SPAN301 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Maria Srur SPAN301 Anonymous 11/13/2024	I have loved her class so far, she is very helpful and wants her students to help understand Spanish. She is very understanding and I recommend taking a class with her if you can!!
Jorge Bayas SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/29/2024	The class is boring but it was easy enough.
Jorge Bayas SPAN301 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/12/2024	Jorge is a great professor who cares about his students. My class was a little shy in terms of participation, but he still managed to teach us a lot. Most of the work is done before class through Supersite and then reviewed via slides in class. I feel like I learned a lot, but only because I applied myself, went to class and really tried on the online assignments. If you don't go to class, you're going to be lost.
Jorge Bayas SPAN301 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/16/2024	No idea how someone could say that this is a very comprehensive class. He is a lovely person but this class is awful. The amount of times we have to ask for clarification on due dates and assignments because the syllabus differs from the assignment due date differs from the assignment description is way too many. Even when they are clear, not everything is on Canvas so you have to heavily rely on the syllabus and/or the Supersite page. It is also super diff And despite what the syllabus says, you will very rarely actually get time to get work done during class.
Jorge Bayas SPAN301 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/11/2024	I will start off by saying that Jorge is a wonderful person and means well, but is clearly inexperienced and lacks communication. I found myself constantly confused with changing due dates, lack of clarity on assignments, and no real support system in the class. Some assignments were interactive and fun, and when he tries to engage the class it can be more exciting but overall the class was just not very productive or helpful for my overall Spanish learning experience.
Ginette Eldredge SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/22/2024	When you take this class it's really evident that she does want you to succeed and she always emphasizes how much your writing has improved since the beginning of class - and it will if you do take her for 301. That being said, you writing will only improve because you will be doing it CONSTANTLY. You will spend a giant amount of time writing and doing assignments for this class, and you will have to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort. However, she will give you good feedback on all your writing assignments in a pretty short amount of time, so you will undoubtedly improve.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/30/2024	While I'll agree with the other reviews that this professor is funny and engaging, there wasn't much else I could recommend about the course. The participation grading was absolutely ridiculous. I've never received such a low participation grade, especially because I participated out loud in every class and only missed two class periods. The 79% she gave me in participation knocked me down to an 89.5, and she would not budge on that decision. Also, her class made me very afraid to speak out loud in future Spanish courses, as she will not hesitate to make you feel stupid for making a mistake. She also picks very deliberate favorites (those who are already fluent in Spanish) and very rarely calls on anyone else. The homework assignments on supersite were impossible to get an A in, because she'd teach us the material the day AFTER it was due. Overall, I'd probably drop the minor if I had to take a course with her again, but that's my personal experience.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/13/2024	Ana is a great professor. She grades essays leniently, but I will say that participation is graded a little (a lot) harsher. Two participation grades make up 15% of your grade, and talking once per class will NOT get you a 100 on it. If there is an opportunity to share something aloud, take it. For essays, just make sure to read over and look for simple grammar errors and you should be ok!
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/28/2023	Loved this class! She was so nice and the class was not a lot of work. She kept class super interesting and I loved her energy. I would recommend going to office hours for help with your essays and just talking to her because she is such a great person!
Jorge Bayas SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/15/2023	Great teacher, always puts emphasis on studying Spanish and familiarizing yourself with the language. Very comprehensible class.
Ginette Eldredge SPAN301 Expecting a C Anonymous 10/04/2023	She is the literal hardest professor I have ever had in my life. I am a computer science major and I spend almost the same amount of time on this class as my cs classes. Save yourself fr
Tatiana Chi Miranda SPAN301 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/20/2023	Great professor who is very helpful whenever you need help with work. The course is just a bunch of essays and homework. The classes weren't the most relevant at times but they were enjoyable and provided me with a lot of practice to improve my Spanish.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2022	Best Spanish professor ever! Love her energy and keeps the convo going. Also an easy grader. My tip is to complete the supersite assignments ahead of time to get them out of the way instead of doing them the day before they're due. Talk in class though (in Spanish ofc) since she tracks your participation count.
