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Georgiana Galateanu
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Professor Galateanu really brought this class to life with her personal stories about living in Communist Romania. This class had a good balance of lecture, class discussion, group presentations, and slide shows. I thought the movies that we watched for class were a good complement to the reading...but what drew me most to the class was Galateanu's genuine interest in the subject matter - as well as her students. She always welcomes questions and encourages students to email her/ see her after class for help. If this weren't my last quarter at UCLA, I would take more of her classes!
The professor is really sweet, but was inconsistent in her teaching methods. She barely used lecture slides, and when she did they would literally just be pictures. A lot of the times she would jump around between topic and time period which made it very confusing. I didn't open the course reader, as a result did terribly on all the reading quizzes and ended up with a B- because I aced the midterm, final, and paper with some effective cramming. If you can handle dry subject material, take this class. Otherwise, strongly caution against it.
This class was hands down one of the best classes that I have taken at UCLA. You will not find a sweeter, kinder, humbler, and more caring professor than Prof. Galateanu.
As seen from the grade distribution, she definitely does not deserve the negative reviews which have been posted by some people on here. You don't even BOTHER to open the course reader, and thus can't participate in discussion section, probably failing the weekly quizzes (which are incredibly easy and usually a simple 10/10 if you as much as SKIM the readings), then cram for the midterm, the paper, and the final, and then complain that you walked away with a B-? Seriously? I don't even think high school was this generous.
This class covers the history and development of communism in Europe's central and eastern bloc, starting with the 1950s, following through with the cold war and the struggles of the Soviet puppet states, and finally concluding with the 2000s and the wars in Kosovo. It gives you a taste of everything, ranging from geo-politics and history, to the cultural and religious struggles of those who lived in such grueling times. Think how cool it would be to take a history class on Caesar's reign taught by someone who actually lived during that time! With Prof. Galateanu, you get the raw, uncut, passionate stories and experiences of someone who literally lived and breathed under the umbrella of the communist system. It doesn't get any better than that.
The class website has the LECTURE AND READING OUTLINES. Seriously, you don't even have to do the reading, because everything is already done for you. Where you do have to put in work is the term paper, which is worth only 8% of the total grade, but the professor is there to assist you with it every step of the way. If you need more time, she'll give you more time; if she doesn't like your paper (because you crammed it the night before), she'll let (help) you re-write it. The midterm and the final are verbatim questions taken from the study guide, so as long as you put SOME effort into looking at the questions and coming up with answers beforehand, you'll pass both tests with flying colors. When I took this class she offered an extra credit opportunity which involved travelling to the Getty museum (admission is free) and looking at some exhibits.
All in all, this professor wants you to succeed and wants to give you an A (pretty much everyone in my class got one). Put in SOME effort and you'll have the easiest A of your life.
I took Romanian 101A-C with Prof. Galateanu, and she is undoubtedly among the best professors at UCLA. She is incredibly intelligent, is passionate about and dedicated to teaching Romanian, and her enthusiasm for imparting knowledge is readily apparent and rubs off onto the rest of the class. She always encourages students to seek her help with any material that they find difficult or challenging, and is a genuinely kind person.
She structures the lessons and textbook (which she herself wrote) toward native English speakers which makes Romanian, in my opinion, the best option for fulfilling your foreign language requirement at UCLA. Her book explains the grammatical concepts needed to grasp Romanian grammar, which is incredibly help (since, in my experience, English grammar isn't taught in the US anymore). The workload, tests, etc. are all reasonable by UCLA standards as long as you are willing to put in a real effort. One thing that I particularly loved about the class is that Prof. Galateanu incorporates a lot of material about different aspects of Romanian culture into every lesson. In addition to learning the language we learned about Romanian history, customs, etc. throughout the course. I cannot recommend this course enough, taking it will be one of the best decisions you make at UCLA.
I imagine that the summer course is fantastic (Romanian 103), but if you see that Romanian 101A-C are being offered during the school year I'd personally recommend taking the full year course as it provides much more time and opportunity to study in depth and retain what you learn. That said if the summer course is your only opportunity to take Romanian then absolutely go for it!
As mentioned in reviews for some of her other classes such as C&EE 91 (which I also had the privilege of taking and loved. I highly recommend it when it is offered in the Spring), you will get a letter grade in accordance with the amount of effort that you put in. Prof. Galateanu is without a doubt one of the most fair professors you will find at UCLA, but unfortunately some students feel that they are entitled to a good grade no matter what and have decided to blame the professor for their grades rather than their own laziness. If you take the course seriously, do the Romanian practice exercises and homework from the course reader, study for the exams, and pay attention/participate in class, yes you will receive a good grade but even more importantly, you will actually learn Romanian AND have fun! If you put in zero effort, the grade you receive will reflect that. Students at UCLA shouldn't have to be told that this is how school (and the rest of the real world) works.
