Arts, Literature and Communication

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Six simple questions that journalists use to help define our world. How can you reach thousands, perhaps millions, of readers and viewers effectively and accurately? This course is designed to introduce first-year students to many types of journalism and mass communication from the printed word and photojournalism, to broadcast. Students will also examine journalism from a global approach and learn how media is developed and regulated in other cultures. Students will begin to learn news writing styles, mass communication laws and ethics.

How visually literate are you? This first-semester course introduces students to the visual literacy in our world, from museum art to graphic novels and advertising, from traditional forms of art to contemporary cross-cultural cross-media visual representations. The students will become more aware of the presence of the visual world around them, and gain an understanding of the messages sent through the graphic form. Function and form will be carefully discussed so that students can gain an appreciation and understand the nuances of the graphic language in the world around them. The visual language will be analyzed within its historical, socio-political, and theoretical contexts, as students study contemporary examples and trace the transformations of the visual language.

This course will introduce students to the fields of arts and languages. Following an introduction to the emergence of language and artistic expression, students will study key figures and events that have marked various movements in these fields. This exploration will also allow students to become familiar with the interconnections between these movements and socio-cultural factors such as religion, class, and gender. While studying various movements, students will apply skills acquired in Journalism Today and in Visual Literacy, expanding on the terminology used to describe literary and visual works. Finally, a large part of this course will be devoted to key movements, events, and people from the late 19th Century to today, laying the foundations for students to recognize the heritage these movements have on arts and languages today and understand how people have expressed their identity with the use of words and images, but as past events, thinkers, and creators’ influence is never too far, earlier periods and currents will indirectly be covered.

When we think of film, of movies, the thought of Hollywood is often the quickest to enter our minds as the most familiar cultural object. In practice, since the advent of cinema, moving pictures have been produced across the world as diverse systems of cultural expression, developing unique narrative traditions, themes and visual languages, parallel to those of the dominant Hollywood movie industry. With an emphasis on contemporary films from three chosen countries, the course will develop links between national cinemas and their historical and social contexts, accomplished through focusing on the nation’s most renowned filmmakers.

This course introduces students to some of the important cultural figures, stakeholders and debates that influence and/or reflect the development of the arts, literature and communication in Quebec and in Canada, and the national cultural identities based on them. The course will include some content from the visual arts, the performing arts, literature and film/television; it will also include content from both the English and French parts of Quebec and Canada. While it is not a survey course in Quebec/Canadian art and literature, it will cover certain iconic works and key cultural forces in order to illustrate the issues being discussed.

In this course students will develop their ability to make critical judgments in the context of contemporary issues and debates involving communication and mass media. The course will adopt a case-study approach and the topics to be addressed may include identity and representation in the media, the role of the media in the formation and sustenance of culture and community, the impact of globalization on cultural identity, the role of communication and the mass media in social control and social change, as well as the general impact of rapid technological change in the communication sphere, shifting conceptions of private and public, the commodification of information and culture, and challenges to democracy.

(Pre-requisites: 502-131-LE, 502-132-LE, and 502-231-LE)

This course introduces students to the study of cinema through an exploration of film genres, the works of selected directors, and the language of cinema. Students will be guided to appreciate and understand a collection of significant Hollywood films, while learning how they are constructed and how to decipher their embedded meaning.

This course will provide an introduction to the fundamentals of Western Music, including but not limited to basic materials, music notation, ear training, aesthetics, and the listening experience. The course requires no previous experience in music.

This course guides students of the Creative Arts profile to use their creative mind. Through exercises, tasks, group discussion, and lectures, students will hone in on their individual creative strengths, and begin to complete independent work in their chosen field. It will address questions such as, how does one discover their creative forte? What constitutes a good creative project? And how does one make an original and meaningful contribution to an established field? This preliminary course provides students with the opportunity to discover their creative abilities, and together with “The Art of Communication,” provides preparation for the completion of a large-scale integrative project, at the end of their studies.

In this course, students will experiment with the medium of photography by completing a variety of independent and group projects. The course will begin with a technical introduction to DSLR camera operation and techniques, light, and style. Students will then experiment, develop and improve their abilities through a variety of creative projects.

The ability to communicate effectively through verbal and nonverbal cues is an integral part of education, work and life. This course is designed to improve the students’ oral, physical and interpersonal communication skills, while promoting fluency and developing composure and self-confidence. Students will present individual and/or group research projects based on film, music or theatre throughout the term. This course will focus on four distinct areas necessary to create successful presentations: voice and diction, nonverbal communication, content research, and audio-visual aides. Strategies for overcoming stage fright and extemporaneous speaking tactics will also be introduced.

