Professor
Stephen Werner
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Most Helpful Review
Let me start by saying this man doesn't have a clue how to use email and doesn't have voice mail. Lectures usually were him trying to prove that he had memorized a poem and could recite it as fast as possible (making it, obviously, hard to understand). He was inflexible and quite honestly, for a French professor, I was surprised with how little French he spoke during class. He is extremely knowledgeable, I'm sure, but unfortunately you'd never know it. I'd avoid his classes if I were you... you never know what grade you are going to get or if you will have a final exam or not...
Let me start by saying this man doesn't have a clue how to use email and doesn't have voice mail. Lectures usually were him trying to prove that he had memorized a poem and could recite it as fast as possible (making it, obviously, hard to understand). He was inflexible and quite honestly, for a French professor, I was surprised with how little French he spoke during class. He is extremely knowledgeable, I'm sure, but unfortunately you'd never know it. I'd avoid his classes if I were you... you never know what grade you are going to get or if you will have a final exam or not...
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Most Helpful Review
I took French 60 and it was a really GE, for me at least. There are no midterms or discussion sections. You read three books. The first one is easy to read because it's entertaining. The other two are really boring. I still managed to get an A in the class without reading much of the second two because he CONSTANTLY is talking about the main ideas of the novels. So, no quizzes or midterms, no written summaries of the novels, just 2 essays for two novels (5 page maximum) and either a blue book final or another essay. Writing the essays did take work, but I managed to get A essays just by working on them everyday for a week. Just come to class and listen, even though he rambles a ton and sometimes he gets really off track. It's a pretty easy GE, especially if you're good at writing.
I took French 60 and it was a really GE, for me at least. There are no midterms or discussion sections. You read three books. The first one is easy to read because it's entertaining. The other two are really boring. I still managed to get an A in the class without reading much of the second two because he CONSTANTLY is talking about the main ideas of the novels. So, no quizzes or midterms, no written summaries of the novels, just 2 essays for two novels (5 page maximum) and either a blue book final or another essay. Writing the essays did take work, but I managed to get A essays just by working on them everyday for a week. Just come to class and listen, even though he rambles a ton and sometimes he gets really off track. It's a pretty easy GE, especially if you're good at writing.
Most Helpful Review
I took with French 12 and French 118 with Professor Werner. I went in to my first class with him pretty scared after what I read on here. Seriously though, people on bruinwalk need to suck it up. First, he's an absolute genius. I don't think I've ever meet a more intelligent person in my life. And yes, this makes him rather intimidating. Asking questions can be a scary experience but he'll always take them. If you go to class (something that 8 people of my 12 person class failed to do) he'll change the way you think. Yeah, he's difficult. He told me to rewrite my entire 8 page research paper 3 days before it was due. He expects a lot from his students, so don't expect that you can turn in an awful paper and he won't care. He INSISTS that you bring him a draft a couple days before the due date so he can go over it. If you're on top of your stuff (I honestly wasn't) and get an early start, there's no reason why you should do poorly. He'll give you tons of notes and suggestions on your paper when he hands it back, which is always within a week. The books you have to read are challenging and, yes, sometimes a little boring. If you go to class, however, he'll point out passages that would make a good paper. It's tempting not to go to class because he doesn't grade on participation. But seriously, GO TO CLASS. I don't know how you would have any clue what you're doing otherwise. He always emphasizes the fond and the forme. He wants concrete details and really pushes you to analyze the style, which was the hard part for me. If you just sit down the night before and crank out some paper on abstract ideas then don't expect to do well. Yeah, he talks really fast. But he reads things the way they're supposed to be read. He's not you're French 1 TA. Also, he repeats everything in his lectures like 50 times so if you miss it the first time he'll probably come back to it. For French 12, the exams weren't bad at all. Go to class, and study the lectures. All you had to do was regurgitate what he said and you were fine. When grading papers he was more difficult, but he's a challenging teacher. Yeah, he's an old guy. This was his 47th year teaching at UCLA. He loves the subject and he loves teaching. Somebody wrote that he was rude. He was always polite to my class and greeted us every day. Yes, his tests are typed on a typewriter and he writes in the accents. So what. If you're considering taking a class with him, don't go by all of these other reviews. He was one of the most influential teachers I've ever had. Who knows how much longer he'll be teaching, so take him if you can!
