SPAN 44
Latin American Culture
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Required of majors. Lectures taught in English; discussion sections taught in either Spanish or English. Highlights of civilization of Spanish America, with emphasis on artistic, economic, social, and historical development as background for upper division courses. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - This class was a super free GE and the content was super interesting. If you took AP Spanish Lit and enjoyed it, this class is very similar (highkey easier) and super interesting and fun. I slacked off heavy throughout the quarter (would constantly read everything late, skipped most lectures, left early for the classes I did go to) and it was still one of the easiest classes I took here. My TA yelled at me for not studying early on haha. The final is worth 50% and the midterm is 25% which seems like a lot, but in hindsight that means no graded assignments throughout the quarter AND the tests are super easy. You only need to read 2 of 5 works for the midterm, have a grasp on what he talked about for those works, and be able to write an essay for each work with a question that is based on the topics in lecture. The final requires a little bit more reading/watching movies, but honestly, I didn't read or watch the movies, I just did some research on the topic and watched back those specific lectures. The final and midterm were SO free. It is a lot of reading but that's the only homework that you have to do - and honestly you don't even have to read all the works. My particular favorites were The Broken Spears, Ashes of Izalco, and Nuestra America. 10% goes to really short quizzes that you take once a week (you do have to go to lecture for those) and 15% for discussion participation. I was worried my TA wasn't going to mark me high for participation, but I participated maybe once a class or not at all and got full points. The short quizzes were my lowest score in the class. The content is also super interesting, and Van Delden was very engaging in is lectures. I didn't participate enough for him to know my name, but he knew a lot of his students' names and would often engage with students directly and share personal stories. I really enjoyed learning about the Aztec conquest and the Mexican Revolution in particular.
Spring 2025 - This class was a super free GE and the content was super interesting. If you took AP Spanish Lit and enjoyed it, this class is very similar (highkey easier) and super interesting and fun. I slacked off heavy throughout the quarter (would constantly read everything late, skipped most lectures, left early for the classes I did go to) and it was still one of the easiest classes I took here. My TA yelled at me for not studying early on haha. The final is worth 50% and the midterm is 25% which seems like a lot, but in hindsight that means no graded assignments throughout the quarter AND the tests are super easy. You only need to read 2 of 5 works for the midterm, have a grasp on what he talked about for those works, and be able to write an essay for each work with a question that is based on the topics in lecture. The final requires a little bit more reading/watching movies, but honestly, I didn't read or watch the movies, I just did some research on the topic and watched back those specific lectures. The final and midterm were SO free. It is a lot of reading but that's the only homework that you have to do - and honestly you don't even have to read all the works. My particular favorites were The Broken Spears, Ashes of Izalco, and Nuestra America. 10% goes to really short quizzes that you take once a week (you do have to go to lecture for those) and 15% for discussion participation. I was worried my TA wasn't going to mark me high for participation, but I participated maybe once a class or not at all and got full points. The short quizzes were my lowest score in the class. The content is also super interesting, and Van Delden was very engaging in is lectures. I didn't participate enough for him to know my name, but he knew a lot of his students' names and would often engage with students directly and share personal stories. I really enjoyed learning about the Aztec conquest and the Mexican Revolution in particular.
AD
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