3.9
Quality2.5
Difficulty72%
Would Retake150
Reviews72%
Would Retake
150
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
150 total ratings5
70
4
38
3
17
2
17
1
8
What Students Say
“Professor Kalmar can, at times, present a challenge for students”
VIC183 - 2.0 rating“When I got the assignment back he gave me a horrible mark”
VIC183 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
77%
Textbook Required
28%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.23 avg changeRatings by Course
ANT100AN
5.0
(1)ANT324Y
5.0
(1)VIC420Y1
5.0
(1)ANT426
5.0
(2)ANT100323420
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ANT343Y
5.0
VIC185
3.5
ANT323
3.0
ANT100AN
3.0
ANT100Y
3.0
Reviews (148)
interesting, fun teacher
No Comments
Funny, clear, and concise. Overall good professor.
No Comments
I've never not had fun in his classes
Linguistics was very interesting....and ALOT of fun! Kalmar is the BEST!
No Comments
boring class, fun prof
he's so funny!! makes lecture fun
No Comments
Really funny professor - Class was always fun - Doesn't kill you on the exam
Funny Guy....can't decide if it's the accent though..
enjoyable
Funny and well organized!
hated the subject matter, liked the law and order episode
A really easy teacher, he explains things really well, and his test was easy
No Comments
He's good but gives WAY too much information
so interesting! made me see things in a completely different way
good material, well taught
No Comments
Enthusiastic, intelligent, caring, and yes, sexy
No Comments
No Comments
extremely hilarious, organised and enthusiastic
makes a boring subject interesting. sexy bc reminds me of jeremy irons
Kalamar, I love east European accents!
He's hilarious
So funny! A great lecturer, very eay to understand the material. A bit repetitive. Very interesting!
Kalmar is the greatest, that is all.
No Comments
Kalmar is the best prof I've ever had and one of the most intelligent and competent individuals I've ever met. It's true: he's funny, but more than that, Kalmar makes whatever he's discussing interesting and serious. Highly recommended.
No Comments
No Comments
Kalmar is a goodlooking prof, I have to admit. He's VERY easy. SO SO SO VERY easy, however, a bit unfair. An hour before the last test, he announced he would take minus marks off for every wrong answer from right. GRR!!! :( But great prof, really funny!!
Prof. Kalmar is one of the best prof's I've had at this university: eloquent, humane, and learned.
Definatly an easy professor,he knows his stuff,but when asked to illustrate with real life examples,he loses his edge.doesnt seem to understand teenage culture today. irritating!I also find hes very quick to dismiss students comments in a semi-rude manner
His courses changed the way I see the world - also he is funny as hell -best prof I ever had
His interest and enthusiasm reflects onto his students. Exam was easy because he taught so throughly
People who were in the course said that last year Kalmar was a good teacher. I found that he was sometimes funny, but I didn't grasp any of the stuff that he was teaching. Also the reading for his section was small, but hard to learn.
good teacher, but he basically just talked about his book therefore going to lecture was unnecessary. course was easy.
Don't judge the reading by it's size- do it!! Prof. Kalmar was very good at engaging a large class (Con Hall) and trying hard to use examples and make sure that everyone understood. He put a lot of effort into the class, he's not a bad prof
I did not like Kalmar at all. His lectures were extremely boring and drawn almost completely from his own book, even examples. He also had a habit of putting random things from lecture on the exams, so pay attention in class!
Sometimes too uncertain -- often paused or revised while lecturing, which could be confusing. Knowledgeable. Could be dull when fumbling, but on the whole fairly interesting, funny. LIN200 taken earlier was big help.
Ivan Kalmar is the best! I can`t believe anyone could diss him, everything that he says is hilarious! and he always uses funny personal stories, I signed up for this class because I loved him so much in ant100. Yay Kalmar!
No Comments
very engaging, sometimes not structured enough, but classes are always enjoyable.
He's funny! (But sometimes very, very strange...)
He doesn't care when during class I make loud anoying comments and occasionally the random barnyard noise. Unlike Coupland who wished I wasn't in his class... grr
So... he sounds Russian or something. Where's he from? ;-)
Great!!1
NO ONE knows where this man is from. His accent is like a mix of every language there is...(make's sense cuz he's a linguist) He was a funny man and it was entertaining just to listen to him speak. He knew his stuff and the reading was light.
His views on hiphop are interesting, on midget**** even more interesting, and on orientalism the most interesting. I would recommend any class with this man.
excelllllllent
the material is really interesting, but the prof kills it- spends more time playing with audio/visual equipment than teaching and that tends to be the highlight of the class
His test is tough!
you only need a day or two to review for the exam!
very interesting class but on tests he takes off 2% on every wrong multiple choice question. unfair i say!
