Jose Hernandez

Pepe is a terrible teacher. he admitted to us on the first day of class that he had no syllabus, no lesson plan, not even a theme for the semester. he ended up choosing bullfighting, and so we spent the first two months reading outdated (like from the 1950s) articles on the beauty and art and history of bullfighting, and then listening to pepe talk about his life in spain, and how he is the best and most qualified professor in the spanish department (he got a little riled up one class and started screaming at us about his overqualifications...) then we did the midterm "anonymous" reviews, and all six of us (yes, there were only six students in the class) asked for more structure and grammar, so we were then assigned grammar excercises from a book on reserve at butler that we had to check out and photocopy for each class (because the homework was only given one class ahead of time). the entire class time was then spent on correcting the grammar exercises. towards the end of the term, he announced that we we spend some time discussing illegal immigration...in spain. this consisted of watching the first ten minutes of a movie about a moor crossing the straits of gibraltar. And compositions? yes we wrote them. all he did was correct grammar and spelling, never any actual feedback on writing or content. he spent a lot of time complaining about how students spoke and wrote spanish t…

Pepe was really fun. While admittedly not the best spanish teacher, he was really understanding when it came to grading. Because the class covers so much material soo fast (it's comprehensive!!) it can get kind of hectic, but if you didn't understand something, Pepe would try his best to help you out. Everyone gets called on to speak in class, and you have to take the class for a grade: no pass/fail. You also can't be TOO good at spanish, because he thinks that intimidates the other students and will make you register for a higher level. All in all, if your class is taught by Pepe, you're pretty lucky (especially because he'll let you throw an end of the year fiesta and he'll sing to you...)

Pepe, contrary to popular beliefe, was the absolute man. Sure he is sort of a disgruntled old man but after you get over the initial "what is going on" and "what is this guy talking about" phases, you will love him. I have never learned more in one semester about grammar, writing style, critical reading, and any other litarary analysis skill, most notably actually reading litarary criticism from Butler than from Pepe. So, just sort of ignore his grumpiness right off the bat and you will learn to love his quirks, including fabulous stories of his life, his absurd sense of humor, and of course, his rediculous comments about Barnard. I highly reccomend this man.

Good things about Professor Hernandez: 1. He speaks fluent Castillian Spanish. 2. He returns tests and papers on time. 3. He goes through the book at a regular pace. 4. He tells jokes during the first several weeks. 5. He is an easy grader. 6. If you stick with this class, you will eventually have a very small class size as more and more people drop out. We began with close to twenty students, and ended with about half that number. Bad things about Professor Hernandez: 1. He calls on the students with a better grasp of the material more often. I don't think he does this on purpose. Rather, he wants the class to move quickly, so he begins to favor those students who keep the class moving quickly. Unfortunately, this does not help the students who are struggling more with the material. Several of the slower students dropped out of our class as time went by. 2. He lacks creativity. For every class, Professor Hernandez merely went through the exercises in the book. Not once did he try to engage the students with something he created himself. 3. He does not give you much chance to speak in class. Ideally, language classes should involve a mixture of pairs and small group activities in addition to student-teacher exchange. Professor Hernandez, however, sticks with student-teacher activities alone. He used pair activities a handful of times and small group activities never. This mean…

Pepe is great and certainly not a jerk. He may assign one or two more assignments than other teachers, but it's well worth it for the substance of the class. In my opinion, languages (especially at this level) are pretty mindless; since the department has a set curriculum, there is little room for the professors to stray from the text book. However, Pepe makes class incredibly interesting. Yes, he makes fun of people, but it's all in good fun and his favoritism does not play into grading. He also has an interesting life to tell of, filled with impressive credentials and hysterical accents and anecdotes. Just a genuinely nice and interesting guy.

Though at first seemingly harmless, beware of this professor. While readings are fairly interesting, his assignments are often vague, ill-defined to both the students and himself. Once you figure out what you're supposed to be doing, the class is fine, but often the students (and even the teacher) have little idea. Doesn't explain his grading system very well (at all...) either, and often relies on the students to lead the class. Behind the jovial facade and bushy eyebrows is a stubborn little man who, while he invites constructive criticism, never uses it. Incredibly frustrating.

This is the most insulting professor I have ever had. He outrightly embarrassed a girl in class today and is never whatsoever encouraging if your grade is suffering. Never take a class with this professor and you can continue enjoying life.

Weekly workbook assignments, chapter tests, midterm, final, final oral exam, 3-4 written compositions. Really not that much work.

Three Essays, one of which is a take home final, midterm which was easily graded, nightly reading which is all REALLY short and one oral presentation...not bad at all

Pepe is HILARIOUS. You do feel a little sorry for the people that he makes fun of, but not really b/c its usually warranted and they don't understand what he's saying anyway. Class can get a bit boring with all the repetition and emphasis on pronunciation, but he knows what he's doing. Best instructor I've had in the spanish depart. Grading is reasonable, especially considering that I didnt take spanish in high school. Do the homework assignments b/c he always goes over them and likes to call on people that he knows didnt do the work.