Building on the courses “Visual Literacy,” “Photography,” and “The Creative Process,” students will be guided to better-understand and criticize important historical works of visual art. It provides both an introduction to art history, through a survey of major trends and aesthetics in the development of art movements, as well as the appreciation, understanding and criticism of culturally diverse art. The students will be encouraged to apply their knowledge and skills to contemporary artworks seen in situ.

In this course, students will produce a fiction (or documentary?) video through the completion of a large scale individually driven project done in teams. This course is the only production course in cinema and comes in the 3rd semester after students have had a chance to take film theory and survey courses. This allows students who have learned cinematic languages to now apply their critical knowledge in creating a work of cinematographic art.

In the integrative course, students are expected to use knowledge and experience that they have obtained previously in the program in order to conceive, produce, and document an original large-scale work. The primary component of the class is the individual (or group) project, which may be completed in written form, or in an artistic medium approved by the course instructor (for example, a film).

This course introduces students to fundamentals of popular music interpretation and performance in a choral context. Students will receive training in vocal performance and choral singing. Students who possess previous training in a band instrument will participate in an instrumental ensemble and receive training on their instrument. This course will culminate in a series of live performances, produced by the students, and open to the public.

Spanish I is a compulsory course for students in the Languages profile who have no previous knowledge of Spanish. It will help students to analyse elements of Spanish grammar and to learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture and Hispanic culture. It is a prerequisite for Spanish II.

Its main goal is to introduce students to the German language, and to culture in German-speaking regions, and to do so use material that covers a variety of topics, both in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

Spanish II is either the second Spanish course for students without prior knowledge of Spanish who started their sequence of three (3) Spanish courses with Spanish I or the first course for students with prior knowledge of Spanish. It will help students analyse elements of Spanish grammar and to learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture. It is a prerequisite for Spanish III.

(Pre-requisite: 607-102-LE or equivalent)

This course will allow students to analyse and use more complex elements of German grammar and learn about other elements of culture. It is a pre-requisite for German III.

(Pre-requisite: 609-102-LE)

Le cours convie les élèves à un voyage d’exploration de la culture québécoise et de différentes régions du monde par l’un des moyens les plus simples et les moins coûteux : la littérature (écrite et orale). Ce périple se fera en compagnie d’auteures et d’auteurs originaires du Québec ainsi que d’autres issus de l’immigration. Il leur permettra d’aborder les thèmes de l’exil et de la rencontre culturelle, tout en observant les liens existant entre le social et le littéraire. Enfin, ce voyage les mènera à sa destination : les régions inconnues de leur propre créativité. Il est un cours obligatoire au troisième semestre du profil Langues (pour les élèves de niveaux 100, 101 et 102 en français).

Ce cours servira d’initiation au passage de l’anglais au français et aux divers problèmes qui en résultent. Plus précisément, l’élève apprendra à interpréter le sens d’un texte de départ (phrases ou courts paragraphes) et, à partir de celui-ci, à produire un texte d’arrivée tout en respectant les règles d’écriture ainsi que les habitudes d’expression des locuteurs de la langue. Le cours 602-302-LE est un cours obligatoire au troisième semestre du profil Langues (pour les élèves de niveau 103 en français).

Spanish III will help students analyze elements of Spanish grammar and learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture. It is a compulsory course for students in the Languages Profile. It is either the third and last Spanish course for students without prior knowledge of Spanish who started their sequence of three Spanish courses with Spanish I or the second course for students with prior knowledge of Spanish who started with Spanish II. For the latter group of students, Spanish III is also a pre-requisite for Spanish IV.

(Pre-requisite: 607-202-LE)

While it will of course strengthen students’ use of basic and intermediate structures seen in the two previous courses, German III’s main focus will be to teach students how to express ideas in the past.

(Pre-requisite: 609-203-LE)

In this course, the student’s ability to integrate the knowledge and skills acquired in the Languages and Communication Profile will be assessed by means of a project focused around a theme that shows the student’s ability to make links between languages. This course hosts the Comprehensive Assessment.

Spanish IV is the third and last course in the Languages Profile for students who started their compulsory sequence of three (3) courses with Spanish II. It will help students analyze elements of Spanish grammar and learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture.

Pre-requisite: 607-303-LE)

Its main goals are to introduce students to the basic elements of linguistic analysis within the context of the ancient inflected languages and their descendants, the main periods in the evolution of Greek and Latin, as well the stages of the evolution of Latin into the Romance languages, and the influence of Greek and Latin on Germanic and Romance etymology.

