Ruth Borgman

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.

I can't even begin to describe how dumb this teacher really is. To be totally honest, it was almost as if we as students were expected to understand spanish as if we were fluent, before even entering the class, DESPITE the fact that this TEACHER CAN'T EVEN SPEAK SPANISH. She has trouble, HUGE trouble, stringing together multiple sentences on a consistent basis. It is frustrating and unremittingly difficult to speak with this person, as she has virtually NO SOCIAL ABILITY TO CONVERSE WITH HUMAN BEINGS. I find it unwise to enroll in this class. There is nothing to gain from a teacher that has nothing to teach. She is not spanish, she is barely able to speak spanish, her obvious american accent is ridiculously unkempt, and worst of all, she knows close to nothing about how to teach a class. My goodness. Teaching means teaching, not reading word for word from your textbook all the time.

To be Fair Before the beginning of each semester, Professor Borgman sends out an email to all of her students warning that the class will be fairly difficult and fast-paced. She also reminds us that the course is intended for those that have already been exposed to the language and have a decent grasp on it. Students that have had little to no exposure to the language, however, are focused on the "Beginning" part of the course title, instead of the "Comprehensive" and stay despite Borgman's warning. Or perhaps this may be their last year to complete Columbia's language requirement, and thus, have no choice. Despite the reason, these students are usually the ones that experience difficulty throughout the semester. Borgman speaks in Spanish a great deal of the time. She switches to English for students that have difficulty speaking/understanding the language, which is nothing negative on her part. She tries to cater to the students' needs, while at the same time encouraging them to speak in Spanish. Cons With that said, Professor Borgman is by no means perfect. She has great difficulty explaining grammatical concepts and rely on other students that excel within the class to explain the concepts for her. When confronted with grammatical inconsistencies in the language, she gives the right answer, but if you continue to push, she is very easily overwhelmed and instead validates th…

BEWARE! If you want to learn Spanish, or feel as if your tuition dollars are being put toward good use, stay away! Borgman is without question the worst Spanish teacher I have ever had (and I've taken Spanish since 6th grade, at a public school). 1) Classes have absolutely no structure. 2) She speaks English for about 60% of the class period (what happened to the idea of learning by immersion?) And 3) Your grade is the most arbitrary thing in the world. You will have no idea whether you will receive an "A" or a "B-" until you timidly log onto SSOL come post-finals time. Stay Away.

This is a rather disappointing semester. Classes are exceedingly disorganized, with class discussions often diverging into student led debates over proper grammar use. This teacher is rather uninformed in advanced understanding of the structure of the spanish language. She rarely speaks in spanish, and it is often questionable whether she is even fluent. Tests and quizzes are poorly written, and the amount of reliance on the book belies how little this teacher probable is able to teach and explain the language at all. There are absurd amounts of homework, and classes are exceedingly painful to sit through. Please seek another teacher before wasting your time with this overly pedantic, simple-minded, and deficient teacher.

I took this course in the spring 2004 (Pre-Hispanic Societies). If you want a thorough and in-depth study of the Mesoamerican and Incan societies, this is the course you want to take. Starting with and overview of both societies and a subsequent study of each region and each society, first with the Olmecs of Mesoamerica, the Teotihuacanos, the Toltecs, the Mayans, etc. , the class studied not only the peoples, but their arts and artificats, their writings, their astronomies, customs, cultures, and religions. It was no less so with the societies that predated the Incas, those of Chavin, Nazca, Tiahuanaco and, ultimately, the Incan Impire and its disintegration after the arrival of the Europeans. If your desire is to learn, up close, about these wonderfully developed societies that equalled and, at times, surpassed that of ancient Egypt, yes, yes, yes, do take this course.

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…

Very manageable: MySpanishLab assignments (easy), occasional worksheets, 2 quizzes, 1 midterm, 1 written final, 1 oral final, 1 oral presentation - Grading is very lenient for the orals and homework assignments are very easy (see note above).

Professor Borgman is a very nice woman who tries to engage all her students in discussion. She is not evil or out to get you... just do not get her angry by having half the class not do homework ... she does not appreciate it (Who would?) and at one point this semester she almost lost her cool. Besides that, she's always smiling and seems to enjoy what she is doing. What I did not think was too effective was the fact that she did not have a set schedule of things for us to do. Sometimes we actually had to ask about what we would do during a particular class, because you could sort of sway her to do anything. She allows you to rewrite all your essays, and wants to help you out. I liked that we spoke Spanish nearly all the time. However, she will let you speak in English if you ask and have something complicated to say. She's also the only prof. this semester to have allowed my class to go outside for a session on Hamilton Lawn. That was very nice of her. Overall, I think her class is fairly simple - no worries taking a class with Borgman.

I think that Prof. Borgman was great. She tried really hard to engage everybody in conversation and to make class exiting. Some days I felt bad for her though because nobody would talk, and if they did, they would give one word answers. Although she may not have been the best at teaching the grammar, she definitely notices the people who put in effort, even though not much is required, because almost all of the work is in the workbook. Prof. Borgman also has a good sense of humor, and enjoys students who attempt to talk a lot in class, even if they make fools of themselves. She does make some jokes that people do not understand, because they are in spanish, but if you nod and smile when she is talking she will think you completely understand her and like you. She is a fair grader and a nice woman.