SPAN 2010

Disclaimer: I took this course online during the Covid pandemic
Language proficiency is a requirement for the College of Arts and Sciences so if you are pursuing Spanish as your requirement and did not test out, you will have to take this class. Keep that in mind as many of these teachers understand that a large amount of students here are just trying to fulfill a requirement so they are not there to bust your balls. Señora Jarque is one of those professors. She may seem intimidating when you first meet her, but she is a very kind and understanding professor. She cares for her students very deeply, and that was evidenced in the way that she usually responded to my emails within 15 minutes and how she checked up on me to make sure I was doing alright when I missed class. Sometimes her native accent can be a bit tough to understand and I bet that there are professors out there for 2010 who are more engaging in lectures or are easier graders, but you cannot go wrong with Señora Jarque. Btw all the 2010 classes consist of the same workload/content, which for us this semester consisted of busy work that was due 3 times a week.

Prof. Górriz did an excellent job teaching this class (which has standardized curriculum and assignments across all sections) and leading class discussions. She was super accessible outside of class to go over class topics or get feedback on assignments, and was super enthusiastic in class to help us get better at Spanish.
The class overall contains 6 units with both vocab and grammar, and like most intro to Spanish classes, features the "flipped" classroom approach (learning the material through the book for homework first, then practicing in class). The pair/group work in class definitely enhanced my Spanish and my understanding of the vocab and grammar.
For assignments, the class features vocab/grammar practice on McGraw-Hill Connect due mornings of class, a 2-minute video and in-class essay after each unit, and a final cultural paper on a topic of your choosing. There are five low-stakes exams (each took up 3% of the final grade), plus a cumulative final exam at the end. You were also required to attend a bi-weekly LinguaMeeting session with an international language coach, which seemed pretty useless to my overall learning.

I would not say this class is difficult at all but it is definitely a ton of busy work. The exams and quizzes are super fair and easy to get an A on but you have to stay on top of all the assignments in order to get the grade you want. The class is definitely pretty boring and repetitive but with constant participation and submitting assignments on time I would say this was a relatively easy class and Professor Jarque is so nice and accommodating!

About the Professor: She is great. You can tell she cares a lot about her students and wants the best for all of us. She created a very nurturing and comfortable space that I am sure many students appreciated as I definitely did! Any time there was a concern or question, she would do her best to answer or accommodate you the best she could - very nice lady. I will say she is very to the book, though. Everything on the syllabus goes, and she is def on top of it; especially, attendance. If you are gone too long in the bathroom, she notes it and will mark you absent. If you miss one day, she marks it and she sends an email each time making sure everything is okay (very nice). She super on top of grading too. Many of the quizzes/exams/projects would be graded by the end of the day or the next day which was actually super nice. If you had missing assignments. she would email you the morning it's due to see what happened. So she is def on top of everything in the course. Additionally, she can be somewhat of a harsh grader in my opinion. There wasn't much leniency when it came to small errors as she would take like .25 or .5 points on a lot of things. But honestly, I feel like she doesn't do it because she is trying to be mean but rather she really wants you to improve so she makes sure to apply even the small errors. Every assignment usually has some sort of feedback whether it be her saying 'great job' or giving suggestions which was always appreciated. There is a lot of group work/participation in this class which if you take her, even if it doesn't seem like it, she is always observing if you're participating or not so def be on top of that. She walks around a lot during small group discussions and asks questions or comments to join into the conversation, so I assume this is her way of making sure you're actually participating or not.
About the course: Eprofolio content is worth 35% - consists of projects (you will write 3 essays in class that are corrected by her and then you either have to make a video or write the final version by correcting her feedback) , finial project, and peer commenting. There 6 quizzes (5%) lowest gets dropped. 10 min Quizzes weren't too bad as long as you reviewed the content before class its based on the unit Vocab and grammar. I typically would review the day before and would get in the high 80s or low 90s. Exams (15%) there's 2 of them can be a little difficult as its a mix of listening/reading comprehension, lots of grammar fill in the blanks, vocab matching/fill in the blanks, and 2 essay portions all to be done in 50min. The time constraint was the hardest part as there was so much to do in such little time. Oral exams (15%) not bad, usually pretty laid back. Participation (15%) and hw (15%) it was an online platform called connect videos and then practice was usually assigned - pretty easy just tedious. then there are cultural activities where you either read or watch a video then answer T/F questions. Overall, it's too bad of a class. I spent a moderate amount of time on the class and am finishing with an A-