I was looking forward to this class so much (spent a lot of time trying to get into it since it was full, arranged my schedule around this class) and then it turned out to be one of the most disappointing classes I've ever taken.
VERY tech. oriented. Relates ideas well. Not scared to explore controversal topics. Easy tests. Expects a lot in essays. Over all good teacher. (dont know where hes from)
I hate the pretentiousness of this professor. His test are very easy but the negative marking scheme kills it. If he is so worried about having a high class avarage, I think it would be much more suitable to have one essay final exam and an in-class essay midterm. Really crappy attitude in person.
hey this guy is not bad at all....he's prob. one of the best prof. i had and the best at UT. he has some ideas that can be considered at the very least very intresting.
Professor Kalmar may seem funny at first, but in reality, he has very little grasp of the popular culture environment today. In addition, he's very grumpy and doesn't like people all too much, which makes him a miserable professor. The subject matter could have been interesting, but his attitude made it boring. Stay away.
He is the WORST I've ever had. Tests are marked in unfair way, not available what's so ever for help, not even interested to help when you need one! I mean, he didn't even reply to my e-mails/phone calls, or my guidance counsellor's, when we needed to talk to him, although he was in campus! He does not do his job right. STAY AWAY!
I've had professor Kalmar for three courses now, and he has been one of the best professors I've had in my four years. ANT426 was a course I learnt more from than most of my courses at this university. He has strong opinions and yet is very open to suggestion and is flexible, welcoming student input. I'm confused by the negative ratings!
One of the best profs I've had in my 4 yrs. His courses have been very enlightening! The atmosphere he creates welcomes discussion and differing opinions. He makes a tremendous effort to be helpful and to accomodate students as much as he can. Definitely recommend his courses!
This prof was not helpful in anwsering student questions. He also marked on a bell curve to get a certain class average as he felt marks were too high or too low - he gave extra marks (to raise the average) on one test; he took away marks thru a negative marking scheme (minus marks for wrong anwsers) to lower the average on another test
No Comments
his lectures were always engaging
His jokes were useless because it did nothing to add to course content and what he was teaching. He did a poor job of explaining concepts, and often made it more confusing than it really is. He stuck to examples from the readings, which is sometimes unclear in itself, and did not provide any additional examples to clear up concepts.
Mr. Kalmar is the sweetest man ever. Asides from his charming personality, Mr. Kalmar is also able to teach his students to think of things in a whole new way. Truly the best class I have ever taken.
Kalmar is by far my favourite prof at UofT. He is open to class discussion and enjoys thought provoking discussion. Even a day before the exam he took the time to talk to me and help me with some confusing questions. (If he gives you a set of questions to prepare for the exam, study them- you will do fine). Amazing, nice, charismatic, charming!
He can't teach and everything he says and teaches deals with very subjective things, yet he's trying to tell the students the way it "should be" from his own perspective rejecting the students' opinions totally.
Would have much preferred Danesi over Kalmar. This guy was extremely unprofessional and some of the errors he made can't just be swept-aside under the preconception that English is his second language. Even the textbook he wrote is full of basic errors, like missing periods and words. However, he is a fun professor.
Words can't express how boring, incoherent and irrelevant his lectures are.
Prof. Kalmar is quite simply the best professor I've had at my 4 years at UofT. ANT323 is such a fun course and trust me, after a year of it you won't look at anything the same way again.
I love this man. He is the NICEST person ever. His class wasn't very structured, but that was the entire point of this class. We were meant to flâner through 'the quagmire that is history' learning things. And that is what we did. Great class.
The course is too random and obscure for my liking. Also, on his tests you expected to answer exactly his viewpoints. Easy marker though. Overall, boring course.
Very interesting and entertaining. He went out of his way to attract us to the course material. I did not enjoy his required readings, but regardless, he is a very strong educator and I enjoyed all of his classes.
In my 3 years at UofT this was by far the worst course I have ever taken. The syllabus looks incredible, but don't be fooled. Kalmar likes to introduce controversial subjects, state that none of what he is saying is his personal opinion, offer a wiki worthy overview of the subject, and leave students infuriated and uninformed.
Excellent course. Kalmar is a dynamic and passionate teacher, and is adept at making theorists' (Zizek, Lacan, etc) abstract concepts accessible and interesting even to the uninitiated student. Highly recommended!
Kalmar is so friendly and personable, it's hard to believe he's a prof! Sure, he's not the most organized lecturer, but he cuts students a lot of slack (as long as you don't totally slack off!). He's very fair and more than reasonable. Good at provoking discussions, fun class all around. Definitely recommended.
