Professor
Sara Melzer
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Most Helpful Review
One of the worst teachers in French Department at UCLA. Horrible french accent, horrible grammar. Not interesting and not interested in students. She reads the french aloud in class instead of the students. Completely disorganized, sometimes it was obvious she had not looked at the literature until that minute in class. She stands there asking for an explanation of something and after 6 people have tried and were wrong, she says "it's very simple." Well, obviously not. So boring, class seemed to last forever and then she would go over because she just stood there waiting for somebody to say something. Very unclear on what she wants. There is a midterm paper that is take home, but requires 3 papers and then a final that is the same. So hopefully you guess what she wants on the midterm which is so late in the quarter there is no chance to change your approach for the final.
One of the worst teachers in French Department at UCLA. Horrible french accent, horrible grammar. Not interesting and not interested in students. She reads the french aloud in class instead of the students. Completely disorganized, sometimes it was obvious she had not looked at the literature until that minute in class. She stands there asking for an explanation of something and after 6 people have tried and were wrong, she says "it's very simple." Well, obviously not. So boring, class seemed to last forever and then she would go over because she just stood there waiting for somebody to say something. Very unclear on what she wants. There is a midterm paper that is take home, but requires 3 papers and then a final that is the same. So hopefully you guess what she wants on the midterm which is so late in the quarter there is no chance to change your approach for the final.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - This class is taught entirely in French. You do need the texts and should have them during class, but you don't need to buy them most of them are available online or at the UCLA libraries both in French and in English. There were three assignments. The first paper was actually two papers and each were about 1-2 pages and about different, but related topics. The second paper was a similar situation, but the two papers were each 2-3 pages long. The first and second papers needed to be turned in on TurnItIn and in class. The final paper was due the last day of finals week and only needed to be turned in online. The final paper consisted of only one paper that was 5-8 pages long. The workload was not bad though there was a fair amount of reading. The reading was very interesting (particularly in the second half of the class when Molière's plays were introduced). The number one part of this class was participation. Professor Melzer does not judge your French and actually seems to be more impressed with you when your French is not particularly good, but you attempt to participate. She is incredibly encouraging and very willing to help if you ask for it. She repeats stuff a lot in class to help everyone understand better. Ask questions when you don't understand and she will explain again. She smiles a lot, she's very kind hearted, and she seems to really enjoy teaching. Each class is much more of a discussion than a lecture and she really wants a lot of participation. It is a nice class if you like literature and discussion. It is a perfect, encouraging place to practice your French conversation skills.
Fall 2017 - This class is taught entirely in French. You do need the texts and should have them during class, but you don't need to buy them most of them are available online or at the UCLA libraries both in French and in English. There were three assignments. The first paper was actually two papers and each were about 1-2 pages and about different, but related topics. The second paper was a similar situation, but the two papers were each 2-3 pages long. The first and second papers needed to be turned in on TurnItIn and in class. The final paper was due the last day of finals week and only needed to be turned in online. The final paper consisted of only one paper that was 5-8 pages long. The workload was not bad though there was a fair amount of reading. The reading was very interesting (particularly in the second half of the class when Molière's plays were introduced). The number one part of this class was participation. Professor Melzer does not judge your French and actually seems to be more impressed with you when your French is not particularly good, but you attempt to participate. She is incredibly encouraging and very willing to help if you ask for it. She repeats stuff a lot in class to help everyone understand better. Ask questions when you don't understand and she will explain again. She smiles a lot, she's very kind hearted, and she seems to really enjoy teaching. Each class is much more of a discussion than a lecture and she really wants a lot of participation. It is a nice class if you like literature and discussion. It is a perfect, encouraging place to practice your French conversation skills.
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