Professor
Hoang Truong
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Definitely would recommend! The class is just the basics for italian like learning any other language. Your grade is based on participation by going to class and talking in breakout rooms. Homework was done on cengage which is a little pricey but all the material is there and is mandatory. The homework was due almost every other day, which personally helped me stay on track. There's also 3 compositions which is basically just mini essays/narratives, you turn in a first draft which is 50% of your grade, and a second draft which is the other 50. There is also 3 quizzes that you take with respondus and is really no big deal, but there are also practice quizzes to take before the actual quiz. The questions on the practice quizzes are the exact same on the actual quiz. There is a final exam but it's basically the same as the quizzes. Professor Truong herself is great! She's very kind and considerate with most things. At most I think she just wants her students to participate. The entire class is easy points as long as you actually try.
Winter 2021 - Definitely would recommend! The class is just the basics for italian like learning any other language. Your grade is based on participation by going to class and talking in breakout rooms. Homework was done on cengage which is a little pricey but all the material is there and is mandatory. The homework was due almost every other day, which personally helped me stay on track. There's also 3 compositions which is basically just mini essays/narratives, you turn in a first draft which is 50% of your grade, and a second draft which is the other 50. There is also 3 quizzes that you take with respondus and is really no big deal, but there are also practice quizzes to take before the actual quiz. The questions on the practice quizzes are the exact same on the actual quiz. There is a final exam but it's basically the same as the quizzes. Professor Truong herself is great! She's very kind and considerate with most things. At most I think she just wants her students to participate. The entire class is easy points as long as you actually try.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - Professoressa Truong is very sweet. This class really emphasizes student learning and is not going to be about hard grading. Do the homework assignments, which are biweekly, and make sure you do them before the class they are to prepare for even though she gives you a buffer of two days. I would say also go through the textbook, which doesn't take too long, because sometimes there will be material on the tests from the textbook that wasn't in class or on the Mindtap homework practices. I made flashcards on Notability which were really helpful! There were three quizzes (Respondus) and three writing compositions total throughout the quarter. The quizzes were not bad. She opens up practice quizzes which I strongly recommend doing multiple times, until you 100% twice in a row. Then you will be golden for the real thing. I usually got like one wrong on these. There are Oral sections on the quizzes as well, for which you will record yourself speaking. She grades the Oral parts pretty hard too, so make sure you're really using the Italian pronunciations. The compositions were also not bad. I could start and finish them in the same day. And she has a First draft and Final draft, so the overall grade is a combination, which is nice because if you apply all of her corrections then you're sure to get a 100% on the Final Draft (Stesura finale). Class attendance is MANDATORY. Even if you are sick, she lets you submit annotations to that day's lecture slides for HALF credit... so you really can't miss class even if it is excused. One time I did ask her if I could make up full points to see my brother's graduation, though, and she said I could via a one-on-one Zoom. So really you can't miss class, especially because participation is so much credit. Overall this is a great class, and definitely not one to worry about your grade in. I absolutely recommend if you are interested in learning Italian! I am not even taking it for any sort of credit as I have already completed my language requirement; just for fun! When else can you learn a language so intimately for (sort of) free??
Winter 2023 - Professoressa Truong is very sweet. This class really emphasizes student learning and is not going to be about hard grading. Do the homework assignments, which are biweekly, and make sure you do them before the class they are to prepare for even though she gives you a buffer of two days. I would say also go through the textbook, which doesn't take too long, because sometimes there will be material on the tests from the textbook that wasn't in class or on the Mindtap homework practices. I made flashcards on Notability which were really helpful! There were three quizzes (Respondus) and three writing compositions total throughout the quarter. The quizzes were not bad. She opens up practice quizzes which I strongly recommend doing multiple times, until you 100% twice in a row. Then you will be golden for the real thing. I usually got like one wrong on these. There are Oral sections on the quizzes as well, for which you will record yourself speaking. She grades the Oral parts pretty hard too, so make sure you're really using the Italian pronunciations. The compositions were also not bad. I could start and finish them in the same day. And she has a First draft and Final draft, so the overall grade is a combination, which is nice because if you apply all of her corrections then you're sure to get a 100% on the Final Draft (Stesura finale). Class attendance is MANDATORY. Even if you are sick, she lets you submit annotations to that day's lecture slides for HALF credit... so you really can't miss class even if it is excused. One time I did ask her if I could make up full points to see my brother's graduation, though, and she said I could via a one-on-one Zoom. So really you can't miss class, especially because participation is so much credit. Overall this is a great class, and definitely not one to worry about your grade in. I absolutely recommend if you are interested in learning Italian! I am not even taking it for any sort of credit as I have already completed my language requirement; just for fun! When else can you learn a language so intimately for (sort of) free??