Marcela Risso SPAN301 Anonymous 08/15/2022	I enjoyed Marcela's class. She is kind and since she worked in the healthcare field prior to teaching and lived outside of the US for a considerable amount of time, she is incredibly knowledgeable about the intersectionality between language, politics, and healthcare. The class focuses on grammar and composition, so be prepared to explore technicalities. Marcela does a great job of treating her students like people and encouraged us to relax and have fun because she believes you learn best in a relaxed environment. The only con I have is that most classes she'd go on tangents that while interesting, did not pertain to course material. Personally, I didn't have a problem with them, but I know others might.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/21/2022	Ana is really funny and makes class very interesting (also, she tells everyone to refer to her by her first name!) She's a fairly lenient grader, and genuinely wants everyone to succeed. She's also just generally an incredibly kind person (one of our classmates had a birthday on a day we had class, and Ana bought a tres leches cake for the class) I'd definitely recommend that everyone take her classes.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/22/2021	Overall, Ana was a great professor. I had not taken many spanish classes at UMD before 301, and I was extremely intimidated the first week of classes. However, I stuck it out and it was a great experience. She is very funny, and keeps the class lighthearted and energetic. Like others have said, you should keep on top of your assignments (especially supersite) and be prepared to answer questions in class about them. Every once in a while our assignments would pile up all at once, but otherwise the class was very manageable. Highly recommend.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/12/2021	Ana is hands-down the funniest lecturer in the Spanish department! I had her both for 301 as well as 311. She's a lenient grader, but as others have mentioned she likes to stick to the schedule on the syllabus so it's important that you have done the textbook reading for that day of class. Most important of all she is so much fun to talk to and really wants to help you improve your Spanish!
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2020	Overall, she's an awesome professor. She is very kind and makes class engaging for everyone. As some other reviewers have said, she likes to do this by calling on people randomly. This can be a little annoying but it really does make you pay attention and follow along. She's a fair grader and provides a sentence or two of feedback on literally every assignment. She also grades very quickly compared to some other professors, you'll never have to wait very long for an essay to be graded. My only complaint is that at times her assignments were not spaced out well. We could two days without any work outside of class and then have an essay rough draft, a peer review, and an hour's worth of Supersite activities due on the same day. If you're a procrastinator, this can be a problem.
Ana Claudia Dos Santos Sao Bernardo SPAN301 Expecting an A StrawberryCupcake5 12/18/2019	An awesome professor for this class! Each class mostly consisted of the students talking to each other, going over grammar rules, and practicing using more sophisticated and varied vocabulary. We talked in Spanish the whole time, and Ana was extremely kind, helpful, and laid back. For the homework, we had pretty easy online homework exercises based on the units from the book. There are 4 major essays that are fun to write and a final portfolio (basically analysing mistakes of the essays and correcting them). She was chill and very forgiving; would definitely recommend!
Sarah Dowman SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2019	I was really anxious to take this class because I hadn’t taken Spanish for a couple years, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Dr. Dowman was really enthusiastic about Spanish, and it showed through her interactions with my class. The coursework isn’t bad—you have usually 5-8ish online HW to complete by each class, which is manageable. But occasionally we’ll have 12+ assignments due in one day, so it’s important to schedule it out. Overall, Dr. Dowman is good at communicating her expectations to us, and it’s really easy to ask her questions about our essays (which compose most of the total grade). If you take SPAN301, you won’t regret it!
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A StrawberryCupcake5 11/25/2019	She is an awesome, kind, and very lenient professor. The homework doesn't take much time and is mostly work on the Supersite, improving your knowledge of Spanish grammar, vocabulary, tenses, etc. We wrote four essays total which were not much of a hassle either; they actually were interesting to write. In class, we would talk only in Spanish and mostly with each other. It could be annoying sometimes since some people are there just to slack, and some are there to actually learn. However, Ana was great! I loved how she would include personal stories! Really recommend taking her.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/23/2019	I loved taking her class. This class made me want to get better. Ana is always happy to help and gave me some resources I can use to improve my speaking. She does in fact call on people randomly, but you can raise your hand. Her quizzes are kind of hard though.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/18/2012	Ana was a great teacher. She made it easy for you to understand everything she teaches, and her expectations are very clear. She even gives you the opportunity to turn in all your writing assignments twice and takes the average grade of the two. Her voice reminds me of watching a Spanish soap opera, and I really enjoyed her class.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN301 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2009	Ana's a good professor who will really work with you. Her class is not "easy" but not hard to get an A in. Also, if you mark an answer wrong on a test and think that it could be taken as right, argue the point with her, she will often see your side and give you at least some credit.

