[SPAN C1202] Intermediate Spanish II

The positive review on the top of this page was written by the professor. This was the most atrocious semester we as students ever endured. Class is very disorganized. It is not possible to learn by listening, since we never get a chance to listen to anything other than arguments started by one student to another to another, to the teacher, back to the student. It is not a good way to spend your time. Try enrolling in a class that is taught by a person exhibiting some leadership and organizational ability. Please do not read any reviews that are positive. They were all written by the professor. We know this, since she stated this in class. Really bad decision to enroll here.

Before choosing Guada as my Spanish teacher, I had read many glowing reviews about her. Sad to say, I was very underwhelmed by her teaching ability. She definitely encourages class participation; however, my class was not very loquacious so she gave up pretty easily. She also teaches straight out of Gente which is by far the worst Spanish textbook I have ever laid my eyes on! The exercises are rather pointless and repetitive and they do not facilitate learning the grammar or the vocabulary. With regards to deadlines, she is extremely lax which is pretty nice; however, she does assign random little assignments in class which are mentioned last minute which no one understands what they are. The homework is really easy (3 chapters of Gente Red and Blue books, 3 movie assignments, and a couple random packets); however, she is very unclear when certain assignments are due which is extremely frustrating.

Overall, it does not seem like she really cared about the course. In the middle of the term, we had two substitutes teach while she was away, Jose Campanillo and Francisco Varo Rosales. Sad but true, I learned more in those two lectures than I did the entire semester when she was teaching!!!

Guada is a great teacher! She has a very good castellano pronunciation and is quite active. Wants everyone in the class to participate. The class focuses heavily on speaking and conversation but there are also written assignments. She is pretty relaxed about deadlines..you can practically give in all the stuff on the last day..but you´d better try to keep up. You will learn a lot not only about grammar and vocabulary but also about Latin America, the history and culture of Spain..The level though is advanced I'd say..she is available and happy to help anyone who needs extra assistance. Overall, the class is fun.I enjoyed it very much

I just want to say that all the negative reviews below are fairly accurate.
She is not a qualified spanish instructor, period.
She doesn't explain, and doesn't know how to explain, any, and all aspects of the fundamentals of spanish grammar, either in the colloquial/vernacular sense, nor in the formal/written. She rarely converses in spanish.

Grading is rarely based on performance on a test/exam, but on whether the teacher thinks you like her or not. This usually works, since on written portions of exams, she can literally alter the grade down enough for the objective portions (multiple choice) to get compromised, regardless of performance on the exam as a whole.

Let's just say she is an unorthodox teacher, with a fairly weird way of going about grading/teaching/organizing class time and the class syllabus. The only problem is that students shouldn't have to get caught up in this type of class. If there is any purpose for culpa reviews, it shouldn't just be to assail and warn you of horrible, horrible wackos, and vice versa for good teachers, but to inform the reader of what they are getting themselves into. When I say don't sign up for this class, please, please, don't do it. It's not ok to say, well, you just want to try it out to see what these reviews are about, or, to say, well, there aren't any other sections of the class which fit your schedule. In all honesty, if this is the case, don't even take spanish! You came to Columbia, you are in an Ivy, a prominent one at that, you are paying 55 grand a year to come here, and I'd be damned if another student gets caught up in a class which reminds you of being back in a public middleschool, with the worst middle-school teacher on campus! Don't sign up for this class, period!

Honestly my favorite professor I've had at Columbia!

Professor Vila is unbelievably nice and funny and approachable, and the whole class consists of group discussion and exercises. The only homework is a 1-page composition each week. All the grammar exercises are just done in class, and the three presentations we had to give throughout the semester were all really simple and laid-back, and they were done in groups.

I really feel like I learned more from this class than I have from any other Spanish class where I had to do pages of grammar exercises and vocab at home. Vila organizes the class so you can learn without really realizing you're learning. When the midterm and final rolled around, I realized that I had learned all the concepts through the group discussions without noticing.

Intermediate II was the only Spanish class I had to take, and I was dreading it, but I actually ended up loving it. This is the only class I've ever actually looked forward to going to, and now I wish I had more Spanish classes to take with Professor Vila.