Had him for my VIC one course! Very friendly and funny. Interesting course work. Overall nice experience! I'd like to have him as a professor again some day.
LOVE HIM! not a fan of anthro, but when he lectured i never missed a class,. Makes class funny and interesting.
He was a funny person but very opinionated. The course was kind of easy but very boring :\
Kalmar is extremely biased, it's either his way or the highway. Learn this on the first day. I went to his office hours for help and he assisted me. When I got the assignment back he gave me a horrible mark. Many students liked him, but we all agreed his interpretation of historical events were bizarre (sometimes even 'wrong' I daresay).
Absolutely amazing prof, lectures were interesting and of a completely different style. Beware that notes are not big in this class and you should definitely attend lecture!
He tried really hard to make the class interesting and identified pretty well with the students.
His discussions are too irrelevant for my liking. You are expected to repeat his ideas exactly, even though most of his questions are more opinion based. Your comments are seen as irrelevant and he will talk over you if he disagrees. He can be funny, but most people in my class just laughed at his incorrect historical accounts. TERRIBLE.
The how to study everyday life course was by far my favourite class in my first semester of university. Not too heavy of a course load, and Mr Kalmar makes each class so interesting. Great and fun prof! Try and get into Sii!
Dr. Ivan Kalmar is hilarious. He always takes the time to make lectures interesting for the students and uses examples to make things clear for the students, even if the content (Socio-Linguistic Anthro) is dense at times.
Interesting professor with a lot of knowledge in his area. Turned an otherwise dull area of learning (socio-linguistics) into an interesting and fun area of study.
Mr Kalmar is a good professor. His lectures are easy to understand and there were no surprises on the exams. Also a fair marker. His ANT100 course is heavily based on lecture materials as opposed to readings, so attendance is necessary.
hilarious and super friendly! knows a lot about his area of study; also took his HOW TO STUDY EVERYDAY LIFE first year seminar class - loved it! he took into consideration that some students just can't learn well with dull readings, we had podcasts instead, it was awesome!
Not all my classmates will agree, but I will forever credit Professor Kalmar and his Vic One course for why I pursued a degree in the humanities. While I was moping about some other courses and questioning my decision to go to university, every class with Kalmar was memorable. His website also had loads of useful tips on academic essay writing etc.
Loved him!
Prof Kalmar is one of the best lecturers I've had so far because he keeps things really interesting, has helpful visuals (slides), and he's hilarious! Make sure to go to the lectures because a lot of the content on the final will be based on specific parts in lectures. He's very approachable if you're struggling with the content or have questions!
The content, in my experience, was pretty random but enjoyable. Often the course material was quite relevant to daily life. Kalmar is great at creating conversation in the classroom. For future students: follow his expectations and rubrics to a T. This is how you will do well with him. Also, he runs marathons????
Attend class. Readings can help but are skippable if needed. Funny lectures, content is relatively interesting.
GIRL, LET ME TELL YOU I LOVE THIS MAN! He doesn't post lecture slides, HOWEVER, he is the funniest prof i've had. So smart and engaging. A SILVER FOX!!!! 10/10 would recommend. I had a 6-8 lecture and would always show up to see his beautiful face.
How to Study Everyday Life: bird course but a lot of fun. Purely discussion based with brief multiple choice quizzes based on previous lecture. Those are worth 50%. Literally no readings, just fun podcasts you had to listen to. Kalmar welcomes all ideas and really makes you feel comfortable in the small setting class. Thought provoking class.
Really funny guy, awesome class, relevant to our life today! Exam was multiple choice (as well as the midterm) and was decently difficult (it's sociology-like terms so there's a lot of similar options and multiple answers seem right). No textbook, readings are not important, seriously just attend class! His lectures are fun! One of my best profs
He's a pretty good prof
He's definitely a tough cookie, but I really enjoyed his class. I know a lot of people who loathe him, but I think he's pretty great. He was always nice in office hours, and he kinda reminds me of a grandpa. Kalmar gives solid feedback, and his criteria is always clear. Just put in some solid effort and you'll be fine.
An interesting guy. He'll get the information across to you, and give you all the tools you need. The textbook reading he gives you aren't really necessary for the final; however if you skip a lecture, you'll have a tough time catching up. He's nice, smart, and doesn't make beginning anthropology impossible.
How to Study Everyday Life was the most interesting course I took in first year. Prof Kalmar facilitates the seminars and workload is extremely light, as you only need to listen to a 30-min podcast every week. Be prepared to speak up and discuss in class. The topics are always super fun and quite intellectually stimulating. Highly recommend!