Note: this is my review from 101A, which is just as applicable to 101B.
I took Romanian 101A-C with Prof. Galateanu, and she is undoubtedly among the best professors at UCLA. She is incredibly intelligent, is passionate about and dedicated to teaching Romanian, and her enthusiasm for imparting knowledge is readily apparent and rubs off onto the rest of the class. She always encourages students to seek her help with any material that they find difficult or challenging, and is a genuinely kind person.
She structures the lessons and textbook (which she herself wrote) toward native English speakers which makes Romanian, in my opinion, the best option for fulfilling your foreign language requirement at UCLA. Her book explains the grammatical concepts needed to grasp Romanian grammar, which is incredibly help (since, in my experience, English grammar isn't taught in the US anymore). The workload, tests, etc. are all reasonable by UCLA standards as long as you are willing to put in a real effort. One thing that I particularly loved about the class is that Prof. Galateanu incorporates a lot of material about different aspects of Romanian culture into every lesson. In addition to learning the language we learned about Romanian history, customs, etc. throughout the course. I cannot recommend this course enough, taking it will be one of the best decisions you make at UCLA.
I imagine that the summer course is fantastic (Romanian 103), but if you see that Romanian 101A-C are being offered during the school year I'd personally recommend taking the full year course as it provides much more time and opportunity to study in depth and retain what you learn. That said if the summer course is your only opportunity to take Romanian then absolutely go for it!
As mentioned in reviews for some of her other classes such as C&EE 91 (which I also had the privilege of taking and loved. I highly recommend it when it is offered in the Spring), you will get a letter grade in accordance with the amount of effort that you put in. Prof. Galateanu is without a doubt one of the most fair professors you will find at UCLA, but unfortunately some students feel that they are entitled to a good grade no matter what and have decided to blame the professor for their grades rather than their own laziness. If you take the course seriously, do the Romanian practice exercises and homework from the course reader, study for the exams, and pay attention/participate in class, yes you will receive a good grade but even more importantly, you will actually learn Romanian AND have fun! If you put in zero effort, the grade you receive will reflect that. Students at UCLA shouldn't have to be told that this is how school (and the rest of the real world) works.
How much you invest into this class is what you get out of it. The professor is nice and shares the outlines of her notes with the class before the lecture, so it's easier to follow along when she speaks. That being said, that also makes the lectures a little boring and hard to stay focused. She also takes attendance by calling on students and quizzing them on materials last lecture, so attendance is basically mandatory. The things she asks us are sometimes really detailed and she gets frustrated when students can't answer and can be a little bit harsh in her comments. Overall though, she still really cares about her students' learning and tells really interesting stories of her time in Romania.
Sasha (our TA) was really helpful and wanted to make sure that we do well in the class, so our discussions have a lot of review powerpoints, and the quizzes are really easy as long as you attend discussion and get the points.
There are weekly readings, which are a hit or miss. Sometimes her outlines are basically a simplified version of the reading , but other times, you really have to read the articles to know what she's even talking about.
Before her exams, she shares a document with all the topics she would select test questions from, and you basically just have to go through her lecture notes, fill out the document, and memorize it. The tests are short answer responses, about 6-8 questions, and she requires that you give a certain number of distinct points in your response. They're doable, but the memorizing part can be stressful.
Professor Galateanu is very experienced and knowledgeable. Her lectures are super interesting because she incorporates her life experiences in Romania as well. The texts are a bit dense, but Professor Galateanu does a great job helping you dissect the readings. This class is pretty cool cause it's really small and very interactive - kind of like a discussion setting. I would definitely recommend this class and most definitely recommend Professor Galateanu!
This was easily the best class I have taken at UCLA. Professor Galateanu truly cares about her students. She often shares personal stories from her experience in Romania which made it easy to pay attention and engage in the class. There were weekly quizzes, a midterm and a final, and an essay due week 10.
Only bad thing about this class is the TA Ani. Her expectations are insane. Luckily I had the discussion section with Professor Gerorgiana. Ani expects us to be experts on the subject material. But she is a student TA so I can see why she is attempting to prove herself.
Do not expect it to be easy! You will be required to participate every single class.
with that being said I would give her an 11 out of 10 if i possibly could. I have genuinely never encountered another woman that has had as much impact on my life then she has. By far my favorite teacher that I have ever had at UCLA and I do not say that lightly. Her passion for teaching is unparalleled and she was able to spark an immense level of interest around the subject that I had none of before the course. She does an excellent job incorporating her life experiences into the lessons to give them cultural perspective. She has the perfect amount of toughness while teaching and every class she puts a sense of pressure on you that forces you to grow and learn. Participation in her class is absolutely mandatory which I feel keeps students engaged with the concepts for the whole class. I have the upmost respect for her as a person and could not find a bad thing to say about her if I tried.
