General education curriculum provide the foundation of interdisciplinary knowledge, breadth, methods and the approaches necessary for successful liberal and professional education. Our courses offer ways of knowing and fundamental global perspectives and ideas across the humanities with emphasis on critical analytical skills and communication in writing and speech.
The department offers several General Education courses in English as a Second Language (ESL), German, Italian and DLLL1000, World Literatures in Perspective, our cross-disciplinary course.
DLLL 1000 6.0 World Literatures in Perspective
Course examines literary works from around the globe that have had a major influence beyond their own time and place and explores how they take on new meanings as they move across linguistic, cultural and temporal borders.
Examining literary works alongside disciplines such as linguistics, philosophy, history, art, cultural studies, theatre and film studies, the course pays attention to topics including translation, cross-cultural contacts and exchange, and analyses processes by which concepts of ‘national’ and ‘world’ literature are constructed.
Notes:
The course is especially recommended for students enrolled in Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics programs and courses, those who wish to pursue traditional and non-traditional area studies, and for those aiming to pursue an international career (such as diplomatic relations, publishing, communications, business, administration), community work or graduate work in comparative literature and cultural studies.
AP/DLLL 1000 6.00
World Literatures in Perspective
Examines literary works from around the globe that have had a major influence beyond their own time and place and explores how they take on new meanings as they move across linguistic, cultural and temporal ...
AP/ESL 1000 6.00
Canadian Language and Culture
This course has two main objectives. First, it aims at fostering those language skills which students using English as a second language need to succeed academically in the multicultural, English-medium context at York. The course ...
AP/ESL 1010 3.00
Advancing Reading and Writing in Academic Contexts
This course aims to help students from an ESL background to improve writing and reading skills necessary for academic success in undergraduate degree programs. The interdisciplinary course draws on a range of topics and texts ...
AP/ESL 1015 3.00
Advancing Oral Communication for ESL Students
This course aims to help students from an ESL background advance their oral communication skills for academic success. The focus is on strategies for interacting in groups and with individuals, as well as presenting formally ...
AP/ESL 1200 6.00
Society and Culture
This course provides an introduction to topics in the social sciences for students from an ESL background. The content focusses on social issues and the diversity of human experience while addressing the development of English ...
AP/ESL 1450 6.00
Thinking about Contemporary Canada
Examines issues critical to Canadian society and culture through texts representing a range of voices and genres - from text to film, official to creative, rooted in Canada to immigrant. Key themes include those of ...
AP/IT 1751 6.00
Italian Culture: The Great Ideas and the Masterworks
This interdisciplinary course examines Italy's contribution to the development of Western culture from the Middle Ages to the Age of Romanticism. We study representative works which illustrate three main aspects of Italian civilization: artistic creation ...
AP/IT 1761 9.00
Italian Cinema, Literature and Society
The course focuses on 12 of the most significant films since the Second World War in the context of the radical changes that have taken place in Italy from the fall of Fascism to the ...
AP/GER 1790 9.00
Nationalism, Authority and Resistance: Perspectives on German Culture and Society
Germany might exemplify the problems, conflicts, and possibilities of the modern world better than any other single state. It has careened from an open democracy to brutal dictatorship, been united, divided, and united again in ...
AP/GER 1791 6.00
The Fairy Tale: From Grimm To Disney
Pervasive in most cultures across the globe, fairy tales thrive because of their universal nature. Fairy tales are more than just children's literature. They encapsulate in (usually) succinct form many of the most pressing concerns ...
AP/IT 1791 6.00
Italians in North America
This course investigates the effects North American culture and language has on the lives of Italian immigrants and their descendants.PRIOR TO FALL 2014: Course credit exclusions: AP/IT 2791 9.00, AP/SOSC 2960 9.00.