Overall the class was good. Dagenais is one of those professors that really enjoys the subject matter that he teaches so it made the class that much more enjoyable. The class itself IS NOT HARD AT ALL as long as you read the lecture notes (that are all posted online) and understand them before the quizzes. There are no readers or textbooks, so you save money there and the class itself is relatively easy but fun at the same time. The only drawback is that some of the TA sections are taught in Spanish and they don't say which one those are until the class actually starts. So if you are stuck in a Spanish-speaking discussion, you have to hope that another discussion section in English works with your schedule. Just keep 2-3 discussion sections in mind. The midterm and final were EASY, only 10-15 slide identifications, a couple short essays, matching and multiple choice. I think the final only took me 1 hour. Overall, a great class. But sign up early cuz the class is only offered once a year and he DOES NOT ACCEPT PEOPLE ON THE WAIT LIST!!

Dagenais was one of those professors that I didn't really care for during the class, but afterwards I really appreciated his style. He was easy going and taught us a lot of interesting information, but he is very difficult to get a hold of. I e-mailed him several times throughout the course for very pertinent information (for example, a huge mistake that occurred on the midterm sample exam that also showed up on the actual midterm) and never received any information. However, the TAs are all extremely approachable and helpful. Dagenais doesn't accept people off the waitlist, but it's not too hard to move into the class as people change courses at the beginning of each quarter. A couple of the discussion sections are in Spanish, but they don't tell you that until about a week before school starts, so that can be frustrating for people trying to move in or out. Overall, this class taught me a lot of relevant information, but I felt that Dagenais was slightly arrogant.

I just got done taking the History of Spain and Portugal class with prof. Dagenais. What a great class. Dagenais makes the class fun and not difficult at all. Like some of the other posts said, you don't have to go to lecture because everything is posted on the web. But then you would miss out on his great sense of humor. A must-take at UCLA

He presents a lot of material at once, but the truth is, he tries to teach you everything that he can although he doesn't necessarily expect that you will remember it all. The tests are not as difficult as you expect when you study for them. He tries to keep them fair, and gives you the opportunity to display your knowledge of th material with two short essay questions. This course has to cover a really long span in history, so he's faced with a really hard job, but he makes history interesting, which is even more difficult. He's very nice and funny and particularly knowledgeable about Spain. He also invites the students to contribute their own experiences during lecture, and uses real world modern examples to illustrate how Spain's history has caused it to be the country that it is. I really recommend him.

I was in for a pleasant surprise when I took Dagenais's Spanish M42 class. He is a great guy who has a LOT of experience with Spain. He knows that history can get boring, so he mixes in a lot of culture in his presentations (like Spanish foods, flamenco dance, etc.) There is a lot of information covered in lecture but the MT exam was fair and quite easy. This course has a lot of good things going for it: no textbooks! Take this class and enjoy!