Professor Galateanu really brought this class to life with her personal stories about living in Communist Romania. This class had a good balance of lecture, class discussion, group presentations, and slide shows. I thought the movies that we watched for class were a good complement to the reading...but what drew me most to the class was Galateanu's genuine interest in the subject matter - as well as her students. She always welcomes questions and encourages students to email her/ see her after class for help. If this weren't my last quarter at UCLA, I would take more of her classes!
The professor is really sweet, but was inconsistent in her teaching methods. She barely used lecture slides, and when she did they would literally just be pictures. A lot of the times she would jump around between topic and time period which made it very confusing. I didn't open the course reader, as a result did terribly on all the reading quizzes and ended up with a B- because I aced the midterm, final, and paper with some effective cramming. If you can handle dry subject material, take this class. Otherwise, strongly caution against it.
This class was hands down one of the best classes that I have taken at UCLA. You will not find a sweeter, kinder, humbler, and more caring professor than Prof. Galateanu.
As seen from the grade distribution, she definitely does not deserve the negative reviews which have been posted by some people on here. You don't even BOTHER to open the course reader, and thus can't participate in discussion section, probably failing the weekly quizzes (which are incredibly easy and usually a simple 10/10 if you as much as SKIM the readings), then cram for the midterm, the paper, and the final, and then complain that you walked away with a B-? Seriously? I don't even think high school was this generous.
This class covers the history and development of communism in Europe's central and eastern bloc, starting with the 1950s, following through with the cold war and the struggles of the Soviet puppet states, and finally concluding with the 2000s and the wars in Kosovo. It gives you a taste of everything, ranging from geo-politics and history, to the cultural and religious struggles of those who lived in such grueling times. Think how cool it would be to take a history class on Caesar's reign taught by someone who actually lived during that time! With Prof. Galateanu, you get the raw, uncut, passionate stories and experiences of someone who literally lived and breathed under the umbrella of the communist system. It doesn't get any better than that.
The class website has the LECTURE AND READING OUTLINES. Seriously, you don't even have to do the reading, because everything is already done for you. Where you do have to put in work is the term paper, which is worth only 8% of the total grade, but the professor is there to assist you with it every step of the way. If you need more time, she'll give you more time; if she doesn't like your paper (because you crammed it the night before), she'll let (help) you re-write it. The midterm and the final are verbatim questions taken from the study guide, so as long as you put SOME effort into looking at the questions and coming up with answers beforehand, you'll pass both tests with flying colors. When I took this class she offered an extra credit opportunity which involved travelling to the Getty museum (admission is free) and looking at some exhibits.
All in all, this professor wants you to succeed and wants to give you an A (pretty much everyone in my class got one). Put in SOME effort and you'll have the easiest A of your life.
I took Romanian 101A-C with Prof. Galateanu, and she is undoubtedly among the best professors at UCLA. She is incredibly intelligent, is passionate about and dedicated to teaching Romanian, and her enthusiasm for imparting knowledge is readily apparent and rubs off onto the rest of the class. She always encourages students to seek her help with any material that they find difficult or challenging, and is a genuinely kind person.
She structures the lessons and textbook (which she herself wrote) toward native English speakers which makes Romanian, in my opinion, the best option for fulfilling your foreign language requirement at UCLA. Her book explains the grammatical concepts needed to grasp Romanian grammar, which is incredibly help (since, in my experience, English grammar isn't taught in the US anymore). The workload, tests, etc. are all reasonable by UCLA standards as long as you are willing to put in a real effort. One thing that I particularly loved about the class is that Prof. Galateanu incorporates a lot of material about different aspects of Romanian culture into every lesson. In addition to learning the language we learned about Romanian history, customs, etc. throughout the course. I cannot recommend this course enough, taking it will be one of the best decisions you make at UCLA.
I imagine that the summer course is fantastic (Romanian 103), but if you see that Romanian 101A-C are being offered during the school year I'd personally recommend taking the full year course as it provides much more time and opportunity to study in depth and retain what you learn. That said if the summer course is your only opportunity to take Romanian then absolutely go for it!
As mentioned in reviews for some of her other classes such as C&EE 91 (which I also had the privilege of taking and loved. I highly recommend it when it is offered in the Spring), you will get a letter grade in accordance with the amount of effort that you put in. Prof. Galateanu is without a doubt one of the most fair professors you will find at UCLA, but unfortunately some students feel that they are entitled to a good grade no matter what and have decided to blame the professor for their grades rather than their own laziness. If you take the course seriously, do the Romanian practice exercises and homework from the course reader, study for the exams, and pay attention/participate in class, yes you will receive a good grade but even more importantly, you will actually learn Romanian AND have fun! If you put in zero effort, the grade you receive will reflect that. Students at UCLA shouldn't have to be told that this is how school (and the rest of the real world) works.