Maria Srur
SPAN301

Anonymous
11/13/2024

I have loved her class so far, she is very helpful and wants her students to help understand Spanish. She is very understanding and I recommend taking a class with her if you can!!

Jorge Bayas
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/29/2024

The class is boring but it was easy enough.

Jorge Bayas
SPAN301

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/12/2024

Jorge is a great professor who cares about his students. My class was a little shy in terms of participation, but he still managed to teach us a lot. Most of the work is done before class through Supersite and then reviewed via slides in class. I feel like I learned a lot, but only because I applied myself, went to class and really tried on the online assignments. If you don't go to class, you're going to be lost.

Jorge Bayas
SPAN301

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
04/16/2024

No idea how someone could say that this is a very comprehensive class. He is a lovely person but this class is awful. The amount of times we have to ask for clarification on due dates and assignments because the syllabus differs from the assignment due date differs from the assignment description is way too many. Even when they are clear, not everything is on Canvas so you have to heavily rely on the syllabus and/or the Supersite page. It is also super diff And despite what the syllabus says, you will very rarely actually get time to get work done during class.

Jorge Bayas
SPAN301

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/11/2024

I will start off by saying that Jorge is a wonderful person and means well, but is clearly inexperienced and lacks communication. I found myself constantly confused with changing due dates, lack of clarity on assignments, and no real support system in the class. Some assignments were interactive and fun, and when he tries to engage the class it can be more exciting but overall the class was just not very productive or helpful for my overall Spanish learning experience.

Ginette Eldredge
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/22/2024

When you take this class it's really evident that she does want you to succeed and she always emphasizes how much your writing has improved since the beginning of class - and it will if you do take her for 301. That being said, you writing will only improve because you will be doing it CONSTANTLY. You will spend a giant amount of time writing and doing assignments for this class, and you will have to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort. However, she will give you good feedback on all your writing assignments in a pretty short amount of time, so you will undoubtedly improve.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/30/2024

While I'll agree with the other reviews that this professor is funny and engaging, there wasn't much else I could recommend about the course. The participation grading was absolutely ridiculous. I've never received such a low participation grade, especially because I participated out loud in every class and only missed two class periods. The 79% she gave me in participation knocked me down to an 89.5, and she would not budge on that decision. Also, her class made me very afraid to speak out loud in future Spanish courses, as she will not hesitate to make you feel stupid for making a mistake. She also picks very deliberate favorites (those who are already fluent in Spanish) and very rarely calls on anyone else. The homework assignments on supersite were impossible to get an A in, because she'd teach us the material the day AFTER it was due. Overall, I'd probably drop the minor if I had to take a course with her again, but that's my personal experience.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/13/2024

Ana is a great professor. She grades essays leniently, but I will say that participation is graded a little (a lot) harsher. Two participation grades make up 15% of your grade, and talking once per class will NOT get you a 100 on it. If there is an opportunity to share something aloud, take it. For essays, just make sure to read over and look for simple grammar errors and you should be ok!

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/28/2023

Loved this class! She was so nice and the class was not a lot of work. She kept class super interesting and I loved her energy. I would recommend going to office hours for help with your essays and just talking to her because she is such a great person!

Jorge Bayas
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/15/2023

Great teacher, always puts emphasis on studying Spanish and familiarizing yourself with the language. Very comprehensible class.

Ginette Eldredge
SPAN301

Expecting a C
Anonymous
10/04/2023

She is the literal hardest professor I have ever had in my life. I am a computer science major and I spend almost the same amount of time on this class as my cs classes. Save yourself fr

Tatiana Chi Miranda
SPAN301

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/20/2023

Great professor who is very helpful whenever you need help with work. The course is just a bunch of essays and homework. The classes weren't the most relevant at times but they were enjoyable and provided me with a lot of practice to improve my Spanish.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2022

Best Spanish professor ever! Love her energy and keeps the convo going. Also an easy grader. My tip is to complete the supersite assignments ahead of time to get them out of the way instead of doing them the day before they're due. Talk in class though (in Spanish ofc) since she tracks your participation count.