The one piece of advice I have: if you don't already have it, DON'T go out and buy the workbook and grammar book for this class. You will not need it. I wish someone had told me that before I bought it.

Professor Craig-Florez was one of the nicest professors I've had, but also one of the most ineffective. Everything she did was simply regurgitated from the the textbook. If participation wasn't such a big part of the grade I probably would not have bothered to go to class. If you want an easy grade and are just trying to get through the language requirement I highly recommend Craig-Florez, however, if you actually would like to learn Spanish, I suggest finding another professor.

Guada is good. It must suck to have to teach beginning language courses but she manages with grace. She doesn't hound you about homework anything like that. Turn it in when you want, but just do it in the end. Her main focus is talking in small groups and pairs which I thought really helped. You do have to learn most of your grammar on your own, but that's the trade off. Classes are usually pretty fun. I'd recommend her/ take her again.

Xavi is AMAZING! I absolutely loved his class, and that saying a lot considering I was in Spanish until 7 on Fridays. He is amazingly engaging and truly dedicated to making sure that his students understand (and can think in) Spanish. He makes a point of saying that he hates grammar, and wants us to move beyond simply memorizing rules.
I've already recommended him to all of my friends. He is the best Spanish professor I've ever had, Barnard needs to keep him around.
Intermediate 2 got a bit intense after the midterm because a ton of new grammar rules and tenses were thrown at us out of nowhere, but Xavi did a really good job at relating the info to real life situations.

I can't say it enough...TAKE A CLASS WITH THIS MAN!

Wow. Just Wow.
This has got to be by far the worst class i have ever taken. She is not a native speaker of the spanish language, and she is not even fluent. Wow.
Please save yourself and choose someone else. I am still kicking my foot for not switching out before the drop deadline. I guess i thought i might give her a chance after assuming she needed time to feel more comfortable. How wrong i was.
All you do in class is go around in a circle answering the homework questions from the night before. It is absurdly tedious and annoying to cooperate under this sub-highschool standard classroom environment. You feel like you are back in middle-school. How much can you actually learn going around in a circle spitting out what you already wrote on a paper the night before. Class is an absurd waste of time, and it doesnt quite make sense how if you are late to them, your grade goes down. Your grade is based on whether or not your voice in class sounds enthusiastic when it's your turn to talk. She has a false idea about what it takes to learn a language, and firmly believes that it has to do with how good you are at faking a spanish accent, as opposed to what words come out of your mouth. Figure this out for yourself if you wish, because the only students with a decent grade will be the ones who speak with fervor, and act as superficially spanish as possible (nothing wrong with this! They are good fakers, that's all, and i'm just saying that this ability shouldn't be why they get A's!)
I don't mean to be rude, but, spanish students, beware!

Xavi Llovet Vila is not to be confused with Xavier Vila who also teaches Intermediate Spanish II.

Xavi was the best teacher ever. He has so much energy and is so passionate about the language that every class was incredibly engaging and fun. He also has an amazingly dorky yet charming laugh that will blow your mind! I don't plan on being a Hispanic Studies major, but Xavi's class was by far my favorite class of the semester. I can't even begin to describe how awesome he is... Xavi presents the material in a clear manner and is always patient with questions. He likes it when his students participate, which isn't a problem because he makes it so easy to do so.

From talking to friends in other classes, Xavi's grading seemed to be a bit harder than that of other spanish teachers. Perfect scores are very difficult to get on the compositions or other work we do. However, this should not deter you from taking spanish with Xavi. You can easily get an A if you devote some time and effort into the class. Don't half-ass your final project. It's not difficult at all...

oh btw.. Xavi is hott (with two T's)

I took Intermediate I in the Spring with Francisco and really loved it so stayed in his Intermediate II class for the fall. One of the nicest professor's I've met at Columbia - and one who genuinely loves teaching. Encourages activities in pairs, and is never stern. The work seems like a lot sometimes, but it's fairly standard for the Spanish courses and he is very helpful with in-class assignments that help for the essays and his grading is more generous than fair. He will do everythign he can to help you. Both semesters with him were light-hearted and fun so much so that goiung to class was a pleasure, and I hope to take something else with him in the future.

Raquel is pretty crazy, but I liked her.

IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET INTO A SPANISH SECTION AND SHE IS THE TEACHER, DO NOT DROP IT BECAUSE OF ANY OTHER CULPA REVIEWS.

She definitely has “favorites” of some sort… but getting on her “good side” basically just involves enjoying her class. This includes doing the homework, participating in class, submitting to her completely bizarre system wholeheartedly, and enjoying the language.

Many previous reviewers have mentioned this “bizarre system” as well, but not elaborated much. A typical day of class can generally be expected to include: 95 seconds of reviewing homework during the very beginning of class (sometimes she finishes going over it before I can even find mine), paired conversation prompted by questions on little bits of paper, grammar lessons using either Paris Hilton, PrezBo, various drugs, sex, and Adderall as nouns, conversation based on current events, and other random things.

I was never totally sure of what was going on because although class always seemed to be busily filled with work, we covered an amazingly tiny amount of material (this is due to the department rather than Raquel). The class was also strange because the very few things we “learned” were all obscure grammar lessons that nearly no one uses in real-life conversation. At the same time, however, Raquel highly discourages learning new vocabulary as a way to improve one’s language prowess. Instead, she encourages using the Spanish you already know to convey your thoughts, or to even change your thoughts to suit what you CAN say.

I placed into this class as a freshman, and my Spanish was decent enough to have probably exempted from my requirement. I was lucky to squeeze into a Spanish Intermediate II section, though, so I just decided to give it a try. I stuck with her, so apparently I enjoyed it? Raquel’s craziness aside, my confidence with speaking Spanish, my enjoyment of the language, and my ability to speak practically have all improved dramatically. Take the jump.

Also, you have to be in the very middle to upper range of the exemption test results for her to accept you. She rejected a fair number of people the first day because they just made it into Int II. Also, she is terrifying the first day and half the people left. Then the next class she was suddenly fun and hilarious.

Profesor Diez seems like the funniest, kindest, most caring professor you could ask for. She always comes to class with a bright smile on her face and with juicy gossip and news stories from around the world. Though she is an excellent professor, she is also extremely dogmatic and critical of other people's opinions. If she disagrees with something you say, she will hound you relentlessly about it. I understand that she expects only the best from her students and that she is trying to combat the laziness with which people approach her class, but the standards that she will hold you to are entirely harsh. Her demeanor in class does not reflect the severity of her grading system nor her attitude towards you, your work, or your effort. If you tell her you forgot your book at home, she will tell you "it's ok, it doesn't matter, whatever" and smile, and then mercilessly punish you later for your lack of preparedness in class. Maybe I'm being a little hyperbolic, but sometimes it truly seems as if she's teaching just to get a kick out of humiliating her students.

Best Spanish teacher I've ever had, hands down. She is from spain but speaks english fluently so for the tough stuff, she can clarify in english to help make sense of everything. Reyes is bubbly and fun, and all she wants is for her students to get better at Spanish, have a good time doing it, and interact with eachother. She doesn't grade the workbook work, but its worth doing before a midterm and final for practice. For the required essays, she gives corrections unlike other professors in the course. Because she is incredibly accessible, she will meet during office hours or another scheduled time to review your newly corrected paper, and then let you turn in this twice revised paper for a grade. If that's not fair I don't know what is. She also stresses participation, and rewards people for participating with a participation grade worth 20% and gvies extra credit points (a kid in my class got a 21/20 for participation). She gives A+'s! I've never learned so much from a spanish teacher either in high school or at Columbia!

Great professor. Very nice lady, extremely accomodating. Very generous with turning in late work, tardies, and absenses. Good teacher! i probably should have failed this course, but i got a B-. The only thing i would be cautious about is her FREQUENT worksheets and excercises almost each class, they are not graded but they do count towards participation. these exercises included everything from grammar worksheets to reading poetry and even renting and watching spanish movies. the group project is easy, interview someone from a spanish speaking country, and make a powerpoint about the interview and basic wikipedia info about the country.

This class would frustrate me at times, but ultimately I would recommend Professor Jimenez-Caicedo. Since this is the last semester of the Spanish language requirement, I think that there were many people in my class who were there only for that reason and didn’t really care about learning the language. This was a little disappointing, and dampened some of his efforts to engage the class in small group discussions. But that’s what you get with Int. II.

