John Kinney
English As A Second Language - Northern Virginia Community College (all campuses)
4.3
Quality2.6
Difficulty80%
Would Retake83
Reviews80%
Would Retake
83
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
83 total ratings5
58
4
10
3
5
2
4
1
6
What Students Say
“The worst teacher I have ever seen at NOVA”
ESL42 - 1.0 rating“He is nice but too much homework”
ESL52 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
96%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.29 avg changeRatings by Course
42
5.0
(1)FALL012A
5.0
(1)41012A
5.0
(1)ESL31
5.0
(3)ESL33
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
EEL51
5.0
ESL51061
4.0
ESL32
3.0
ENG111
3.0
ESL41
2.7
Reviews (50)
For me he was easy to follow. He gave good advise on my papers and was fair. He is fun in class too. I wish I took him two dayss instead of one.
Good. But he only teaches ESL. I wish I could have Mr. Kinney for ENG 111.
No complaints. He can make the class laugh and relaxed. Good activities.
Very good teacher
easy to follow and likes the subject. linguistics can be a little tricky, but he makes it REALLY clear. sometimes a little picky on homework, but is fair.
He is a nice teacher but pretty fair for scores. IF u do his work you'll pass otherwise nooooooo.I had his class for fall semester and i fail his class .Because he is a good teacher and it was my bad and im taking his class again for spring.Remember You need to do your test and hw well to order to pass.
he is very good teacher and helpful and u can improve a loot with him. i took esl 42 with him and then i took esl 51 cuz he is the best teacher in esl classes. i strongly recommend him for u
He is good teacher, I will give you advice that you need. I have being attending NOVA last 3 Years and no one told me what I need to improve. He is the best teacher, you need to take his class believe me!
I have taken other ESL classes but this teacher is one of the worest one his teaching methodology is zero I have a B.A degree from other country in chemistry, I don' t recommended him at all.
He is an excellent teacher who always has methodical ways of explaining the English language well.He may not be easy on grades and though or writing you comments that sometimes hurt your feelings!
one of the worst teacher gives lot of homework and make 60% student fail
Good class. The hybrid format is good for me.
Fun teacher. Explains what you need to know!
U need extra time for HW. He likes when u email him and hate if you arrive 2min late. You can improve a lot.Some parts of the hw were posted just on fridays (classes mo/we) You always need to check your email or BB to be sure about the hw. First you write the essay,then he explain what to do.Weird method. good person. do not be late. do everything!
He is good at explaining and helps you to make sure you pass the class. he does not tolerate tardiness or laziness. In class he likes to stay on topic and not talk a lot about other topics not related to the class. overall I would recommend his class.
He is great! My writing improved!
Interesting class discussions. I was never bored.
Professor K is very knowledgeable, intuitive, and funny. He gives homework handouts after every class to get you prepared for the test. For the final paper, you can send the draft to him for suggestion. I got an A on my paper instead of a C by doing that.
Professor Kinney was an excellent teacher. I am glad I took his class last semester. If you want to learn! take his class. Very resourceful and always gives hand outs for extra materials to learn. Very understanding as well. We all have family emergencies and he is the one professor didn't give me a hard time about pressure on my work.
I took professor Kinney class about 3/4 years ago since then I took eng 111, 112 and 205. He thought me more than any of those other classes. Very kind, helpful and clear.
This was one a very peaceful class, I do not have any complain. He gives I will say the average homework, but at the same time he doesn't get crazy if you do not doit, at the end he grate the homework but he is very kind. The same with the test and he is kind of funny too. I really recommended him.
Not bad. Not very interesting, but do the homework and you pass. Lectures are long, but do have breaks. Easy.
He is the best teacher!!! Professor Kinney has passion for his classes. very helpful and kind. I strongly recommend him!
If you want to ask anything, don't hesitate to ask him or email him. He will answer or reply to you immediately. You will have a tons of assignments but it will help you improve your E very quick. I will take his class again if I have a chance.
His class is fun.
Do not take class with him, easily gets annoyed if you challenge him. He is only interested to be seen as a tough teacher but he is out of touch. unnecessary pressure and work load just for no reason. He does not test you in Academic vocabularies instead only fiction vocabularies test. The worst teacher I have ever seen at NOVA .
A great teacher who gives you all the tools to pass the class.
Great teacher. He will give you the help you need!
If you just do the assignments he gives, you will be fine.
The most amazing professor at NOVA. Highly knowledgeable along with being humorous. Take him, you won't regret. :)
He is a good professor, gives amazing lectures but he gives a lot of homework.
Professor Kinney is amazing, he is so funny, he makes you relax and enjoy the lectures. Gives good feedback with fair grading. He always makes sure you understand the lesson before he move to the next lessons. I took with him ESL 41 and 52. I learned a lot with summery writing an essay. take his class you will enjoy his lectures and learn a lot.
He is nice but too much homework. Tell us to write too many papers in 8 weeks class. Need to work hard.
Very understanding and very clear. You will know what you need to do.
He is really great! You will really like him.
He will work with you if you need help. He understands the needs of international students. Your best choice!
He knew what students need to improve their skills. He also gave clear feedback to your essay, so you can revise it and get a better grade. Get ready to read packet and spend more time for homework which is a little bit heavy. But at the end, you will realize your writing skills much better than before. Take him if you take your studying seriously!
A very respectfull Professor. I highly recommend him for any classes. I enjoyed being in his class. He always comes with a very clear criteria and very fresh and most updated materials.
This professor is funny, hilarious, respectful towards others cultures and an amazing professor and person. I did good in his class. Get ready for a lot of reading but trust me,he makes the class fun and interesting. It is a relaxing class and you will learn a lot in this class. He always tries to put students in groups so they can communicate.
This was a great class. You will improve your speaking for sure!
Will go out of way to help. Gives alot of feedback on writing. The class is great. He follows up with you!
You won't regret taking his class. Very clear.
Coursework seemed intimidating but it was not bad overall. Minimal teaching happens so you have to make sure youre learning the correct info. Exams were easy and multiple choice, final was the hardest but still easy. If youre interested in Linguistics, take this class and take Professor Kinney.
If you want to improve your writing in English, take his class. Get ready to write essays (it is not that hard since he is not a tough grader). He also gives clear and good feedback for every essay you write.
Professor is nice, but I would not recommend him to my worst enemy. too much homework for 3 credit class. flexible with dates and understandable.
Really interesting reading and class discussions. Fun assignments that connect to the real world.
Worst ESL class experience. Lectures like AI bot. He rarely answered questions. He was also a tough grader. I had an emergency and missed some assignments. He said I could submit them late, but after I completed the final exam, he never graded them and ended up failing me. which also impacted my financial aid and messed up my next semester.
He lets students write about what they are interested in. That was new for me at NOVA. I liked that.
Had this guy for Linguistics. He was okay, but a tough grader for that class. Also the book he uses for ENG 200 specifically is useless at times. So if I couldn't rely on the textbook or the professor to explain things well for specific topics. Again not a really bad professor but maybe a poorly designed course. Beware if you ever take linguistics.
Very nice class! I liked the projects and class discussions.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
96%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.29 avg changeRatings by Course
42
5.0
(1)FALL012A
5.0
(1)41012A
5.0
(1)ESL31
5.0
(3)ESL33
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
EEL51
5.0
ESL51061
4.0
ESL32
3.0
ENG111
3.0
ESL41
2.7