Professor
Susan Kresin
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Prof Kresin and our TA Daniel Z were both incredible. This class was literally one of the best classes I've taken at UCLA (I am a Junior, almost done with GEs). The prof and TA both knew a TON about film, culture, history, languages, etc and I could literally feel my brain expanding every lecture. Attendance is basically mandatory, but if you had a conflict you could ask the prof for recorded lectures via email. Discussion was mandatory. Workload: This class is not exactly a light workload, but it also isn't very heavy - 1HW, 1Quiz, 1.5 pages of film notes / week. 1 Reflection due every 2 weeks. Quizzes are also unlimited attempts, highest score only, and they reveal the ones you got wrong, so you get 100% even if you put in the bare minimum effort. Homework was basically graded for completion as long as you tried. Film notes as well. The writing was graded more comprehensively, but Daniel gave excellent feedback, revisions are allowed to boost your grade, and the final essay was done in supervised stages. I learned more about the 20th century in this class than in High School, which I guess isn't saying much, but it was so nice to have a fun, focused, high quality history class. 10/10
Spring 2021 - Prof Kresin and our TA Daniel Z were both incredible. This class was literally one of the best classes I've taken at UCLA (I am a Junior, almost done with GEs). The prof and TA both knew a TON about film, culture, history, languages, etc and I could literally feel my brain expanding every lecture. Attendance is basically mandatory, but if you had a conflict you could ask the prof for recorded lectures via email. Discussion was mandatory. Workload: This class is not exactly a light workload, but it also isn't very heavy - 1HW, 1Quiz, 1.5 pages of film notes / week. 1 Reflection due every 2 weeks. Quizzes are also unlimited attempts, highest score only, and they reveal the ones you got wrong, so you get 100% even if you put in the bare minimum effort. Homework was basically graded for completion as long as you tried. Film notes as well. The writing was graded more comprehensively, but Daniel gave excellent feedback, revisions are allowed to boost your grade, and the final essay was done in supervised stages. I learned more about the 20th century in this class than in High School, which I guess isn't saying much, but it was so nice to have a fun, focused, high quality history class. 10/10
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Dr. Kresin is one of the kindest lecturers at UCLA. She is very attentive to the needs of each of her students and does her best to challenge us while meeting us where we are at. She also gives lots of opportunities to do serious projects in Russian (great for work samples if you are looking for jobs that require another language!), get official awards for your work, and engage with the Russian-speaking community beyond UCLA. You can tell she really believes in her students' potential for success, in Russian or otherwise. So, so much fun throughout the year taking Russian 101ABC, both with the small class setting (if you prefer that format) and getting to be part of this department. There will often be challenging moments, as there always is with learning another language, but your Russian will improve so much with Dr. Kresin. By the end of this class series, you will be more confident reading, writing, and speaking spontaneously about more complicated topics. Can't recommend Dr. Kresin (and this department) enough for those who are looking to learn another language and get usable skills out of it.
Fall 2023 - Dr. Kresin is one of the kindest lecturers at UCLA. She is very attentive to the needs of each of her students and does her best to challenge us while meeting us where we are at. She also gives lots of opportunities to do serious projects in Russian (great for work samples if you are looking for jobs that require another language!), get official awards for your work, and engage with the Russian-speaking community beyond UCLA. You can tell she really believes in her students' potential for success, in Russian or otherwise. So, so much fun throughout the year taking Russian 101ABC, both with the small class setting (if you prefer that format) and getting to be part of this department. There will often be challenging moments, as there always is with learning another language, but your Russian will improve so much with Dr. Kresin. By the end of this class series, you will be more confident reading, writing, and speaking spontaneously about more complicated topics. Can't recommend Dr. Kresin (and this department) enough for those who are looking to learn another language and get usable skills out of it.
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