysis and comparison of newspaper articles;
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The course entitled “English – News Debates” consists of animating debates on different topics related to medicine, ethics and the impact of social networks, for instance.
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Semester 5
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The course entitled “Presentation of Lectures” consists of training for an oral presentation on a subject of your choice. This combines a good knowledge of the behaviour to have during a short lecture, such as gestures, the way to move, voice clarity and pronunciation…;
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The course entitled “English – Writing Press Articles” consists of writing informative, argumentative and narrative articles for an online blog.
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Semester 6
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The course entitled “English – Rhetoric of the discourse” consists of the analysis of political discourses and pleadings via oral strategies;
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The course entitled “English – Professional Reports” aims at writing a report on a chosen topic;
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The course entitled “Written Communication Documents” aims at writing professional texts such as a resume, a professional mail, a brochure, memos, etc.
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Cyrielle's personal opinion
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Personally, when I chose the "Cultural Tourism" specialization, I didn’t expect to have so many classes about cultural heritage and I was pretty surprised that there weren’t many modules focused on art. This specialization is globally very interesting but, according to me, it is too much organized around the notion of culture and around history, and not around tourism as a professional sector.
Léa’s personal opinion
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Personally, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the LLCER degree offered a tourism specialization – a specialization which the LEA degree does not offer, for instance. Thanks to this specialization, I was able to learn new and interesting things about the different aspects of culture. Nevertheless, I would have liked these courses to be less theoretical. Technical tools related to the cultural tourism sector are missing, and they would have been appreciated.
Laurine’s personal opinion
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I liked this specialization very much because it allowed me to acquire a wide knowledge. I have become aware of the different aspects of tourism, my favorite being tourism marketing. Indeed, I discovered that marketing was an important element to take into account when studying cultural tourism, especially to study competition, the environment, the public, etc. Unfortunately, this course having taken place remotely, I regret not having been able to ask as many questions as I wanted to, and not having been able to deal with certain notions seriously enough. I also really liked the course on different museums around the world as well as the course on memory, which was very rich in definitions and in historical notions. Even though I had a lot of hesitations in my first year as an undergraduate in order to choose between the “Cultural Tourism” specialization and the “Journalism, Media and Society" specialization, cultural tourism has enabled me to be reassured concerning my future choices, namely the pursuit in the “Langues et Sociétés” Master’s degree, oriented towards the English-speaking worlds, culture and tourism.