SPAN311 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/13/2025	I had Ana last semester and her overly political attitude in the class irked me, but this semester she really grew on me a lot. SPAN311 is extremely easy with her. There's basically no work outside of class, save for 6 video blogs and 5 essays through the semester. The video blogs are max around 8 mins log, and they shouldn't take you more than a couple takes to get it right. The essays are 500 words, but it's easy to get an A+ on them as long as you speak your mind and give her a unique and thoughtful perspective. She is honestly very sweet and wants everyone to succeed. For practice, I would attend her office hours weekly just to chit chat with her, which drastically improved my Spanish-speaking ability. Although she is quite political, she is honestly very open minded, so don't let that scare you into thinking that your essays will be graded based on whether they fit her opinions.
Ginette Eldredge SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/22/2025	The other reviewers are right- she does assign a lot of assignments BUT that is in part because she usually assigns multiple for the week at the same time. If you look ahead and space them out a little they are much more manageable. Even though some of the assignments may seeming daunting (paper, recorded speech), she is a very easy grader as long as you stay on topic and try your best. Instead of exams/final, she had interviews where we just chatted like friends. I was a little shy for the first one, but I still scored well. There's a lot of talking in this class, which makes sense, but that also helps you with Spanish. This class does what it says it will, and even though I didn't love all of the assignments, my Spanish improved significantly and her feedback made a massive difference.
Ginette Eldredge SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2024	The comments below are correct in that Dr. Eldredge assigns a lot of time-consuming assignments that oftentimes take hours to complete. However, if you want to be proficient in Spanish, you SHOULD spend the time and effort on the assignments. The Spanish department does not exist so that you can get an easy A without some effort. It exists to help students acquire fluency. If you aren't serious about improving your language skills, you should avoid taking any Spanish class in the 300s level. If you truly care about becoming fluent, I HIGHLY suggest taking Dr. Eldredge. Because of this class and Dr. Eldredge's feedback, my writing has improved immensely, as well as my pronunciation and vocabulary. The professor also effectively creates a warm and comforting environment in the classroom, allowing every student to participate and improve their skills. Assignments consisted of videoblogs, essays with a minimum word count of 500, grammar homework graded on completion, and a few in class presentations (that really only took 15-20 minutes to prepare).
Chris Lewis SPAN311 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/08/2024	Amazing professor. Amazing class. Thats all that needs to be said.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/03/2024	Garcia is a nice teacher. Class is always fun and Garcia will correct your small errors without stopping you completely (sometimes). However, the grading is a little harsh at times. You can receive a very low grade on the videoblogs and essays for only not using a few new vocab words. However, it is a good class and I enjoyed it.
Andres Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/29/2023	Garcia is a great professor, includes every student in the class. The class is heavily discussion based (although in an informal setting for the majority of the time), so students learn to improve their Spanish speaking with little risk. Workload is very manageable. Friendly and approachable guy - strongly recommend him for anyone taking SPAN311.
Daniela Hernandez SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2022	Daniela is one of the sweetest Spanish teachers at UMD. Her class was super interesting and consisted of a lot of small group talk during class which really made it a low stress class. It was also a great way to actually practice speaking the language -- I feel like so many other Spanish classes don't allow you to consistently practice speaking. There were a few mini essays throughout the course (2-3 pages) and some grammar homeworks. The midterm and final exam were actually one-on-one "interviews" with Daniela and, while a little nerve-racking, they were actually super relaxed because Daniela genuinely wants you to success and she's super approachable. DEFINITELY take a class with Daniela at some point if you can!!!
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/21/2022	Class is easy. She picks favorites though and it's so obvious. Take her for this class 100% bc she makes it super funny.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2021	Ana is hilarious and she really does make the class interesting. Participation is key to success in this class.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2020	Ana is so great! She's funny and helps all students regardless of their abilities. I really feel like this course helped me get better with speaking and I felt more confident speaking in front of classmates.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A+ vdawg 12/31/2007	311 was an exceptionally fun syllabus, so I'm sure it would be easy with any teacher, but Ana's nice enough, and grades very leniently. Unfortunately she does have favorites, so it really helps if you can make a positive impression in the first week or so of class. Also, she'll sometimes "pick on" people for no apparent reason.
Ana Acedo Garcia SPAN311 Expecting an A anneymarie 11/09/2007	I had her for both SPAN302 and SPAN311. She's a nice teacher and fair grader. She's got a good sense of humor and doesn't overwork you.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/13/2025

