Exploring Culture

Looking back on my trip to Cuba, I wish I spent more time in the city of Havana to study Cuban culture. Before further studying Hispanic culture, I was already aware that it was far beyond the stereotypes of tacos and sombreros. I even explored culture myself by painting my own sugar skull for Día de los Muertos last year.

Engaging in Communities

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic this year, I was unable to meet my professor and classmates in person. All classes took place online through Zoom video chat, taking away the physical feeling of sitting in a classroom.

I’m more of a hands-on learner, meaning that staring at a computer screen for an hour and fifteen minutes does not keep my attention for long. I understand that students did not have much of a choice this semester, but I wish we had more opportunities to use our knowledge of the Spanish language outside the virtual classroom.

Interpersonal Communication

This semester I was introduced to TalkAbroad, an online program which allows college students to engage in conversations with people from outside countries. This program is not limited to one language, clients have many choices including Spanish, French, German, Arabic and so on. For my assignment, I spoke with a student from Guatemala named Jessica.

Before my scheduled conversation, I prepared a few questions to ask my speaking partner:

¿Cómo limpias tu casa?
¿Vives en una casa o dormitorio?
¿Qué coche conduces?

However, my nerves got the best of me and Jessica did most of the talking. Thankfully she also used her hands to help me understand what she was saying. I did my best not to break into any English, assuming that Jessica did not speak English.

Presentational Speaking

One of the first assignments I completed for this class was a spoken report introducing myself.

The biggest challenge for me was not relying on Google Translate to provide me with clean, fluent sentences. I stuck with information I was very familiar with:

Personality traits
Hobbies and Interests

In conclusion, I was able to produce a short introduction without cheating. It may have been simplistic, but it was enough for a first year Spanish student to understand.

Presentational Writing

Interpretive Listening

An interesting activity to practice listening skills is to complete a few songs on lyricstraining.com. Lyrics Training is a website which provides users with filling in the blanks of song lyrics in their desired language.