SPAN 2020

I want to preface this by saying that I never post reviews on here, but my experience with Prof. Dongo was so bad that I made an account just to warn other people. Gabriela Dongo is genuinely THE worst professor I have had at UVA, and she made the semester a living hell for me. She has a strange tendency to glorify some students while antagonizing others---and that is why you see some reviews who say she is amazing and others (like this one) who say the exact opposite. For me, the class itself isn't horribly difficult, it's very similar in structure to SPAN 2010. However, I had constant issues with her assessment of my participation as halfway through the semester you get a unofficial measure of how well you are participating. My grade wasn't very good even though I participated a decent amount each class. When I talked to her about it all she said was that I didn't participate well the first week and I needed to "try harder" (yes, that is literally all she said). So I tried participating even more, to which she would ignore me. She would even go as far as to COLD CALL OTHER PEOPLE instead of letting me answer (this happened pretty often btw). I found this incredibly strange as she didn't seem like she hated me, she even said that I put a lot of effort into the class and I should consider a Spanish minor. So I found it frustrating when, at the end of the semester, my participation grade was over ten points lower than most of the people in that class. She unhelpfully said I needed to participate more and completely thwarted every opportunity for my participation!!! To say that she is unfair would be a gross understatement. Initially I thought this bias was in my own head until I saw some of the other reviews of her. If you take this class, she might end up loving you or hating you, but I WOULD NOT take the chance. 0/10

If you want to get a good grade and not have insane anxiety everyday DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH GABRIELA. She is one of the harshest graders I have ever had and the amount of busy work is insane. In 2010 most of my work was simply based off of completion but in this class she would nit pick ever mistake and take off points. She also belittled me in class multiple times and did not respect my SDAC accommodations until I failed my first exam. Take this class with Jennifer Hogg or Sara Park NOT Gabriela.

Obviously, this class is a requirement. Coming out of 2010, I was actually really excited about learning Spanish and have since decided to minor. That being said, the Spanish requirements here are a whole lot of work. Connect homework alone can take several hours unless you use the “show correct answers” feature. I really enjoyed Gabriela as a professor for the most part. She is from Peru and a native Spanish speaker, which is really helpful when learning how to speak. I do think she cares about her students, but the SPAN 2020 curriculum is almost completely out of the hands of individual professors’ hands. Because it is so structured, there is a ton of homework and a 95.5 is the minimum for an A, you have to work extremely hard to do well in this class. Gabriela is a harsh grader and will expect you to be putting in effort and participating in class. While she is nice in person and in office hours, she will absolutely slash you in comments on assignments in Canvas. If you are genuinely interested in learning Spanish, take this class with Gabriela. If you want to do as little work as possible and retain no information, I would suggest Sara Park.

I took this class because I had to for my gen ed requirement. I had previously taken IB SL Spanish in high school, and I felt ahead of the game. Gabriela is absolutely amazing and so encouraging. She made a 8am enjoyable. There is some busy work assigned each class, but personally, that really helped solidify what we were learning. There is plenty of opportunity for active participation, and Gabriela never made me feel bad for not knowing something. This class requires you to put forth an effort, but it is not that hard. The class is structured in such a way that as long as you are doing the work throughout the semester, you will pass. Gabriela is the reason why I decided to continue to pursue Spanish past the minimum requirements. If you have to take this class, definitely take it with Gabriela. She is the sweetest person in the world.

I would give her a 0 on everything if I could but since I can't I will stick with a 1. Usually I do not leave negative comments about any professor or comments at all, however, Gabriela is by far one of the worst professors at UVA, which says a lot because most are amazing. She picked on me and numerous classmates so far and is not helpful even when we try. She gives horrible feedback on assignments, and instead of helping me she berated me in private and in public. She is inconsiderate about assignments as she doesn't respect our privacy but would laugh and say "I need to improve" when I would go to her for help. She has made me cry numerous times and made me feel straight up dumb. She is so mean and her feedback isn't constructive, just critical and offers no help but assumes the worst. She tells me to look at the textbook when I go for help in class but she doesn't teach anything in class. The classwork isn't helpful isn't because she doesn't explain the reasoning behind answers and tells us that "the answers depend on the situation" instead of giving tips on how to improve. It is crazy how Gabriela is so quick to tell me I am horrible at spanish but does not offer help and just judges us and makes rude comments in front of the entire class and says things like I'm not doing good in front of everyone. Spanish isn't difficulty, but she makes the class impossible to enjoy or learn in. The class environment is off-putting and scary and everytime I entire her classroom I get filled with anxiety about how she is going to embarrass me today, it is bad to the point even my classmates look at me sadly when she calls me out almost daily.

Gabriela is by far one of the kindest, most fun professors I will ever have at UVA. She has an energetic and humorous aurora to her. She is a native speaker, which is an extremely valuable aspect for a language teacher. The class is a lot of busy work, but it is extremely rewarding. Gabriela requires you to do a one-page, handwritten write-up on bi-weekly articles. Although tedious at first, the write-ups greatly broaden your vocabulary. The exams are very simple and straight forward! If you study the vocab, you automatically get a 70%. The rest is just grammar, which Gabriela drills into your brain. Do the busy work, study the vocabulary, participate in class, and you will have a successful and enjoyable experience.

For reference, I studied up to Spanish 6 in high school, which is about the level that this class ends on, so I can't really comment on the difficulty of the course. This class is structured in way where you have a week of "busywork" (Summarizing and commentating on an article and practicing new concepts online) and then a week dedicated to a Lectura (Reading and Short Response), Redaccion (Essay), and Interracion (a recorded conversation between you and a classmate). It then all leads up to a test (which are only 10% of your grade, in my opinion, they should be weighted more--at least 15%). There's a lot to learn, but, since I've already completed Spanish 6 in HS, I didn't feel like I learned anything new or worthwhile except one new tense and vocabulary words. Out of my 17-credit course load this semester, this class by far, required the most time dedication since the assignments feel unending. I often compare it to a Hydra: finally get one assignment done, two more pop up.

That's more of a critique of UVA's Spanish curriculum than Professor Gabriela. She is really sweet, kind, and understanding. I'd say she does grade somewhat subjectively on participation (I've seen someone whose notably been eager to participate every class somehow get rated poorly on their participation, which left me confused), but overall, it's clear that she wants the best for her students. I would recommend taking SPAN 2020 with Professor Gabriela.