SPAN 119
Introduction to Literary Analysis
Description: Lecture, four hours. Requisite: course 25 or 27. Introduction to methods of analyzing literary work in Spanish, Spanish-American, and Chicana/Chicano literature. Special attention to four major genres: poetry, narrative, drama, and essay. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Please take a class with Professor Bergero. She is probably one of the sweetest and kindest professors at UCLA. She really cares about the performance of each and every student and wants to see you succeed. Honestly, she is so amazing with her insight into Spanish Literature and she made the class very interesting. She would talk about the text in ways I never thought of. Seriously, she is so great and I want to take another class with her is possible. I am pretty sure she even reached out to all her students (class of 20 ) to say amazing things about each of them and what they have noticed about them throughout the quarter. I have honestly never written a review for a professor before, but she was so amazing that I felt that other students really need to know!
Winter 2020 - Please take a class with Professor Bergero. She is probably one of the sweetest and kindest professors at UCLA. She really cares about the performance of each and every student and wants to see you succeed. Honestly, she is so amazing with her insight into Spanish Literature and she made the class very interesting. She would talk about the text in ways I never thought of. Seriously, she is so great and I want to take another class with her is possible. I am pretty sure she even reached out to all her students (class of 20 ) to say amazing things about each of them and what they have noticed about them throughout the quarter. I have honestly never written a review for a professor before, but she was so amazing that I felt that other students really need to know!
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - The only things in the grade book were two essays, a midterm and a final. While it is nice that there is no participation or homework at all, that means your entire grade relies on four assignments. I found the essay prompts confusing and not explained well, even though I showed up to most lectures. There were no recordings and the class was discussion based. Profesor would run out of things to say and if the class wasn't talking, then class ended early. Profesor Calderon can be moody and doesn't provide great feedback on how to answer the essay prompts. The midterms were not hard, however.
Spring 2022 - The only things in the grade book were two essays, a midterm and a final. While it is nice that there is no participation or homework at all, that means your entire grade relies on four assignments. I found the essay prompts confusing and not explained well, even though I showed up to most lectures. There were no recordings and the class was discussion based. Profesor would run out of things to say and if the class wasn't talking, then class ended early. Profesor Calderon can be moody and doesn't provide great feedback on how to answer the essay prompts. The midterms were not hard, however.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - This class is very chill, my only issue is the time, which for us was late in the afternoon. Other than that, the professor is understanding and is helpful when it comes to the readings. There are a lot of readings in this course, however, you really could just skim them or not read them at all since the next class, the professor will talk about it anyway and you just take notes. Be sure to take notes on what he says because you will have to write papers for both a midterm and final and his talking points are very helpful. There are some moments in class for discussion, but for the most part the professor just kind of talks the whole time. In my quarters, the "exams" were really just papers, though for some reason he would refer to them as "take home" exams. If you are actually interested in the literature, I found that most the of the writers were from 1900-2000 so the language is not too antiquated. I also found that most of our readings were from Argentine writers (the rest were Carribean/Colombian). There were no Mexican or Spanish literature from what I can recall. Professor Marturano is Argentine, so if you are not familiar with a Rioplatense accent, then it could be difficult to understand him, but you'd adjust pretty quickly since he talks very clear. Overall, very easy class (did not take up too much space in my mind to be honest) and very nice and chill professor.
Fall 2023 - This class is very chill, my only issue is the time, which for us was late in the afternoon. Other than that, the professor is understanding and is helpful when it comes to the readings. There are a lot of readings in this course, however, you really could just skim them or not read them at all since the next class, the professor will talk about it anyway and you just take notes. Be sure to take notes on what he says because you will have to write papers for both a midterm and final and his talking points are very helpful. There are some moments in class for discussion, but for the most part the professor just kind of talks the whole time. In my quarters, the "exams" were really just papers, though for some reason he would refer to them as "take home" exams. If you are actually interested in the literature, I found that most the of the writers were from 1900-2000 so the language is not too antiquated. I also found that most of our readings were from Argentine writers (the rest were Carribean/Colombian). There were no Mexican or Spanish literature from what I can recall. Professor Marturano is Argentine, so if you are not familiar with a Rioplatense accent, then it could be difficult to understand him, but you'd adjust pretty quickly since he talks very clear. Overall, very easy class (did not take up too much space in my mind to be honest) and very nice and chill professor.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I would definitely recommend taking Span 119 with Dr. Powell. We have readings each week and discuss them in class. Some of them can be a bit long, but they are manageable. Other than that, we all signed up for one day to do a presentation on a reading to the class, we had a takehome midterm, and an 8-10 page final essay on any of the readings we covered during the class. This class was very manageable and Dr. Powell was extremely helpful during/after class if you had any questions on course material. She really understands that taking a class during a pandemic is tough and makes accommodations for us.
Fall 2020 - I would definitely recommend taking Span 119 with Dr. Powell. We have readings each week and discuss them in class. Some of them can be a bit long, but they are manageable. Other than that, we all signed up for one day to do a presentation on a reading to the class, we had a takehome midterm, and an 8-10 page final essay on any of the readings we covered during the class. This class was very manageable and Dr. Powell was extremely helpful during/after class if you had any questions on course material. She really understands that taking a class during a pandemic is tough and makes accommodations for us.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - I took SPAN 119 with Professor Rodriguez during the Winter of 2023 in person. SPAN119 was a challenging upper-division Spanish class with Professor Rodriguez specifically. I've heard other peers having an easier time in the same course, however, with a different professor. This course is graded on 3 written exams (make sure you have a blue book ready), and one group project on a book (el club del libro). Professor Rodriguez's lectures were informative and her slides are useful for exams, however, she does not make herself seem approachable whatsoever. Be prepared to discuss readings in class as she cold calls on students. She is intimidating and at times passive and cannot take criticism well. She is not clear on what she wants on her exams at times, often creating discussions after passing back our exams where she states she will "maybe change that next time". This class was very interesting and the material was fun to read, however, I dreaded attending lectures as I did not feel comfortable or supported in class. The key to passing her class is to study hard, read assigned readings, and understand her exams and what her idea of a "correct answer" is.
Winter 2023 - I took SPAN 119 with Professor Rodriguez during the Winter of 2023 in person. SPAN119 was a challenging upper-division Spanish class with Professor Rodriguez specifically. I've heard other peers having an easier time in the same course, however, with a different professor. This course is graded on 3 written exams (make sure you have a blue book ready), and one group project on a book (el club del libro). Professor Rodriguez's lectures were informative and her slides are useful for exams, however, she does not make herself seem approachable whatsoever. Be prepared to discuss readings in class as she cold calls on students. She is intimidating and at times passive and cannot take criticism well. She is not clear on what she wants on her exams at times, often creating discussions after passing back our exams where she states she will "maybe change that next time". This class was very interesting and the material was fun to read, however, I dreaded attending lectures as I did not feel comfortable or supported in class. The key to passing her class is to study hard, read assigned readings, and understand her exams and what her idea of a "correct answer" is.
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