Professor
Yesenia Hernandez
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - I took a class with Yessenia for Spanish 3 but she isn't listed so here is my review. I felt pretty stupid every day in this class. I dreaded being cold called and I never felt like a safe environment to learn Spanish was fostered. I've taken both Spanish 1 and 2 at UCLA so I have a pretty good comparison to this course. I know that this is more advanced, but most of the time the entire class (except the Spanish speakers that should never have been in this class in the first place) was lost on verbal instructions. Yessenia talked pretty fast and wouldn't check in to make sure we were understanding. We never really do in class activities that are actually helpful to my learning. The most I have had to write is a sentence or two but then on the exam we were expected to write quite a few words. We barely practiced for the oral exam either yet were expected to have a fluent well flowing conversation. The class was conducted entirely in Spanish which I was expecting, yet I felt like I learned very little compared to my other classes which were a mix of English and Spanish. I also feel like the quizzes were harder than they needed to be - not to mention they are in person and not online like all of the other classes I have taken. I also feel like mandatory attendance harmed the class because people showed up even when they had no interest in being there. Those of us who wanted to learn were overshadowed by the people there only for attendance. I can tell that Yessenia cares, but it would be nice if she would teach to the level where the class is, not just the select few Spanish speakers who took the easy class rather than the appropriate one. We barely ever went over the vocabulary and half the time didn't even practice the grammar. To be completely honest, I am not sure what we do during class time but I am always more confused afterwards. I would recommend that people take this class with a different instructor if they actually want to learn Spanish and not have their confidence harmed. If you have the opportunity, take this class with anyone else, but if you can't be prepared to not learn, be cold called, and deal with mandatory attendance.
Fall 2025 - I took a class with Yessenia for Spanish 3 but she isn't listed so here is my review. I felt pretty stupid every day in this class. I dreaded being cold called and I never felt like a safe environment to learn Spanish was fostered. I've taken both Spanish 1 and 2 at UCLA so I have a pretty good comparison to this course. I know that this is more advanced, but most of the time the entire class (except the Spanish speakers that should never have been in this class in the first place) was lost on verbal instructions. Yessenia talked pretty fast and wouldn't check in to make sure we were understanding. We never really do in class activities that are actually helpful to my learning. The most I have had to write is a sentence or two but then on the exam we were expected to write quite a few words. We barely practiced for the oral exam either yet were expected to have a fluent well flowing conversation. The class was conducted entirely in Spanish which I was expecting, yet I felt like I learned very little compared to my other classes which were a mix of English and Spanish. I also feel like the quizzes were harder than they needed to be - not to mention they are in person and not online like all of the other classes I have taken. I also feel like mandatory attendance harmed the class because people showed up even when they had no interest in being there. Those of us who wanted to learn were overshadowed by the people there only for attendance. I can tell that Yessenia cares, but it would be nice if she would teach to the level where the class is, not just the select few Spanish speakers who took the easy class rather than the appropriate one. We barely ever went over the vocabulary and half the time didn't even practice the grammar. To be completely honest, I am not sure what we do during class time but I am always more confused afterwards. I would recommend that people take this class with a different instructor if they actually want to learn Spanish and not have their confidence harmed. If you have the opportunity, take this class with anyone else, but if you can't be prepared to not learn, be cold called, and deal with mandatory attendance.
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