I had Ana last semester and her overly political attitude in the class irked me, but this semester she really grew on me a lot. SPAN311 is extremely easy with her. There's basically no work outside of class, save for 6 video blogs and 5 essays through the semester. The video blogs are max around 8 mins log, and they shouldn't take you more than a couple takes to get it right. The essays are 500 words, but it's easy to get an A+ on them as long as you speak your mind and give her a unique and thoughtful perspective. She is honestly very sweet and wants everyone to succeed. For practice, I would attend her office hours weekly just to chit chat with her, which drastically improved my Spanish-speaking ability. Although she is quite political, she is honestly very open minded, so don't let that scare you into thinking that your essays will be graded based on whether they fit her opinions.

Ginette Eldredge
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/22/2025

The other reviewers are right- she does assign a lot of assignments BUT that is in part because she usually assigns multiple for the week at the same time. If you look ahead and space them out a little they are much more manageable. Even though some of the assignments may seeming daunting (paper, recorded speech), she is a very easy grader as long as you stay on topic and try your best. Instead of exams/final, she had interviews where we just chatted like friends. I was a little shy for the first one, but I still scored well. There's a lot of talking in this class, which makes sense, but that also helps you with Spanish. This class does what it says it will, and even though I didn't love all of the assignments, my Spanish improved significantly and her feedback made a massive difference.

Ginette Eldredge
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2024

The comments below are correct in that Dr. Eldredge assigns a lot of time-consuming assignments that oftentimes take hours to complete. However, if you want to be proficient in Spanish, you SHOULD spend the time and effort on the assignments. The Spanish department does not exist so that you can get an easy A without some effort. It exists to help students acquire fluency. If you aren't serious about improving your language skills, you should avoid taking any Spanish class in the 300s level. If you truly care about becoming fluent, I HIGHLY suggest taking Dr. Eldredge. Because of this class and Dr. Eldredge's feedback, my writing has improved immensely, as well as my pronunciation and vocabulary. The professor also effectively creates a warm and comforting environment in the classroom, allowing every student to participate and improve their skills. Assignments consisted of videoblogs, essays with a minimum word count of 500, grammar homework graded on completion, and a few in class presentations (that really only took 15-20 minutes to prepare).

Chris Lewis
SPAN311

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/08/2024

Amazing professor. Amazing class. Thats all that needs to be said.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/03/2024

Garcia is a nice teacher. Class is always fun and Garcia will correct your small errors without stopping you completely (sometimes). However, the grading is a little harsh at times. You can receive a very low grade on the videoblogs and essays for only not using a few new vocab words. However, it is a good class and I enjoyed it.

Andres Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/29/2023

Garcia is a great professor, includes every student in the class. The class is heavily discussion based (although in an informal setting for the majority of the time), so students learn to improve their Spanish speaking with little risk. Workload is very manageable. Friendly and approachable guy - strongly recommend him for anyone taking SPAN311.

Daniela Hernandez
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2022

Daniela is one of the sweetest Spanish teachers at UMD. Her class was super interesting and consisted of a lot of small group talk during class which really made it a low stress class. It was also a great way to actually practice speaking the language -- I feel like so many other Spanish classes don't allow you to consistently practice speaking. There were a few mini essays throughout the course (2-3 pages) and some grammar homeworks. The midterm and final exam were actually one-on-one "interviews" with Daniela and, while a little nerve-racking, they were actually super relaxed because Daniela genuinely wants you to success and she's super approachable. DEFINITELY take a class with Daniela at some point if you can!!!

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/21/2022

Class is easy. She picks favorites though and it's so obvious. Take her for this class 100% bc she makes it super funny.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/19/2021

Ana is hilarious and she really does make the class interesting. Participation is key to success in this class.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/07/2020

Ana is so great! She's funny and helps all students regardless of their abilities. I really feel like this course helped me get better with speaking and I felt more confident speaking in front of classmates.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A+
vdawg
12/31/2007

311 was an exceptionally fun syllabus, so I'm sure it would be easy with any teacher, but Ana's nice enough, and grades very leniently. Unfortunately she does have favorites, so it really helps if you can make a positive impression in the first week or so of class. Also, she'll sometimes "pick on" people for no apparent reason.

Ana Acedo Garcia
SPAN311

Expecting an A
anneymarie
11/09/2007

I had her for both SPAN302 and SPAN311. She's a nice teacher and fair grader. She's got a good sense of humor and doesn't overwork you.

Reviews for SPAN311