SPAN 2020

Honestly, Prof Benjamín Romero frustrated me at the beginning of the course. I was used to spanish professors who explained grammar concepts almost exactly how the book explains them, but Prof Romero is from Spain so he had a natural knowledge of the language and I didn't fully understand all of his explanations. However, my opinion changed once I realized that my way of learning spanish drastically limited my ability to gain fluency in the language. His explanations allowed me to use new grammar forms without overthinking, which is what I usually tend to do. My main complaint with SPAN 2020 is the sheer amount of busywork that we have to do. Even though you aren't tested on any of the culture readings or E-Portfolio submissions, you still have to complete these extensive assignments in order to get the minimum A. However, Prof Romero made these assignments more bearable because he placed more emphasis on grasping the material; we still had to do the E-Portfolio, but it was nice to know that our professor wasn't obsessed with this busywork. I would recommend Prof Romero for SPAN 2020!

Span gen ED at UVA sucks, so if you tested into 2020 I would advise you to pick another language tbh. The more obscure languages honestly grade much more generously than the common ones. BUT...

Benjamin was definitely a chill guy to take it with. I honestly liked him a lot. He won't cold call on you like most Spanish professors, but does grade participation. He graded super generously. I hated the class, but it 100% wasn't his fault. Lingolearning is terrible, but Benny is my guy. Take it with him if you have to fulfill the req if it has to be Spanish.