Lecture:
Professor Welty uses lecture slides as a foundation for her lectures, and she comments on the slides. Her slides are not posted online, so I would recommend attending lectures. She tells you when it is unnecessary to copy down the information, such as statistics and quotes. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and found the topics interesting and relatable. Sometimes, she would show videos to illustrate her point. There will be some lectures where she would show a film and have you answer some questions and turn it in at the end of class. In general, Professor Welty is very engaging, and I looked forward to going to her lectures.

Discussion:
The discussion is made up of a short presentation by students each week and a discussion about that week's readings. I had to write six one-page reading reflection journals, which were graded very easily. Attending discussions is crucial to your grade, and you should try to engage in the discussions to earn more points. One absence = 3% marked off your grade, two absences =9% marked off your grade, three absences = 27% marked off your grade, etc.

Grade:
This is an essay GE to get an A in as long as you put in a little bit of effort. There is a midterm and a final. They both include passage identifications, which ask you to identify the key term and you will need to write about what it is and why it is important. Then, you also need to write an essay to answer one out of a few prompts. You will need to relate these to specific examples from the readings or the films. The midterm and final are both pretty easy as long as you study a little bit. There is a 6-8 page essay, and you are allowed to write about anything related to Asian American studies. Part of your grade for that is based on turning in an outline and a working draft. Discussion makes up a large portion of your grade too - this includes attendance, participation, and a group presentation. Also, there are occasional worksheets to fill out based on videos that you need to watch for homework. There are readings assigned that you are supposed to finish before each lecture, but they are really only to aid your understanding of the topic. The readings assigned are very long and sometimes boring, but Professor Welty will teach you that you only need to read the introduction, conclusion, and the first sentence of each body paragraph. You will need to buy a textbook called Contemporary Asian America, The New Chinese America, and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. There are several opportunities to earn extra credit, such as going to a museum or attending a guest lecture. At the end of the quarter, you turn in a self-reflection to suggest what grade you think you deserve, and the TA takes it into consideration before assigning you a grade.

Grade Breakdown:
Midterm: 20%
Final: 30%
Paper: 25%
Section: 20%
Film Responses: 5%

Hands down one of the best professors in the AAS department. I took professor Welty for two courses and both courses taught by her were some of my favorite AAS courses taken at UCLA. She's incredibly helpful and only wants her students to succeed. She's incredibly approachable and doesn't make you feel nervous about speaking up in class and sharing your opinion. There are a lot of readings and work for the class, but the readings and pretty interesting. Highly recommend taking any of Professor Welty's class!

too much work

I really enjoyed the content of this class! My only complaint is that the TA graded the term paper kind of harshly especially considering this is a GE. This class also had a lot of readings and film responses. The final exam was a 3 hour timed essay (taken at home) and they grading was a little more lenient than the term paper.

#RealRating

For this class, you will have to show up for every lecture since her PowerPoint are not posted, and they will be very helpful for your final. The main part of the class will be a presentation in your discussion, which is pretty easy, I think. Then, you have an essay that you can write on any topic you want. I recommend writing on something modern because your final will cover more historical topics that you won't be able to use if you write about them in your first paper. There are no tests, and the final is a take-home essay that Tamai gives you an entire weekend to complete. This class is full of supportive people, and they want you to succeed. At the end of the class, you are able to write an evaluation of what grade you think you deserve and they actually take your opinion into consideration.

Summary: I definitely recommend this class if you want an easy GE (there are easier ones, but I found this class especially rewarding), and I also think that you will definitely learn something new. If you are an Asian you may even take something extra away from the class.

I highly enjoyed the topics we covered in this class. Professor Welty is an engaging lecturer, and well versed in issues that pertained to the Asian American community in the past and now. I am selling The New Chinese America for $23, it is in perfect condition. Email me at ************* if interested.