BERMUDEZ S
She is the most difficult person I have had to deal with in my time here at UCSB. She walks into lecture like she's the smartest person in the room, and picks on you when you don't raise your hand to say something every time. Attendance is practically mandatory and she is very unreachable when you cant make it. Super inflexible and arrogant.
Participation is extremely important in this course and Prof Bermudez will call on you if you don't volunteer. But in a condescending way and it doesn't foster an environment where students are encouraged to participate or feel they want to. TA was very nice and sections were easier. Make sure to read before every class and read very carefully.
The course syllabus is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the class. Panoptic pedagogy, Royal Spanish Academy imperialism, cultural and linguistic Eurocentrism and enlightened despotism are the professors pedagogical methods.
Silvia is the reason I am remaining a Spanish double major. She is literally one of the most amazing Spanish Department professor's who deserves the whole world. If there's one professor you should take, it's her!!! The course was really interesting and because she is so invested in the material, the class is even better!!
She's really passionate and may scare you at first but she really cares about the content of her classes and thinks it is important. She doesn't grade too hard despite how she comes off. Super chill class, basically an introduction class with little homework.
Not a hard class by any means, but she does expect you to read and participate- which is hard when the reading is dense. However, she does like to show short videos in class, and bring modern concepts into the study of Galician culture which allows you to put a lot of things into context. Two papers, a midterm, and attendance make up your grade!
She is very passionate about the subject matter, but expects a lot from her students. She is also pretty intimidating. Get ready to read A LOT. Everything about this class is based on the readings and you will have to do them because the midterm and finals are strictly based off of them. Would not recommend if you are not a native Spanish speaker.
Bermúdez is very intimidating, but if you do the reading and are prepared for class then she'll love you. She's very straight forward with what she expects. This was the first class in my college career in which I did all of the reading because I was afraid to be unprepared for class, but I consider this a good thing. I've never learned so much.
She can be intimidating but if you do what's expected of you she will respect you. A very tough grader but she will always tell you how to improve. My only issue is that both she and her TA grade the assignments (one after the other) so although you get 2 pair of eyes looking at your papers it can be tricky to sort the feedback.
Extremely intelligent and passionate. If you pay attention in class you are in for one of the best educational experiences our Spanish dept has to offer.
Great professor!!
Silvia es la mejor maestra de Espanol de UCSB. Apasionada en su trabajo, liberal y preocupada en que sus estudiantes tomen conciencia y hagan buen uso de sus inteligencias y de las inovaciones tecnologicas. Un privilegio haber tomado sus clases.