Gives quizzes every week on podcasts you must listen to. The questions are very specific so if you dont take notes you will probably fail them, theyre worth 50% of your grade. He doesnt provide good feedback on papers and gives you little criteria to follow when writing them.
"How to study everyday life" was such a great course! All the required readings were fun podcasts, and the only major assignment was a short essay. Very engaging, interesting man to listen to. Just read and follow all the instructions on his website. Definitely want to take another one of his classes.
Very funny and knowledgeable guy. The content for this course is quite broad, which can be intimidating, but he strives to keep it open and let the student's discussion guide the specifics of what we learn. Much of the mark is determined by tests which are heavy on facts, but the essay is also open and gives you a chance to explore your interests.
The main theme of his course is that everything is a social construct. The topics for the assignments are about who is allowed to play hip hop.
Professor Kalmar can, at times, present a challenge for students. Most of the time, his tests are remarkably easy, but read like trivia quizzes. He tends to request student work that resembles his vision of the material and the world, and if the student fails to conform to this vision, they can often be marked down.
The most boring prof out of the three. His lecture slides are pretty much useless with only like 2 lines of information so you have to be a good listener to be able to pick anything up. He is funny sometimes but there was some talk about him being a little politically incorrect and non-inclusive when it came to lecture content
grading criteria were kinda vague. Kalmar wasn't super interested in other people's views of the world & has some quite rigid views on gender norms & similar topics. class was easy but I wouldn't say I looked forward to the discussions or the assignments. all in all, an okay class that boosts your GPA but that Idk if I would take again.
Prof Kalmar is an easy marker but make sure you follow his very specific criteria for every assignment. It doesn't help that he isn't clear in stating his expectations. However, if you ask him a question after class, he will explain. The course itself is very broad and very easy. He expects the discussions to reflect his (oftentimes rigid) views.
He really cares about his students and does not try to rush content into each lecture. You can see that he really enjoys what he does and attempts to make lectures as interactive as possible with such a large class. Nothing is posted online so it is best that you go to the lectures. Overall great prof.
Kalmar is one of the least caring professors I had in my first year at UofT. He takes forever to respond to emails and when he does they come off as very passive aggressive. He shows a lack of care for the success of his students and is inflexible with assignments. I would not recommend taking his course.
Stubborn and initially wanted to make online exam only 1 hour long instead of the regular 2 hours. Makes jokes during class but his boring, mind-numbing readings and his socio-cultural section of the course was the worst out of the 3 sections in my opinion. Even learning about corn was more interesting. Respectively, his rants made no sense
Hilarious prof who tries hard to engage his students
So few assignments that my entire mark for the semester relies on 60 multiple choice questions with a one-minute timer for each that somehow covers everything we've discussed. Good lectures but impossible test to hold that much weight.
Amazing prof!! The way he structures his lectures enable you to have a firm understanding of the material. The majority of his exams questions are from the practice quizzes. But it is very important to pay attention to what he is saying instead of copying what's written on the slides.
If I wanted to fall asleep I would watch one of his lectures. More boring than watching paint dry.
He is a fabulous prof! Though his lectures can be slow, he really explains concepts well, so do pay attention cause what he says is more important than what's on the slides. He also made online classes interesting by playing good music in many different languages and screen-sharing pictures of cute animals!
This man is so precious with his poofy beard & you can tell he cares for the students even though everything is online and he barely sees us. The lectures were a bit content-heavy but it was all very interesting & he explained everything well. Do the weekly quizzes !! and keep track of the questions !! they're very likely to show up during finals!!
Tried hard to make lectures engaging online. Final test was easy considering it was the exact questions from the quizzes. I stopped doing the readings since almost all the content you need is provided in lectures with a few exceptions. The subject matter can be confusing but he's pretty clear on the answers he wants come test time.
Kalmar definitely gave everyone the resources to succeed in this course. His lectures were concise and interesting without being overly complicated. The final exam was was pulled verbatim from our weekly pop quizzes. Overall, he was a really sweet and funny guy, and the mid-lecture animal photos made my Thursday nights!
I had Prof Kalmar for How To Study Everyday Life and the only thing that was annoying about the class was the weekly quizzes. They are very easy though since they are on the week's podcast or reading and the previous class. He seems like a tough marker but graded the essays fairly and you only need to participate once a class.
He was just bizarre. His grasp on history seems lacking and he often brings up points that are hardly relevant to the class. You have to go to class to take the weekly class quiz (which are always frankly odd as well with lots of hyper-specific questions). Its not a terribly difficult class, but its not a good one either
Amazing Professor, clearly cares about the subject and loves teaching.