I took with French 12 and French 118 with Professor Werner. I went in to my first class with him pretty scared after what I read on here. Seriously though, people on bruinwalk need to suck it up. First, he's an absolute genius. I don't think I've ever meet a more intelligent person in my life. And yes, this makes him rather intimidating. Asking questions can be a scary experience but he'll always take them. If you go to class (something that 8 people of my 12 person class failed to do) he'll change the way you think. Yeah, he's difficult. He told me to rewrite my entire 8 page research paper 3 days before it was due. He expects a lot from his students, so don't expect that you can turn in an awful paper and he won't care. He INSISTS that you bring him a draft a couple days before the due date so he can go over it. If you're on top of your stuff (I honestly wasn't) and get an early start, there's no reason why you should do poorly. He'll give you tons of notes and suggestions on your paper when he hands it back, which is always within a week. The books you have to read are challenging and, yes, sometimes a little boring. If you go to class, however, he'll point out passages that would make a good paper. It's tempting not to go to class because he doesn't grade on participation. But seriously, GO TO CLASS. I don't know how you would have any clue what you're doing otherwise. He always emphasizes the fond and the forme. He wants concrete details and really pushes you to analyze the style, which was the hard part for me. If you just sit down the night before and crank out some paper on abstract ideas then don't expect to do well. Yeah, he talks really fast. But he reads things the way they're supposed to be read. He's not you're French 1 TA. Also, he repeats everything in his lectures like 50 times so if you miss it the first time he'll probably come back to it. For French 12, the exams weren't bad at all. Go to class, and study the lectures. All you had to do was regurgitate what he said and you were fine. When grading papers he was more difficult, but he's a challenging teacher. Yeah, he's an old guy. This was his 47th year teaching at UCLA. He loves the subject and he loves teaching. Somebody wrote that he was rude. He was always polite to my class and greeted us every day. Yes, his tests are typed on a typewriter and he writes in the accents. So what. If you're considering taking a class with him, don't go by all of these other reviews. He was one of the most influential teachers I've ever had. Who knows how much longer he'll be teaching, so take him if you can!
Most Helpful Review
Prof. Werner is the worst professor I've ever had. His lectures are boring and he seems unconcerned about his students. It was nearly impossible to understand him for he didn't speak clearly, and he spoke fast entering tangents that no one really caught on. I wouldn't recommend this teacher to anyone.
Prof. Werner is the worst professor I've ever had. His lectures are boring and he seems unconcerned about his students. It was nearly impossible to understand him for he didn't speak clearly, and he spoke fast entering tangents that no one really caught on. I wouldn't recommend this teacher to anyone.
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Most Helpful Review
I took Werner for 17th Cent French Lit. I agree with the previous person, Professor Werner is patronizing, inflexible, an unreasonably tough grader, and expects you to be a fluent or native French speaker. He is not forgiving at all and comes off as incredibly arbitrary, in his teaching style and his grading. He is quirky, and I don't think is necessarily a negative trait. In fact, quirky professors are sometimes the most fun, interesting, or charming. Some of Professor Werner's quirks are funny and entertaining, but they certainly do not make up for his unwarranted toughness and unbending nature. If you don't come up with exactly what he wants to hear, it's not right. He tears apart your accent and makes fun of you for it. The one plus side to this course was that it was relatively light in work. The reading was minimal and there were only 3 short papers. This is probably one of the only French classes you will find that does not grade you on participation and where you could get away with not speaking a word the entire quarter. But, keep in mind, even though there's only 3 short papers, he grades them ridiculously hard, like you won't get an A, so don't expect it.
I took Werner for 17th Cent French Lit. I agree with the previous person, Professor Werner is patronizing, inflexible, an unreasonably tough grader, and expects you to be a fluent or native French speaker. He is not forgiving at all and comes off as incredibly arbitrary, in his teaching style and his grading. He is quirky, and I don't think is necessarily a negative trait. In fact, quirky professors are sometimes the most fun, interesting, or charming. Some of Professor Werner's quirks are funny and entertaining, but they certainly do not make up for his unwarranted toughness and unbending nature. If you don't come up with exactly what he wants to hear, it's not right. He tears apart your accent and makes fun of you for it. The one plus side to this course was that it was relatively light in work. The reading was minimal and there were only 3 short papers. This is probably one of the only French classes you will find that does not grade you on participation and where you could get away with not speaking a word the entire quarter. But, keep in mind, even though there's only 3 short papers, he grades them ridiculously hard, like you won't get an A, so don't expect it.
Most Helpful Review
There are a few people who gave him either neutral or good reviews and last quarter, I decided to believe them instead of listening to the warnings of everyone else who said he was terrible. I was very wrong and I hope others don't make the same mistake. He makes you feel like an idiot because he's constantly asking if he's in the right classroom and besides that, you can't understand what he's saying! Someone here said that he gets excited when people ask questions, but that's such a lie! He looks annoyed when people ask questions and he even went as far as to tell one person in our class that he wouldn't help her because she missed a class. Don't waste your time and money, take another class. If you don't, you'll regret it.
There are a few people who gave him either neutral or good reviews and last quarter, I decided to believe them instead of listening to the warnings of everyone else who said he was terrible. I was very wrong and I hope others don't make the same mistake. He makes you feel like an idiot because he's constantly asking if he's in the right classroom and besides that, you can't understand what he's saying! Someone here said that he gets excited when people ask questions, but that's such a lie! He looks annoyed when people ask questions and he even went as far as to tell one person in our class that he wouldn't help her because she missed a class. Don't waste your time and money, take another class. If you don't, you'll regret it.
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