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Six simple questions that journalists use to help define our world. How can you reach thousands, perhaps millions, of readers and viewers effectively and accurately? This course is designed to introduce first-year students to many types of journalism and mass communication from the printed word and photojournalism, to broadcast. Students will also examine journalism from a global approach and learn how media is developed and regulated in other cultures. Students will begin to learn news writing styles, mass communication laws and ethics.

How visually literate are you? This first-semester course introduces students to the visual literacy in our world, from museum art to graphic novels and advertising, from traditional forms of art to contemporary cross-cultural cross-media visual representations. The students will become more aware of the presence of the visual world around them, and gain an understanding of the messages sent through the graphic form. Function and form will be carefully discussed so that students can gain an appreciation and understand the nuances of the graphic language in the world around them. The visual language will be analyzed within its historical, socio-political, and theoretical contexts, as students study contemporary examples and trace the transformations of the visual language.

This course will introduce students to the fields of arts and languages. Following an introduction to the emergence of language and artistic expression, students will study key figures and events that have marked various movements in these fields. This exploration will also allow students to become familiar with the interconnections between these movements and socio-cultural factors such as religion, class, and gender. While studying various movements, students will apply skills acquired in Journalism Today and in Visual Literacy, expanding on the terminology used to describe literary and visual works. Finally, a large part of this course will be devoted to key movements, events, and people from the late 19th Century to today, laying the foundations for students to recognize the heritage these movements have on arts and languages today and understand how people have expressed their identity with the use of words and images, but as past events, thinkers, and creators’ influence is never too far, earlier periods and currents will indirectly be covered.

When we think of film, of movies, the thought of Hollywood is often the quickest to enter our minds as the most familiar cultural object. In practice, since the advent of cinema, moving pictures have been produced across the world as diverse systems of cultural expression, developing unique narrative traditions, themes and visual languages, parallel to those of the dominant Hollywood movie industry. With an emphasis on contemporary films from three chosen countries, the course will develop links between national cinemas and their historical and social contexts, accomplished through focusing on the nation’s most renowned filmmakers.

This course introduces students to some of the important cultural figures, stakeholders and debates that influence and/or reflect the development of the arts, literature and communication in Quebec and in Canada, and the national cultural identities based on them. The course will include some content from the visual arts, the performing arts, literature and film/television; it will also include content from both the English and French parts of Quebec and Canada. While it is not a survey course in Quebec/Canadian art and literature, it will cover certain iconic works and key cultural forces in order to illustrate the issues being discussed.

In this course students will develop their ability to make critical judgments in the context of contemporary issues and debates involving communication and mass media. The course will adopt a case-study approach and the topics to be addressed may include identity and representation in the media, the role of the media in the formation and sustenance of culture and community, the impact of globalization on cultural identity, the role of communication and the mass media in social control and social change, as well as the general impact of rapid technological change in the communication sphere, shifting conceptions of private and public, the commodification of information and culture, and challenges to democracy.

(Pre-requisites: 502-131-LE, 502-132-LE, and 502-231-LE)

This course introduces students to the study of cinema through an exploration of film genres, the works of selected directors, and the language of cinema. Students will be guided to appreciate and understand a collection of significant Hollywood films, while learning how they are constructed and how to decipher their embedded meaning.

This course will provide an introduction to the fundamentals of Western Music, including but not limited to basic materials, music notation, ear training, aesthetics, and the listening experience. The course requires no previous experience in music.

This course guides students of the Creative Arts profile to use their creative mind. Through exercises, tasks, group discussion, and lectures, students will hone in on their individual creative strengths, and begin to complete independent work in their chosen field. It will address questions such as, how does one discover their creative forte? What constitutes a good creative project? And how does one make an original and meaningful contribution to an established field? This preliminary course provides students with the opportunity to discover their creative abilities, and together with “The Art of Communication,” provides preparation for the completion of a large-scale integrative project, at the end of their studies.

In this course, students will experiment with the medium of photography by completing a variety of independent and group projects. The course will begin with a technical introduction to DSLR camera operation and techniques, light, and style. Students will then experiment, develop and improve their abilities through a variety of creative projects.

The ability to communicate effectively through verbal and nonverbal cues is an integral part of education, work and life. This course is designed to improve the students’ oral, physical and interpersonal communication skills, while promoting fluency and developing composure and self-confidence. Students will present individual and/or group research projects based on film, music or theatre throughout the term. This course will focus on four distinct areas necessary to create successful presentations: voice and diction, nonverbal communication, content research, and audio-visual aides. Strategies for overcoming stage fright and extemporaneous speaking tactics will also be introduced.

