Francisca Aguilo Mora

In this course we improved our ability to speak in Spanish, we read Spanish texts, listened to Spanish, and wrote essays in Spanish after learning vocabulary, about grammer structures and learning more about accents.

4 Unit quizzes, 4 Projects, Participation (HW and Attendance). Sometimes it felt like a lot but she grades generously and it's clear she just wants you to learn and the grade comes as a second thought.

I learned how to conjugate spanish verbs in various tenses, express emotions / likes / dislikes, and provide commentary and perspective on various topics ranging from social issues to feminism to art / culture. Overall, this course helped me become more comfortable in producing and understanding Spanish.

Conditional tense, subjunctive, vocab, grammar

Spanish grammar, reading articles in Spanish and understanding the main idea/key points of these articles, presenting in Spanish

I consider that a useful recommendation would be that in the first part of the course --taught in the previous semester-- there should be a stronger balance between the theory on one side, and the teaching techniques on the other. This, in my opinion, will facilitate putting into practice the new tools learned. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2021 Course: SPPOGR6002_001_2021_3-APracticalApproachtoSecondLanguage : SPPOGR6002_001_2021_3 - A Practical Approach to Second Language Instructor: Francisca Aguilo Mora

I learned how to write and speak better in Spanish. I noticed a lot of improvement in my accentuation.

Please take this Professor Mora!. She is by far the best Spanish instructor at Columbia. There’s genuinely no competition. I am not good at Spanish; in fact, I can barely speak it. But she made class so enjoyable that it never felt intimidating or stressful. She creates such an engaging, low-pressure environment that I actually felt myself learning, even within the short units we had. And on top of that, Professor Mora is just an absolute gem of a person. She always met me where I was, encouraged me to keep trying, and gave feedback that was both kind and genuinely useful. I took a special Intermediate II section focused on climate, and it wasn’t structured like a typical language class. Honestly, this format should be the blueprint for how Columbia teaches languages. It felt less mechanical and more connected to real topics, and I learned things I never would’ve encountered in a standard course. And yes if you’re reading this and thinking, Wow, this person is glazing, you’d be absolutely correct. I am glazing. The class was that good.

Grammar and topics relating to hispanic culture

Subjunctive, future tense, and other grammatical tools. I improved my Spanish speaking and writing