Overall, I loved this class and Professor Mateu!
Professor Mateu is an engaging lecturer who creates beautiful slides. This class is a really niche field (bilingual speakers and language acquisition), and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about it from someone so knowledgeable. In her slides, she shares numerous case studies as examples and multimedia to keep it engaging.

Grades are based entirely on weekly Gradescope homework assignments and fair midterm+final (and participation). I found the tests to call for some pretty specific details, but they were all on the slides, and the professor definitely went through them during the lecture. Professor Mateu also offers up to 3% extra credit by volunteering in Spanish/English research.

One tip I have for anyone who takes this class is to go to her office hours. Seriously, not only is she an amazing person to talk to, but she will answer literally all of your homework questions. I don't know think anyone will score below a 90 on a homework assignment if they went to her office hours.

The one con I can think of is that this class is more about English linguistics and language acquisition. In every linguistic unit we did, we had to do the same exercises in Spanish/Portuguese at the end, which felt tagged on to justify the course title. This is not the right class for more Spanish/Portuguese immersion.

At the beginning of the quarter I was worried if I would be able to do good in the class because some of the content was difficult, specifically syntax. But the professor and my TA (Isabel) were so helpful and explained very great. After the class and section I would ask the professor and my TA for help and they were amazing. The final grade consisted of 6 assignments, 2 exams (midterm + final, non-cumulative), and attendance (both in lecture and discussion). Both the midterm and the final were online, so I did them at home. For this class you do NOT need to have knowledge in Spanish and Portuguese. I speak Spanish so I found it easier to come up with examples in Spanish for the assignments and sometimes for the exams. This class is not about learning Spanish or Portuguese, it's mostly a linguistics class that uses some examples in Spanish and Portuguese. If I could take this class again, I definitely would! The professor and the TAs are extremely nice.

Also: the syllabus has a 'required' textbook, but I didn't use it or I think no one used it. The professor even said that the exams would only cover stuff she said in lecture and on the slides.

If you are interested in learning more about Spanish or Portuguese, do not take this class. It is focused on linguistics and is very technical. It only uses those two languages as occasional examples compared to English. I wouldn't consider this class an easy GE, but I found the material interesting and manageable with a little bit of time and effort. Professor and TAs were very helpful and approachable.

This class was totally chill and definitely worth it for an easy g.e. I actually saw a lot of people complaining in the groupme but there were only like 8 assignments for the whole quarter and I never got below an 85 on all of them even though I barely paid attention. She does take attendance in lectures but I was doing work or napping for a few of them tbh and it was fine. I signed up hoping to further my knowledge of Spanish or learn a little Portuguese but I'll tell you now that's not what this class is about, it's a linguistics class that uses examples in Sp and Port. Professor Mateu doesn't even speak Portuguese. That aside, I still thought the subject matter was interesting and overall enjoyed coming to class.

This class is a must if you're looking for a chill G.E.! Obviously, with all classes, you're going to have to put in a little work but compared to many other G.E.s I've taken, this is slight work. Also Professor Mateu is incredibly helpful and makes the class super interesting. 10/10 recommend.