Building on the courses “Visual Literacy,” “Photography,” and “The Creative Process,” students will be guided to better-understand and criticize important historical works of visual art. It provides both an introduction to art history, through a survey of major trends and aesthetics in the development of art movements, as well as the appreciation, understanding and criticism of culturally diverse art. The students will be encouraged to apply their knowledge and skills to contemporary artworks seen in situ.

In this course, students will produce a fiction (or documentary?) video through the completion of a large scale individually driven project done in teams. This course is the only production course in cinema and comes in the 3rd semester after students have had a chance to take film theory and survey courses. This allows students who have learned cinematic languages to now apply their critical knowledge in creating a work of cinematographic art.

In the integrative course, students are expected to use knowledge and experience that they have obtained previously in the program in order to conceive, produce, and document an original large-scale work. The primary component of the class is the individual (or group) project, which may be completed in written form, or in an artistic medium approved by the course instructor (for example, a film).

This course introduces students to fundamentals of popular music interpretation and performance in a choral context. Students will receive training in vocal performance and choral singing. Students who possess previous training in a band instrument will participate in an instrumental ensemble and receive training on their instrument. This course will culminate in a series of live performances, produced by the students, and open to the public.

Spanish I is a compulsory course for students in the Languages profile who have no previous knowledge of Spanish. It will help students to analyse elements of Spanish grammar and to learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture and Hispanic culture. It is a prerequisite for Spanish II.

Its main goal is to introduce students to the German language, and to culture in German-speaking regions, and to do so use material that covers a variety of topics, both in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

Spanish II is either the second Spanish course for students without prior knowledge of Spanish who started their sequence of three (3) Spanish courses with Spanish I or the first course for students with prior knowledge of Spanish. It will help students analyse elements of Spanish grammar and to learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture. It is a prerequisite for Spanish III.

(Pre-requisite: 607-102-LE or equivalent)

This course will allow students to analyse and use more complex elements of German grammar and learn about other elements of culture. It is a pre-requisite for German III.

(Pre-requisite: 609-102-LE)

Le cours convie les élèves à un voyage d’exploration de la culture québécoise et de différentes régions du monde par l’un des moyens les plus simples et les moins coûteux : la littérature (écrite et orale). Ce périple se fera en compagnie d’auteures et d’auteurs originaires du Québec ainsi que d’autres issus de l’immigration. Il leur permettra d’aborder les thèmes de l’exil et de la rencontre culturelle, tout en observant les liens existant entre le social et le littéraire. Enfin, ce voyage les mènera à sa destination : les régions inconnues de leur propre créativité. Il est un cours obligatoire au troisième semestre du profil Langues (pour les élèves de niveaux 100, 101 et 102 en français).

Ce cours servira d’initiation au passage de l’anglais au français et aux divers problèmes qui en résultent. Plus précisément, l’élève apprendra à interpréter le sens d’un texte de départ (phrases ou courts paragraphes) et, à partir de celui-ci, à produire un texte d’arrivée tout en respectant les règles d’écriture ainsi que les habitudes d’expression des locuteurs de la langue. Le cours 602-302-LE est un cours obligatoire au troisième semestre du profil Langues (pour les élèves de niveau 103 en français).

Spanish III will help students analyze elements of Spanish grammar and learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture. It is a compulsory course for students in the Languages Profile. It is either the third and last Spanish course for students without prior knowledge of Spanish who started their sequence of three Spanish courses with Spanish I or the second course for students with prior knowledge of Spanish who started with Spanish II. For the latter group of students, Spanish III is also a pre-requisite for Spanish IV.

(Pre-requisite: 607-202-LE)

While it will of course strengthen students’ use of basic and intermediate structures seen in the two previous courses, German III’s main focus will be to teach students how to express ideas in the past.

(Pre-requisite: 609-203-LE)

In this course, the student’s ability to integrate the knowledge and skills acquired in the Languages and Communication Profile will be assessed by means of a project focused around a theme that shows the student’s ability to make links between languages. This course hosts the Comprehensive Assessment.

Spanish IV is the third and last course in the Languages Profile for students who started their compulsory sequence of three (3) courses with Spanish II. It will help students analyze elements of Spanish grammar and learn new elements of Spanish and Latin American culture.

Pre-requisite: 607-303-LE)

Its main goals are to introduce students to the basic elements of linguistic analysis within the context of the ancient inflected languages and their descendants, the main periods in the evolution of Greek and Latin, as well the stages of the evolution of Latin into the Romance languages, and the influence of Greek and Latin on Germanic and Romance etymology.