Tan, Carl Lexter

Ateneo de Manila · 22 comments

3.6

based on 22 comments

positive 11
neutral 8
mixed 2
negative 1

Helpfulness3.2

Workload2.9

Would retake2.9

neutral

Hi is anyone under this class? I haven’t been added sa Canvas yet.

positive

Very kind! Tests are easy as they are 100-200 items!

neutral1 reaction

Anonymous member 656 everything you need for the quizzes and exams are in her slides

positive1 reaction

Anonymous member use the flashcards she gives to study for her exams, they're very helpful

positive

From my experience she doesn't. Pero she's generous naman sa score sa final cultural project.

neutralJPN 14

Bump! For anyone Who took her under JPN 14. What are your reviews so far?

neutral

he was honestly challenging. he had pop quizzes almost every session so we had to process everything he taught that day and it was so unsettling since we always had to be prepared. we also weren’t allowed gadgets in class and he teaches super fastmore

positive

carlos sensei is goated, absolutely my favorite prof in ateneo he teaches japanese very well and makes every session enjoyable, and he provides great feedback. dont be shy to ask him questions because he answers them very in depth his anecdotes about japan are funny and also very insightful about japanese culture, norms, and life so you can still have fun while learning just as long as you put in the work, yr in great hands 🙌🫶 easy B+, A with effortmore

positiveJPN 12

Hello, I'm taking ma'am Alvarez for JPN 12 now. I can vouch for her since while medyo malaki din workload niya, it isn't so bothersome if you know how to manage your time decently & know how to review on your own. (Self-study is a big part of learning any language after all) Her class consists of a lot of recitation, but don't be afraid to screw up or be extra and experiment cuz she gives detailed feedback / insight on your answer din. She gives (ungraded) worksheets din that you can always fill out and refer back to kahit di ka nagnonotes. I usually work on them or copy kanji whenever I'm bored in some other core subj lmao. If there's anything I (personally) don't like about her class it's how she tends to shy away from using / teaching kanji outside of kanji presentations. I'm Chinese so I know kanji by muscle memory, but she doesn't really help as much with starting it early. She's quite fun and even if you might not vibe with her, imho she builds a solid foundation for learning Japanese and language-learning skills (esp. if you choose to continue learning Japanese even after).more

positive

had like 2hrs worth of work everyday with alvarez and if you don’t submit stuff the day immediately after your last session (yes, even if you’re absent on that day), she won’t grade your work. take her if you want to brute force learn the basics of japanese in a month, i’d say she’s the least lax out of all the profs. if you want an easy A/chill class, would suggest taking a *japanese* prof insteadmore

mixed

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I find Alvarez' class fun xD, tho she does give homework every session (mapa async or online or onsite), I think the workload is pretty doable naman, and in the first few worksheets she hands out, she lets you submit it again until you get a perfect score. Her class is lowkey uncuttable because there's always a seatwork or activity, but they're fun! I went into this class thinking I'd hate Japanese kasi I saw all those reviews telling people to run xD but it's my favourite subject now But then again, I might just be saying this because I'm picking up Japanese quite well despite not being into learning Japanese BEFORE taking the class, (I watch Anime but I never really took an interest in learning the language, just mindlessly watching with subtitles on)more

positiveJPN 11

took her during intercession for jpn 11!! A-able with LOTS AND LOTS of effort (i cannot stress this enough). her classes were very interactive as everyone would take turns to recite + we would have hw every day. she gave feedback very quickly and wasn’t super impatient when we made mistakes? if you want a chill class, she is def not for you 😭 but i still learned a lot from her class :Dmore

positive

Can't say anything for the other profs, but Ma'am Alvarez's class is the most workload heavy. Don't get me wrong, if you want to learn Japanese, you WILL HAVE TO learn it QUICK and (mostly) on your own with how she teaches coupled with how fast the pacing of the course is. Most of your days will either consist of self-study, completing a worksheet for next session, quiz/long test, or any combination of the 3. Both onsite and online meetings are also quite recitation focused, so if you don't like getting called you gotta answer either way even if you slowly say it. The way she teaches is basically a crash course, a really fast one. She'll present a video on a grammar function for sentence construction, read a few sentences on how to do it, and then move on to the next video. This, plus recitation, is the basic formula for every lecture session, sometimes with a quiz at the end about the previous lessons. So if you think you can handle Japanese classes being the main character of your semester or year, then I'd recommend reading reviews about other profs.more

