SPAN30014: Spanish 5

Más ejercicios 10% (weekly exercises), pruebas 35% (in-class tests), presentación oral 15% (oral presentation), ensayo final 15% (final essay) and final exam 25%

Most language students will gladly tell you that every language subject turns to shit by third year. They're not wrong.

Ok, perhaps that's a little hyperbolic, but in comparison to previous Spanish subjects this one is a bit of a bummer. First of all, it's too slow. You honestly feel like you're going through at snail's pace, which sounds glorious, but after two years of Spanish there's something exciting about ploughing through quickly. You miss out on that sense of development and achievement because of how slow this subject is. In reality, there really is quite a bit to learn, but the tutors tend to linger on relatively simple concepts. Presumably this is because these concepts have been difficult for previous students and they've over-corrected.

The subject focuses on texts called testimonios. After 12 weeks of class, I'm not convinced that anybody is sure what testimonios actually are... Very basically, I think they're just first person texts. This was introduced as the overall theme of the subject—indeed it is the title of it if you believe the sílabo—and there was much talk of testimonios, but it never really added to anything. We would read a text or watch a film each week and have a really contrived and fruitless discussion about the themes of the text. It was silly and a waste of time. The way the texts we read related to assessment is indicative of its silliness. All questions either centred around regurgitating mindless details such as the author's name and the date it was written or regurgitating information that the teachers had mentioned in class, for example, how to interpret certain elements of the text. Needless to say, the teachers were at pains to make sure that we had already discussed those elements ad nauseum in class, so it wasn't an interpretation, but rote learning of boring details once again.

There are good bits, though, don't fear! The tutors are all fantastic. Personally, I had Sandrine and Sam; both of whom would walk to hell and back for any one of their students. You always left the classroom knowing that the tutors actually cared about how you did and were genuine when they offered their help. They're also exceptionally prepared for their classes, despite this being far less well co-ordinated than previous Spanish subjects (which isn't difficult Spanish 1-4 are exceptionally organised). Spanish classes tend to be more cohesive than most, which makes for a really supportive environment to learn in. Each of the tutors also seems to have a good idea of the students' abilities, which is more than you can say for almost any university subject.

I've come to expect a lot from Spanish at UniMelb. Spanish 1-4 are brilliant subjects. They're well co-ordinated, the assessment is fair, the tutors are all brilliant, the classes are fun, your classmates are all fantastic and you're left with a real sense of achievement. Regrettably, Spanish 5 doesn't live up to those expectations. I am sure that in the general scheme of things, it probably is a good subject; but in comparison to the other Spanish subjects, it is quite poor. It's poorly co-ordinated (exams not even through the SES system, the co-ordinator appears to have just chosen a time and date to shove an exam in a lecture theatre meaning that many students will have to bolt from UniMelb to REB to get to their next exam 40 minutes later), the assessment is hopelessly unfair and nobody seems willing to change it, testimonios are a stupid distraction and a desperate attempt to give the class cultural context and the course itself is set out to be slow and mind-numbingly boring.

This class wasn't a nightmare. I didn't hate it. So I do hope that my criticisms don't necessarily dissuade you from taking it. All I hope is that you go into this class knowing not to expect as much as you had from Spanish 1-4.

¡Que os disfrutéis! Si tenéis preguntas o queréis ayuda, mandadme un mensaje.

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Tutors are: Sandrine Michel, Sam Rutter and Pablo González del Rivero

No

2.5 out of 5

Aula 4 (you need it)

2x1.5 hour tutorials each week

2014 Semester 1

90 (H1)