Marcela Risso
SPAN301

Anonymous
08/15/2022

I enjoyed Marcela's class. She is kind and since she worked in the healthcare field prior to teaching and lived outside of the US for a considerable amount of time, she is incredibly knowledgeable about the intersectionality between language, politics, and healthcare. The class focuses on grammar and composition, so be prepared to explore technicalities. Marcela does a great job of treating her students like people and encouraged us to relax and have fun because she believes you learn best in a relaxed environment. The only con I have is that most classes she'd go on tangents that while interesting, did not pertain to course material. Personally, I didn't have a problem with them, but I know others might.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/21/2022

Ana is really funny and makes class very interesting (also, she tells everyone to refer to her by her first name!) She's a fairly lenient grader, and genuinely wants everyone to succeed. She's also just generally an incredibly kind person (one of our classmates had a birthday on a day we had class, and Ana bought a tres leches cake for the class) I'd definitely recommend that everyone take her classes.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/22/2021

Overall, Ana was a great professor. I had not taken many spanish classes at UMD before 301, and I was extremely intimidated the first week of classes. However, I stuck it out and it was a great experience. She is very funny, and keeps the class lighthearted and energetic. Like others have said, you should keep on top of your assignments (especially supersite) and be prepared to answer questions in class about them. Every once in a while our assignments would pile up all at once, but otherwise the class was very manageable. Highly recommend.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/12/2021

Ana is hands-down the funniest lecturer in the Spanish department! I had her both for 301 as well as 311. She's a lenient grader, but as others have mentioned she likes to stick to the schedule on the syllabus so it's important that you have done the textbook reading for that day of class. Most important of all she is so much fun to talk to and really wants to help you improve your Spanish!

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/26/2020

Overall, she's an awesome professor. She is very kind and makes class engaging for everyone. As some other reviewers have said, she likes to do this by calling on people randomly. This can be a little annoying but it really does make you pay attention and follow along. She's a fair grader and provides a sentence or two of feedback on literally every assignment. She also grades very quickly compared to some other professors, you'll never have to wait very long for an essay to be graded. My only complaint is that at times her assignments were not spaced out well. We could two days without any work outside of class and then have an essay rough draft, a peer review, and an hour's worth of Supersite activities due on the same day. If you're a procrastinator, this can be a problem.

Ana Claudia Dos Santos Sao Bernardo
SPAN301

Expecting an A
StrawberryCupcake5
12/18/2019

An awesome professor for this class! Each class mostly consisted of the students talking to each other, going over grammar rules, and practicing using more sophisticated and varied vocabulary. We talked in Spanish the whole time, and Ana was extremely kind, helpful, and laid back. For the homework, we had pretty easy online homework exercises based on the units from the book. There are 4 major essays that are fun to write and a final portfolio (basically analysing mistakes of the essays and correcting them). She was chill and very forgiving; would definitely recommend!

Sarah Dowman
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2019

I was really anxious to take this class because I hadn’t taken Spanish for a couple years, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Dr. Dowman was really enthusiastic about Spanish, and it showed through her interactions with my class. The coursework isn’t bad—you have usually 5-8ish online HW to complete by each class, which is manageable. But occasionally we’ll have 12+ assignments due in one day, so it’s important to schedule it out. Overall, Dr. Dowman is good at communicating her expectations to us, and it’s really easy to ask her questions about our essays (which compose most of the total grade). If you take SPAN301, you won’t regret it!

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
StrawberryCupcake5
11/25/2019

She is an awesome, kind, and very lenient professor. The homework doesn't take much time and is mostly work on the Supersite, improving your knowledge of Spanish grammar, vocabulary, tenses, etc. We wrote four essays total which were not much of a hassle either; they actually were interesting to write. In class, we would talk only in Spanish and mostly with each other. It could be annoying sometimes since some people are there just to slack, and some are there to actually learn. However, Ana was great! I loved how she would include personal stories! Really recommend taking her.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/23/2019

I loved taking her class. This class made me want to get better. Ana is always happy to help and gave me some resources I can use to improve my speaking. She does in fact call on people randomly, but you can raise your hand. Her quizzes are kind of hard though.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/18/2012

Ana was a great teacher. She made it easy for you to understand everything she teaches, and her expectations are very clear. She even gives you the opportunity to turn in all your writing assignments twice and takes the average grade of the two. Her voice reminds me of watching a Spanish soap opera, and I really enjoyed her class.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN301

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2009

Ana's a good professor who will really work with you. Her class is not "easy" but not hard to get an A in. Also, if you mark an answer wrong on a test and think that it could be taken as right, argue the point with her, she will often see your side and give you at least some credit.

Reviews for SPAN301