In terms of material, I learned much more in any of my high school Spanish classes. Here, we hardly learned new vocabulary and we only reviewed the subjunctive. (Thankfully we were just reviewing, because I didn’t find his grammar explanations to be very straightforward.) However, we had many opportunities to practice the language we already knew- from class discussions to interesting, argumentative paper assignments. The class was heavily discussion-based with very little lecturing. Group discussions and activities (such as “charlemos”- free-form chatting in Spanish with a partner based on one or two questions) took up most of class time. Also, blog entries and movies we watched in class relating to current events and issues Latin America were interesting. Throughout all this, Professor Jimenez-Caicedo is very approachable and understanding. Overall, he is interested in his students ideas and encourages the expression of these ideas rather than meticulous grammatical perfection.

If you are thinking about taking a class with Professor Jimenez-Caicedo, you DEFINITELY should!

First of all, he is very friendly and supportive. He lets you actually talk in Spanish and express yourself without stopping you every other word to correct you (although he will give subtle corrections, but not to the point of being annoying or condescending). He has a very good sense of humor too.

One of the best things about Prof. Jimenez-Caicedo is that actually explains why you need to use certain verb tenses or grammar point, and how the meaning of what you say actually can change a lot based on which verb tense you use. His explanations made things so much easier to understand!

My only critique would be that Prof. Jimenez-Caicedo is sometimes a little slow handing back assignments. But in his defense he did have three sections of this class (that's about 60 students), which is a lot.

I am deeply indebted to Profesora Aguilar. Without her, I would never have been able to woo the Spanish hotties like I did while visiting Madrid this summer. For me, her grammatical worksheets translated into a Latina lovefest.

I took Spanish Intermediate II with Profesora Aguilar, and I learned a ton. I recommend taking her class if you really care about learning the language, because she will teach you. If you're just satisfying the language requirement, find someone else. She has a very thorough understanding of Spanish, English, and apparently several other languages, and she had excellent explanations for all of my questions. She will repeat the key concepts until the class understands it, but don't expect her to be happy about repeating things if it takes you longer than it should. Do her assignments and you'll be fine.

She likes to bring cultural elements into the class, which I thought made it much more interesting. She's very interesting to talk to, and it will help you to do so in her office hours.

I had a really easy and nice Spanish professor last semester, but didn't learn much so I thought I'd challenge myself by taking Perla's class. Boy was I WRONG. Not only am I still not learning anything, my grade is suffering as well. Whatever you do, do not take this class. She is worse than any professor I even had in public high school in Los Angeles, and that's saying A LOT.

You will not learn Spanish because she goes so quickly, never speaks English (even when teaching a grammatical concept) and only goes over exercises and never actually teaches anything. She assigns an unreasonable amount of work. She plays total favorites and expects us to know Spanish without actually teaching it. She is a ridiculously hard grader, she will give you a B on a paper and after you make the corrections she suggests, only gives you a B+.

I don’t entirely regret taking Rayo’s class but wouldn’t do it again or recommend it. I realized afterward that I did well because she’s not very demanding, so I didn’t learn as much as I should have. She’s also a little creepy but perfectly nice.

Xavier was very down to earth and always flexible with due dates. His infectious mood and sense of humor brightened my spirits every time I came to class. Class time was usually fun and social.

Know that this is not the most rigorous of Spanish classes and you will not be doing a lot of grammar exercises for homework. Xavier's learning philosophy is that writing and speaking are the best way to assimilate the language, not endlessly writing out verbs.

Roxanna is sooo nice. I took her for both Int. I and II because she made the class comfortable and explained tenses and concepts. The workload is typical of other spanish classes but as a professor she is extremely accessible and genuinely cares. I would definitely recommend her.

Professor Romero is a really nice woman, but being in her class always made me feel a little nervous. She always called on students before they even had a chance to volunteer to answer a question. If you take her class, be sure to raise your hand before she has a chance to call any names that way you won't be caught off guard. Overall, her class wasn't too difficult. There is a decent amount of work, but she's a fair grader. She is extremely enthusiastic about teaching Spanish and doesn't waste a second of class. She's also really helpful outside of class and responds very quickly to e-mails. She moves pretty fast during class with her power-point presentations so make sure you pay attention. Also, make sure you participate a lot in class. She loves it when people in class start discussions and express their opinions about different topics.