Funny, insightful, and fosters engaging in-class discussions with room for disagreements and new information. Offered very in-depth feedback on my final essay. Assignments were fun and not too heavy work-wise. I will definitely be taking a course with Professor Kalmar again if I get the chance.
AMAZING!!! Fav prof. An angel in the body of a friendly grandfather. Lectures are extremely interesting, engaging, & easy to follow. His exam is not difficult if you did all the weekly quizzes! They are crucial!!!! for the exam AND he posts lecture outlines each week.
Worked to always make lectures funny and engaging (great inclusion of simple class involvement). Final exam was based on the weekly lectures, so as long as you attended class you should have done very well (something he stressed in the lectures). Held onto academic integrity and was able to tackle potentially controversial topics with ease.
Professor Kalmar is just the best. I took the course for my BR and oh is he so funny. I love his jokes and how he makes my late Thursday late evening winter hours so smoothly spent. You only need to attend class listen to what he says because he is so sweet and professional and always right on the fashion. He is very professional and fun to follow.
Prof Kalmar is one of the best I've had so far! He clearly cares about his students and is very knowledgable on his subject. I tend to find anthropology boring, but his jokes and energy make the lectures worth going to. Would defo take another class with him if I ever get the chance!
Lectures can be a bit long and monotonous, but prof Kalmar does his best to make things interesting for students who are mostly taking his class as a BR. Very kind in person, and seems passionate about what he teaches!
I was doing okay in the class, expected to get an A+ but got an awful grade on the final that brought me down to a b+. Has really weird questions, asking what he implied in class or asking about random comments he makes during lecture. The tests honestly expect you to memorize everything he says.
Lectures were ok, but I found his tone in lectures to be a monotonic so I stopped going. However, he does make good lecture summaries to post on Quercus so if you just want to CR the course, skipping lectures and purely studying from the notes (and understanding it) is more than enough to pass. The final had lots of questions from weekly quizzes.
Prof. Kalmar is passionate about the subject, and his teaching style for semiotics was very open-ended and effective. Allowed us to have our own opinions on the material while testing us on others' theories. Clear feedback. Presented new and relevant material alongside older stuff. He's also hilarious -- he made us laugh at least once every class.
Dr Kalmar is very funny to listen to and seem to genuinely care about you understanding and engaging with the material.
Professor Kalmar is kind, thoughtful, and engaging who shares valuable insights and challenges students to think critically and confidently, regardless of their personal beliefs. He's open-minded, understanding with deadlines, and creates a respectful space. Attendance is mandatory, but lectures are so compelling, you won't want to miss them.
He was a great guy. But his lectures were badly organized and unstructured. He would throw a million ideas at you without a clear order or connection and jump between topics without building on them first. The course content was easy, but its presentation made it unnecessarily complex. I wouldn't recommend it unless you need it for your program.
Very friendly and not a tough grade. Exam question were very similar to the quiz taken.
My king! His lectures are SO funny and engaging. I found weekly quizzes difficult, but they were good at preparing me for the exam (exam Qs were very similar, so review weekly quiz Qs for exam prep). He made sure to include current issues in our lectures too. Great dude overall. I would take his course again in a heartbeat!
Dr. Kalmar my beloved, never change. Sometimes it was hard to concentrate because he rambles a little but he's always saying little things that bring you back. The exam was way too easy though.
I love this man. A great lecturer, connects many current issues to the course content, and doesn't take himself too seriously. Weekly quizzes can be hard/confusing at times, but they prepare you very well for the exam.
very kind prof!!
Trying to listen to him talk during lectures is like trying to follow someone rambling nonsensically; questionable and confusing. His jokes are an attempt to make the lectures more fun, but they add nothing to the lectures. He seems uncaring toward his students and doesn't appear to care whether they succeed or fail.
I had him for ANT100 and most recently ANT354. He is so funny and very good at conveying the otherwise dense ideas covered in class. 354 had a weekly component where you summarize next week's readings and the previous week's lecture but it was so easy. We had two in-class m/c tests, also very easy, and he released marks quickly. I love him!
If you're not doing the essay, it's a low-commitment course (did readings on Friday, peer-marked on Saturday, then went to class on Monday). He's really chill, so you can learn and participate even if you're not in social sciences. The weekly quiz can be tough since it's so hyper-specific, but you soon get a good sense of what might be quizzed.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
77%
Textbook Required
28%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.23 avg changeRatings by Course
ANT100AN
5.0
(1)ANT324Y
5.0
(1)VIC420Y1
5.0
(1)ANT426
5.0
(2)ANT100323420
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ANT343Y
5.0
VIC185
3.5
ANT323
3.0
ANT100AN
3.0
ANT100Y
3.0