The following passage is an honest review made by a real student who had taken the course and professor.
Last semester (Fall 2019), I had taken the mandatory English 1A with support course as recommended by the counselor. It was my first semester and I had randomly joined the course with a professor called Dr. Christopher Greger. I was lucky enough to get a spot in his class as it turns out that he was a popular option for English courses and has a high rating on"rate my professors". Classes in City mostly maxes at 35 people, and as one of the necessary courses, the average class size for English 1A would be at a minimum of 25 students. English 1A with support is counted as 6 units, and the typical class would meet twice a week and the class duration could reach up to 3 hours per meeting, compared to regular ENGL1A which is only worth 4 units.
For introduction, Dr. Christopher Greger is an English and Humanities professor in CCSF who has been teaching since 1999. He has a B.A. from University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from New York University in Literature. He also has his own website, www.hesperidean.com, where he publishes some of his works.
For this course, your English level is expected to be proficient in reading and writing. Although different teachers may have different approaches to teaching the course and use different materials, with Dr. Greger you may expect the following: three reading packets, three written essays, one research paper, biweekly homework assignments, reading of a novel, and one final exam. Dr. Greger chooses moderate topics and includes many reading in his teachings.
Admittedly, there was plenty of work to do during the semester. However, don't let that intimidate you, the work is spread out so it does not stress you. Dr. Greger always offers his support during and after class, he is also available during office hours and replies to emails within a day. He is one of the kindest and most capable English professors you'll find in City College. Furthermore, as it is English 1A with support, we get access to free English tutoring in the library. The purpose of English 1A is to measure your English capabilities and testing whether it would qualify for transfer-level courses, and not to fail anyone.
As for lecturing style, he speaks very clearly and often writes out the important details and discussions on the board. He encourages annotations and sometimes share his notes to the class as well. Overall, we mostly spend time on the reading packets, but also have workshop days where we get help on writing our essays or get time to do research together. On every paper, he also gives individual feedback and solutions to improve your writing.
The homework assignments are simple and straightforward as long as you read the article assigned (which could range from 1 - 7 pages). Sometimes he gives pop quizzes to check whether we did the reading, these quizzes always has a maximum of three brief questions and guarantees your passing as long as you read the passage. The final exam was open book and relied on how well you took notes and understood the passage. Dr. Greger is not a tough grader, however we still need to earn our own grade. Stick to the schedule given and don't fall behind on assignment deadlines and the course shouldn't be a difficult nor time-consuming.
Personally I have made use of the free tutoring sessions and always made at least two appointments before each essay deadline. In class, we also get peer reviewed on our drafts, which introduces different opinions and ideas for your work. This course was designed to offer students with all types of support to pass. In the end it all worked out and I got an A for this course. Would definitely recommend this professor if you are passionate in learning and want to improve your English skills.