I love Raquel. Having class with her is exciting and you learn a lot. If you are over-sensitive than don't take this class, because she is not one to take nonsense. She is always willing to help and keeps the class working hard to learn, but is also understanding about absences, extensions, etc. Really great instructor and lovely person.

Francisco is an incredible teacher. Academically, he challenges his students to improve their grammar, indulge in creative writing, as well as speak frequently. This class reviewed some concepts I already studied, but Francisco reintroduced them in a different way. We discussed a huge variety issues, through watching many movies, and by addressing world issues. Francisco makes clear that just because he is your teacher doesn't mean he can't learn from you as well. He is funny, kind, and unbelievably understanding. All in all, he was my favorite teacher last semester, and my favorite Spanish teacher I've ever had. Do it!

I didn't know what to expect from a college level Spanish course, but Sooudi was a very nice teacher. If you have a MWF class, she does do her quizzes on every other Friday—making Thursday night partying usually not happening so you can memorize those vocabulary words. I didn't find the courseworks that challenging, but I think it was because it was stuff I did in high school. Class was often boring and tiring, but I think Sooudi was kind enough to understand. She was extremely open to meeting with people about tests and quizzes or additional help.

Senora Rayo is a generous grader - getting an A is not too difficult. However, she does not enforce the speaking of spanish in her class. Given that this is the last semester of spanish in which students are to be learning grammar, not speaking spanish in class poses a big problem. Also, only 2 days of class in the semester we dedicated to discussing the spanish language. If you want to perfect your spanish, this is certainly not the right class for you. Easy A? It's nce, but not worth it.

Francisco is awesome. He is such a sweet heart and really wants everyone in his class to do well. He is from Spain and speaks with the lisp, but he is very easy to understand and constantly asking if you understand. All the work is manageable, though it definitely increased in amount at the end. I'm not sure if I improved in my Spanish immensely, but there was a lot of speaking and writing which was nice. A really great guy and really understanding if you need extensions.

Strange, sweet lady (but can be a little condescending at times). Will not teach you a lick of spanish, but will sit and entertain you with poetry, movies, and theater. Great class if you don't care about learning Spanish and just want to get your language requirement overwith. If you are at all interested in the aforementioned, AVOID THIS CLASS! My Spanish is worse for it. That said, the class definitely had its memorable moments. Nobody will let you get away with as much silliness as Rayo (in both classroom activities and presentations) - she gets a kick out of it. Also, she is an extremely generous grader, especially on your overall grade. Spanish with Rayo is an experience, but not necessarily an educational one.

Perla was absolutely terrible--our whole class complained about her every single day. She ran out of time and we ended up doing the last chapter in 2 days. She is extremely disorganized, and she picks favorites (those who speak Spanish fluently already) and least-favorites. She picked really hard on her least-favorites. The kids just looked so sad after each class.

I know she has a decent review, but if you are taking this class just to satisfy a requirement (as almost all of my entirely unhappy class was) find someone FUN!

Prof. Rodas is great. She knows her stuff and makes you want to learn Spanish. Class is fun. She really likes it when people participate and you can ask her any question.
She does expect a lot from you. For 2 of the papers you submit rough drafts so you have a chance to make your final draft better but she is a tough grader. Her tests are also hard. Be sure to know the literature that you are reading because she tests the grammar through the stories you read. Overall, she is a joy to be around.

Professor Rodas is great. She is the perfect Spanish professor. I am by no estimation good in Spanish, but her warm words coupled with her enthusiasm made me feel more confident and more willing to participate in this class. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to people looking to painlessly fulfill the language requirement. Hey-- you never know, you might even have some fun.

As someone who was not thrilled about fulfilling my language requirement, Guada came as a blessing - by the end of her class, I actually enjoyed Spanish. She leads engaging discussions in class and is incredibly helpful during her office hours. Sometimes the instructions she gives in class concerning assignments are a little unclear, but if you are confused, she's willing to clarify things after class. Basically, if you put the time in and show here that you care by actively participating in class, asking questions, and attending office hours, it will pay off in the end.