positiveJPN 12

I had a great Nihongo experience! I took her intersession class. By the end of the course, I had a really solid grasp of basic nihongo and was considering taking JPN 12. -She didn't expect us to have completely memorized hiragana and katana right away. It took, I think, 1-2 weeks for us to finish. -After every session, she gave out a section of Genki I (the prescribed textbook) as homework. She expected the class to have answered the homework on the following meeting and called some students to write their answers on the board. -Other homework included writing a self introduction, a daily routine etc. completely in Nihongo. She gave a range for the expected number of sentences. By near the end of the course, she expected us to use the kanji that she taught. -Her slides had a bunch of drills, and the class answered these drills through a recitation that cycled through everyone in the class. -From time to time, she called some students to play out a sample dialogue. -Her quizzes ranged from easier or as hard as Genki I exercises, and she gave about 1-2 per module (I think). -Her exams were a bit more challenging compared to Genki exercises. Expect some questions to exploit some tricky grammar concepts such as correct usages of particles and verb conjugations. I think if you have successfully done the book exercises, you will have no problem in the exams. -She gave a lot of opportunities for bonus points and she routinely gave homework for one to earn them. She also likes games and asked the class to form groups to play. One can add 1-5 points to exam scores depending on their performance. -We finished around 20 kanji. I recommend using the Anki app for this. I strongly recommend memorizing all her example vocabulary for each Kanji because she will ask them in the exams. Memorizing all the vocabulary will also help you memorize the different pronunciations for each Kanji character. -Finally, we submitted Kana Art for our final output! https://kanakomphil.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-japanese-studies-program-of-ateneo.htmlmore

negativeJPN 11

was the beadle for her jpn 11 class in intersession, never again 😭 her class was very fast-paced, even more than usual because it was intersession. she was also pretty passive aggressive (like the other comment said) because she'd expect you to know some words in japanese already even though she didn't formally teach it. the workload is heavy, there's a lot of assignments. she gave them back asap to us which is good but it's a lot. you also have to be ready for recitation always, she will make you recite and she will really make sure na makuha mo before moving on to another person. please brace yourself, kaya naman magka-A if you REALLY put in all your effort 😭 good luckmore

positive

Honestly, save yourself and don’t take her class. Her classes are very fast paced. Workload is pretty heavy (she gives out 2-4 pages homework almost every meeting ++ seatwork before quizzes) Her class requires maximum effort! She also makes us recite consecutively so you really have to prepare yourselves with the PPTs/primers she gives out before attending her class. Overall, we had 3 hws, 5 quizzes, 3 written exams, and 1 oral exam. If you really want to learn the language and is willing to dedicate most of your time studying it, I’d say go take Miss Alvarez. But if you’re just looking to finish your FLC and want a chill class, then her class is definitely not for you. In my class, i think 7 people withdrew 😭 which i wish i did this as well tbh I’d say she’s really knowledgeable about the course and you’ll really learn from her. But her class is definitely not beginner-friendly and is not chill. Personally, I will never take her again.more

mixedJPN 11

Hello I took her for the first semester of FLC. (JPN 11) PLEASE RUN! (Not kidding haha!) I saw past reviews giving her good reviews and took it (and because of my time schedule). The first session was very lighthearted, then suddenly it became very heavy. I know FLC is usually fast-faced, but during the session’s she usually just gives us the words or the sentences and does not even explain them. So please expect to self-study almost every day, and if you miss a session, there is a lot to keep up with. For the workload, we are usually given a homework assignment to do; sometimes it’s very easy but a lot. We did two writing assignments (one about someone you like & what you do typically in a day.) Many quizzes, and two long tests (please always review a head and write everything she says. She likes to add new words in the tests). Experience: She tends to be passive-aggressive most of the time and expects us to understand what she is teaching immediately. For my class, she tends to ghost us, literally expect a reply within 5 days or none at all! And for online class sessions, she ends the call immediately, so you can always expect that it’s hard to consult. I would not take her again honestly; in my own time, I loved learning the language, but because of her, I almost hated it. If you are planning to take her, please learn Hiragana and Katakana, and also try to learn numbers, days of the weeks, days of the months, etc. (Those who got A & B usually study a lot, so it’s commendable if you survived her class!)more

positive

also took her during intersession; in short, not so beginner-friendly and she isn’t an approachable prof. HEAVY workload. we got worksheets due the next day everyday, and she doesn’t grade them if you don’t submit in the session immediately after the last class. these take long to finish. in-class activities and recitation are a big part of your grade. i did well on assessments but max cut, and this is what can take you from an A to a B+ (my grade on canvas would go down by a LOT after every session i cut). i know she paces depending on the class (had a friend take her this sem and they were stuck on earlier modules for longer), but, as others have mentioned, she is pretty passive-aggressive when it comes to people who are behind/visibly struggling (and even to people who do well in class but are unable to submit worksheets on time). i most definitely DID learn, but i had to brute force her workload. this is a good class if you REALLY want to learn and need that extraextra pressure to put effort in, but for anyone else, there are much more pleasant profs to choose from.more

Tan, Carl Lexter

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