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.

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!

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.

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

Pretty surprised by the negative reviews! Steve knows what he's doing -- be prepared to work for a good grade. Certainly not an easy A, but Steve is more than willing to help you out in any way he can. Just because his class is challenging does not mean he's a bad professor. Don't be lazy! You will learn a lot from him!

You should only take this class if you like condescending professors, teaching yourself the material and ridiculous grading standards. I have never disliked one of my Spanish professors at Madison until now. Save yourself a lot of frustration by taking this course with a different professor.

Online Lectures were unorganized, lots of busy work (such as uploading your notes for participation and vague grading criteria), he can rush throw certain slides very fast and not translate meaning for certain phrases/words. Overall I felt like I'd be all over the place when watching his lectures. He a nice and caring guy though.

Steve was a tough prof for me. I had difficulty with phonetics content and didn't mesh well with his teaching style. It's very repetitive and boring but admittedly, my pronunciation and phonetic base in Spanish did improve. Lots of homework and reading, 3-4 tests per term, LOTS of papers, audio projects. He's a tough grader, nothing for completion.

I'm taking Steve's Spanish 2 (a continuing education class), and he's been incredibly helpful. In class, he has a good balance of explaining things in English and giving simple instructions in Spanish. His hilarious jokes make class engaging. Me gusta la clase de Estif!

Steve is awesome (surprised by the bad reviews)! I purposefully took this conversation class with him after I took his 320 class! Super funny guy, but expects a lot of work. If you do what is assigned, you will end up with an A. My Spanish really improved with the personal objectives we had to do outside of class!

Do not take this class with Fondow!He is unapproachable and very condescending- I always felt like he was judging me if I had a question. No matter how long you spend on assignments he always finds ways to give you the lowest points possible. I end up teaching myself a lot of the material bc his lectures are just summaries from the textbook. Avoid!

I took this class expecting it to be a breeze like most of my other spanish classes. It wasn't. He assigns a lot of homework and is very picky with grading it, he will deduct points for tiny errors. I find him to be very condescending and not helpful when I ask him questions. I take notes on all of the chapters before class and I still struggle.

Prof Fondow is honestly one of my favorite professors in the Spanish department. He knew he didn't have great reviews before our class, so he did all that he could to improve. Learned interesting information and got great feedback. Feel like my writing and knowledge of Spain improved greatly. Very approachable and wants students to learn.

I learned so much in this class! I really feel like my spanish pronunciation improved. Initially I was nervous because you have to do online videos of yourself, but he genuinely wants you to succeed and I was a lot less nervous after the first one. If you don't read the textbook/spend time on the homework the quizzes will be hard.

He knows his Spanish, but I do not appreciate his attitude when someone gets an answer wrong because he is condescending, so his class is not conducive to participation. I have not even learned much in the class, which is focused on writing, so if you want to improve your Spanish speaking, don't take this. Easy class, but it is not enriching.

Extremely clear on the material, explains many grammatical techniques I didn't know or know how to use before. No tests, just take home quizzes which I didn't like because it leveled the playing field. Papers graded very hard and grades are low but I assume curved in the end. Not particularly material but does a good job with what is given.

This class was difficult. I went into it loving Spanish and left questioning my love for it. He embarrassed students by pointing out their incorrect answers in a way that make them look like children. I didn't look forward to going to this class and do not recommend this professor.

A decent professor. You will learn a lot from him and your Spanish writing will improve. Your grammar will be brushed up as well. A lot of homework but overall it is pretty manageable with no official exams.

I came into this class loving spanish and left disappointed. The material was easy enough, but Fondow made it boring and was extremely critical, even while giving me good marks in the class. I ended up with a much higher grade than expected which suggests to me his grading might just be guesswork. I would advise avoiding this prof.

He is intimidating, but can be funny. Some of the papers needed better directions but were graded fairly even if you made many mistakes. A lot of people didnt participate which made class EXTREMELY awkward and long. Wants you to do well to the point of getting frustrated if you dont. Wouldnt recommend him, but was still ok and I managed to do well.

Class is very boring mostly book work and a lot of homework. If you need help don't be afraid to meet with him outside of class it helps a lot, in english!

The class would have been interesting if he put even the littlest effort into lesson planning. Strictly textbook and fill in the blank activities. TALKING HEAD. Doesn't encourage students. Thinks Spain is the only Spanish speaking country.

311 is a boring, tedious class. With that said, Steve is a pretty funny guy and does his best to make the material bearable. assigns a lot of homework, but the two exams were take home exams. extremely tough when it comes to grading papers, but overall a pretty good prof.

Not a giant fan of the man himself, but grades very fairly. THe points are spread out in a ton of different areas, and exams were take-homes. One of the rare instances in which I felt the amount of work I put in for the class was reflected accurately. 2 papers, 2 short readings, lots of daily homework but you have an answer key.

good prof. the class is difficult but a mid level grammar class shouldn't be a piece of cake. he's funny and makes class bearable. papers and tests are difficult but thats just the class.

Very difficult class. Would be easier if the professor was encouraging and actually wanted to help you. He is very rude and made me feel uncomfortable asking for help.

Funny, friendly guy. One of the best Spanish professors I've had!

Very hard to get a high grade in this class. Tests are extremely difficult!! LOTS of vocab, 5 total papers (not too bad) but prof. not very helpful at all. Went into the class loving spanish, came out hating it!