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Most Helpful Review
She definitely knows the language very well, but I often disliked her teaching methods and spent a lot of time studying on my own. I ended up with an A-, but I don't think I learned as much as I could have. She is very concerned about students learning the material, but her class somehow lowered my love of Italian. I wouldn't not take a class because she's teaching it, but if you have the option of taking a different teacher, try to do so.
She definitely knows the language very well, but I often disliked her teaching methods and spent a lot of time studying on my own. I ended up with an A-, but I don't think I learned as much as I could have. She is very concerned about students learning the material, but her class somehow lowered my love of Italian. I wouldn't not take a class because she's teaching it, but if you have the option of taking a different teacher, try to do so.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - Definitely a very challenging class, considering that it is a language class. Quizzes and finals are very difficult as someone who has no Italian background and started learning from Italian 1. Hoang seems to purposely lower the class average on written compositions and I don't get why she purposely does that. Hoang is a great teacher but she needs to understand that not only this is a language class, but that her student's future depends on grades which is a reflection of her teaching ability. There is no cap to how many students gets A so why make it so difficult.
Spring 2023 - Definitely a very challenging class, considering that it is a language class. Quizzes and finals are very difficult as someone who has no Italian background and started learning from Italian 1. Hoang seems to purposely lower the class average on written compositions and I don't get why she purposely does that. Hoang is a great teacher but she needs to understand that not only this is a language class, but that her student's future depends on grades which is a reflection of her teaching ability. There is no cap to how many students gets A so why make it so difficult.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Hoang is so incredibly nice. She's very thorough in her explanations and can laugh along/acknowledge when we're all confused by a complicated new topic. I really feel that she diffused a lot of the tension that comes along with the randomly-calling-on of most language classes by keeping everything with the whole group. Generous with partial credit too, so as long as you go to class, exams are ok! Overall, take her. A very kind and thoughtful person
Winter 2020 - Hoang is so incredibly nice. She's very thorough in her explanations and can laugh along/acknowledge when we're all confused by a complicated new topic. I really feel that she diffused a lot of the tension that comes along with the randomly-calling-on of most language classes by keeping everything with the whole group. Generous with partial credit too, so as long as you go to class, exams are ok! Overall, take her. A very kind and thoughtful person
Most Helpful Review
Professor Truong was just OK. There was definitely a jump in work load between Italian 5 and 6, but it wasn't too difficult. There were five two page compositions and two oral presentations, plus the usual two quizzes, midterm and final. Truong was a moderately fair grader overall, but I felt like she could get a little nit-pickey especially when grading the compositions. Also, she doesn't explain her assignments very well. Troung was definitely more strict than the other Italian teachers I've taken--she makes you turn in the homework and other busywork, which made me feel like I was back in high school. But overall, if you're one of those people who has done all of your assignments throughout Italian 1-5, I'd say you'd be fine.
Professor Truong was just OK. There was definitely a jump in work load between Italian 5 and 6, but it wasn't too difficult. There were five two page compositions and two oral presentations, plus the usual two quizzes, midterm and final. Truong was a moderately fair grader overall, but I felt like she could get a little nit-pickey especially when grading the compositions. Also, she doesn't explain her assignments very well. Troung was definitely more strict than the other Italian teachers I've taken--she makes you turn in the homework and other busywork, which made me feel like I was back in high school. But overall, if you're one of those people who has done all of your assignments throughout Italian 1-5, I'd say you'd be fine.
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