Current instructor

Steve Fondow

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.50/5 from 30 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

SP226 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 1/5
Professor Fondow is a good professor. Spanish 226 is all writing, and Professor Fondow gave timely feedback that really helped me improve my writing in Spanish. Attending his office hours was also super helpful. There's weekly homework, a few in-class and take-home essays, and a group project as the final. Not a lot of work and I learned a lot.
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SP102 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Just get in a routine of doing the daily homework every day! There is an exam, oral speaking exam, or written exam every 2-3 weeks, but if you attend class and keep up with the daily homework, it's pretty simple. You're graded on participation, but as long as you follow along and answer a few questions per class, you should be just fine!
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SP320 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Steve is a really good teacher and presents well and is willing to help out when you ask. Go to office hours for help! His teaching style is engaging and he is quite funny with the way he presents sometimes. A bit of a tough grader, but understandable as these concepts are a bit harder to grasp.
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SP320 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Steve was the worst professor I have ever had. I love Spanish, but I left his class every day feeling like a complete failure. His attitude towards students is very condescending and rude. He grades very harshly. Every class we had to turn in assignments on paper and he expects students to memorize the book front to back. Avoid him if you can!
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SP320 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Im also surprised by the negative reviews. Steve takes a boring topic and makes it interesting. He uses fun examples and is super engaged during class. There's a good mix of activities, practice, lecture, etc. There are a couple quizzes throughout that are kinda hard but he is very available if you need help. Attendance is important as well as hw.
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SP311 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Spanish is not Prof. Fondow's first language, but it may as well be. He understands grammar concepts and rules super well and is able to convey them in an understandable way
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Steve Fondow

FIRST SEMESTER SPANISH teaches basic language skills including listening, speaking, reading, and writing with no prior knowledge required.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.19 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=119 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.39 GPA, 65.1% A/AB (n=189 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.49 GPA, 67.0% A/AB (n=97 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026SPANISH 101First Semester Spanish

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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