Simona Vaidean

I had Simona for both Elementary German I and II, and I can confidently say she is one of the best professors I have ever had in my time at Columbia. She genuinely wants her students to learn and do well in her course. I enjoyed every class with her. Her kindness and energy made each day so worth it. I took German I to try something completely new as I did not even have a language req for being in SEAS. With no background in German, Simona made my language learning experience so fun that I decided to take German II! If you have the chance to take her classes, I would 100% recommend it.

Simona is an extremely nice, laid back and personable professor. As far as I know, my Advanced German II class was the first Advanced German II class that she taught at Columbia (I think she usually teaches elementary and intermediate students). My experience in her class has been excellent. In a class that's centered mostly around discussion and readings, Simona comes up with thought-provoking questions and interesting ways to explore materials. You can't go wrong by taking a class with Simona.

I cannot say enough good things about Simona Vaidean, I've never had such an amazing professor. She came in every day with a smile on her face, even if she had a hectic morning with her two kids. The students in our class contributed to this as well, but she created a friendly and fun environment in which to learn, something invaluable when the class meets for 2 hours, 4 days a week. She is very kind, understanding, and genuinely cares about her students. She knows that we are trying to learn a ton in a very short time, so she makes it easier on us whenever possible. I was deliberating between taking accelerated versus elementary I, but when I saw the previous post about how great Simona was, I chose to take her class. I am so happy that I did. It was a pleasure to have her as a professor, and I strongly recommend you take a class with her if you have the chance.

Simona is an excellent professor. She's Romanian, but her German accent is perfect. The class focuses largely on reading comprehension and writing, but grammar and speaking also play an important role. The class is conducted entirely in German, which was helpful in improving listening comprehension. Simona is very knowledgeable and always eager to help her students learn important concepts; it was commonplace for one of us to ask her to go over a grammatical concept (which she would do) and then the next class she would have a concise review sheet of the concept that she would hand out to everyone. She is a very generous grader and she assigns very little work in comparison to the other sections. Overall, I would highly recommend her and would definitely take another course with her.

This is a great course for anyone looking to get some extra German practice in. It's fun, light, and interesting. It runs through small, interesting units all taught and discussed in German. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2024 Course: GERMUN2520_001_2024_3-IntermediateConversation : Deutsch 2520_Intermediate Conversation- GERMUN2520_001_2024_3 - Intermediate Conversation Instructor: Xuxu Song

Simona is one of the nicest teachers and super understanding that we are students juggling the work of 5 other classes. She pushed us in our German but not to the point where we felt helpless. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: GERMUN2101_002_2023_3-INTERMEDIATEGERMANI : GERMUN2101_002_2023_3 - INTERMEDIATE GERMAN I Instructor: Simona Vaidean

I would recommend it to someone who wants to take German as a top priority course due to the high workload/attendance requirements. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: GERMUN2102_001_2023_3-INTERMEDIATEGERMANII : Intermediate Deutsch 2-GERMUN2102_001_2023_3

I definitely improved my grammar within this class. The amazing part about it, is that I wasn’t even aware of how much I was improving until I look back at where I started this semester.

Simona is a very kind professor who cares about her students. She is very understanding and can be funny at times. I highly recommend taking her elementary German classes!

The workload in this class was relatively light, weekly reading assignments that aren't too long, 1 individual presentation, 1 group project at the end of the semester, and 2-3 350-word essays throughout the semester. Most of class time is spent in discussion about materials that you read for homework.