Note: this is my review from 101A, which is just as applicable to 101B.
I took Romanian 101A-C with Prof. Galateanu, and she is undoubtedly among the best professors at UCLA. She is incredibly intelligent, is passionate about and dedicated to teaching Romanian, and her enthusiasm for imparting knowledge is readily apparent and rubs off onto the rest of the class. She always encourages students to seek her help with any material that they find difficult or challenging, and is a genuinely kind person.
She structures the lessons and textbook (which she herself wrote) toward native English speakers which makes Romanian, in my opinion, the best option for fulfilling your foreign language requirement at UCLA. Her book explains the grammatical concepts needed to grasp Romanian grammar, which is incredibly help (since, in my experience, English grammar isn't taught in the US anymore). The workload, tests, etc. are all reasonable by UCLA standards as long as you are willing to put in a real effort. One thing that I particularly loved about the class is that Prof. Galateanu incorporates a lot of material about different aspects of Romanian culture into every lesson. In addition to learning the language we learned about Romanian history, customs, etc. throughout the course. I cannot recommend this course enough, taking it will be one of the best decisions you make at UCLA.
I imagine that the summer course is fantastic (Romanian 103), but if you see that Romanian 101A-C are being offered during the school year I'd personally recommend taking the full year course as it provides much more time and opportunity to study in depth and retain what you learn. That said if the summer course is your only opportunity to take Romanian then absolutely go for it!
As mentioned in reviews for some of her other classes such as C&EE 91 (which I also had the privilege of taking and loved. I highly recommend it when it is offered in the Spring), you will get a letter grade in accordance with the amount of effort that you put in. Prof. Galateanu is without a doubt one of the most fair professors you will find at UCLA, but unfortunately some students feel that they are entitled to a good grade no matter what and have decided to blame the professor for their grades rather than their own laziness. If you take the course seriously, do the Romanian practice exercises and homework from the course reader, study for the exams, and pay attention/participate in class, yes you will receive a good grade but even more importantly, you will actually learn Romanian AND have fun! If you put in zero effort, the grade you receive will reflect that. Students at UCLA shouldn't have to be told that this is how school (and the rest of the real world) works.
How much you invest into this class is what you get out of it. The professor is nice and shares the outlines of her notes with the class before the lecture, so it's easier to follow along when she speaks. That being said, that also makes the lectures a little boring and hard to stay focused. She also takes attendance by calling on students and quizzing them on materials last lecture, so attendance is basically mandatory. The things she asks us are sometimes really detailed and she gets frustrated when students can't answer and can be a little bit harsh in her comments. Overall though, she still really cares about her students' learning and tells really interesting stories of her time in Romania.
Sasha (our TA) was really helpful and wanted to make sure that we do well in the class, so our discussions have a lot of review powerpoints, and the quizzes are really easy as long as you attend discussion and get the points.
There are weekly readings, which are a hit or miss. Sometimes her outlines are basically a simplified version of the reading , but other times, you really have to read the articles to know what she's even talking about.
Before her exams, she shares a document with all the topics she would select test questions from, and you basically just have to go through her lecture notes, fill out the document, and memorize it. The tests are short answer responses, about 6-8 questions, and she requires that you give a certain number of distinct points in your response. They're doable, but the memorizing part can be stressful.
Professor Galateanu is very experienced and knowledgeable. Her lectures are super interesting because she incorporates her life experiences in Romania as well. The texts are a bit dense, but Professor Galateanu does a great job helping you dissect the readings. This class is pretty cool cause it's really small and very interactive - kind of like a discussion setting. I would definitely recommend this class and most definitely recommend Professor Galateanu!
This was easily the best class I have taken at UCLA. Professor Galateanu truly cares about her students. She often shares personal stories from her experience in Romania which made it easy to pay attention and engage in the class. There were weekly quizzes, a midterm and a final, and an essay due week 10.
Only bad thing about this class is the TA Ani. Her expectations are insane. Luckily I had the discussion section with Professor Gerorgiana. Ani expects us to be experts on the subject material. But she is a student TA so I can see why she is attempting to prove herself.
Do not expect it to be easy! You will be required to participate every single class.
with that being said I would give her an 11 out of 10 if i possibly could. I have genuinely never encountered another woman that has had as much impact on my life then she has. By far my favorite teacher that I have ever had at UCLA and I do not say that lightly. Her passion for teaching is unparalleled and she was able to spark an immense level of interest around the subject that I had none of before the course. She does an excellent job incorporating her life experiences into the lessons to give them cultural perspective. She has the perfect amount of toughness while teaching and every class she puts a sense of pressure on you that forces you to grow and learn. Participation in her class is absolutely mandatory which I feel keeps students engaged with the concepts for the whole class. I have the upmost respect for her as a person and could not find a bad thing to say about her if I tried.