I unfortunately have to agree with the two reviews below.
I chose to take his class after hearing about his "unconventional" teaching style; but "unconventional" really just meant he sounds like an overzealous preacher and slightly obnoxious at that.

He came to class late everyday. By the end of second week, I really didn't care if I was late or not since I knew he'd always be even later. He also said he'd take attendance, but never really did and by the time it was 8th week, less than half the class showed up (he either didn't notice, or didn't care).

Also, he is BIG on class participation (50% OF YOUR GRADE). For those of you who are more shy to speak up in class or just plain don't like raising your hand, I WOULD CAUTION YOU AWAY FROM HIS CLASSES. There is an online forum where you're suppose to discuss the works (which almost nobody read because nobody could understand them), but no matter how many posts you have, your chances of getting an A in the class is slim to none if he doesn't recognize your name from speaking in class. Honestly, I don't know why I kept going to class. I probably would've gotten the same grade if I had stopped going by 4th week.

The other 50% of your grade is a ridiculously annoying 12-15 page research paper that pretty much sucks your life away. He is indeed a nice guy and I've gone to numerous office hours, but every time I walked out feeling like he helped my paper none and only criticized it.

Also, the works we had to read were pretty horrible. Most I just scratched the surface of before I gave up and others just plain didn't read. And during lecture he offers no background or insight himself, just basically let's the few opinionated ones in the class talk on and on.

Overall, I probably would not take a class with him again. His teaching style is something I didn't particularly like and nor did I walk away with anything I felt valuable.

Although the review above may be harsh, it technically is all true. He didn't want to lecture or give us background information and, actually, only did that twice over the whole quarter (and even then, it was boring historical content which, at least for me, he did not relate well to the text). Having done other research papers, I felt very confused with his stringent constraints: he wanted you to write it by his "form" from the very opening paragraph until all the way to the end. I highly recommend that only Seniors should take this class. Even then, I'm no sure I would recommend this to any one of my friends. Compared to other classes, especially the 170, I felt like I didn't learn as much as I hoped I would in this Global South class.
Otherwise, he is funny and nice. He will listen to you and help you out with your paper as much as you need. I just didn't feel like the class had any structure to it. And I never knew what my grade was going to be. In other classes, you can tell by adding up your assignments and tests the ballpark of your grade. Here, literally stayed in a haze the whole quarter and went nuts over URSA until he posted. ...

HORRIBLE! I had such high hopes for this class this being my last year as an AM LIT MAJ at UCLA. Global South and American Lit? Yea, right! Try BORING books that the majority of the class could barely comprehend. Faulkner, Marquez and Walcott ate away at me for weeks. He never came to class prepared with lecture and wanted for us to speak and discuss the novels which always turned out to random conversations plagued by people's opinions and heavily lacking evidence from the text. Yes, we spent 2 weeks per text and yes, you could participate online on the discussion boards but 50% of your grade was participation...in a class made of 45 students! HELLO! The other was a research paper which he made from 10 pages(1st week) to 12 pages (2nd week) to 20 pages (7th week)pages with 3 to finally 10 sources! If you like classes where talking and having a good time suit you and a 10-15-20 (God knows what he decides) paper decides you final score, go for it. If you like structure, assignments and ways to improve you vocabulary and overall perception of the Global South, you might want to try someone else. Being an ambitious student who cares for her GPA, I appreciate professors who are clear on how one can go about earning an A and have a shot at graduate schools/professional schools/etc... And no, I'm not a slacker (I have As and one B at UCLA).