Exploring Culture

I think films that have Latin representation helped me understand better cultural perspectives. For example the film coco. I watched that Film for the first time in my Spanish one class both in English and in Spanish. In an effort to help us understand the cultural significance of the day of the dead, we had to make food and participate in the painting of sugar skulls. I think doing that helped us to understand that a lot of cultural practices are similar in how they celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed. For example, the altars in some countries, bring food so that their loved ones have something to eat in the afterlife. I think that is kind of similar to how altars are in African/African American culture where we put food or sometimes even alcohol on the altar for our ancestors.

Engaging in Communities

I think that it is important to engage in both your immediate community and a global community. I think that it’s important because it opens you up to new cultures, people, and opportunities that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about or have gotten to experience firsthand. For example for me since my stepmother is Puerto Rican and she speaks Spanish if I am having trouble with a topic I’ll go to her and she is able to explain it to me in order for me to better understand.

Interpersonal Communication

My experience overall with talk abroad was a good one. I will say that my second conversation went better than my first one. I think that is due to the fact that I was really nervous during the first one so I ended up forgetting most of what I was supposed to ask my partner. I learned a lot about each of my conversation partners’ lives. For example, during the first one, I learned that My partner’s favorite color is purple. During the second conversation, I learned that my partner prefers hamburgers to chicken sandwiches. I also, learned that a lot of people mix up plantains and bananas but that they are not the same.

I think I have grown with each assignment in the sense that I have improved some in the time between the two conversations. However, I know that I have much more improve in order to carry the conversation well. The thing I found most helpful when doing the assignment again was writing down my questions. The first time I did a talk abroad assignment I hadn’t written down my questions so I didn’t really have anything to practice with beforehand. I think the second time I excelled a lot more because I was able to prepare better. I think next time I’m going to take a bit longer to review and practice conversations with someone that I know speaks Spanish.

Talk Abroad Conversations: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xv_VCjtgn4kA5bB1u24DllvLfX3HQWfv?usp=share_link

Presentational Speaking

In terms of presentation speaking the only Assignment that comes to mind is our class discussions on the site flip grid. On the site, we were given questions by our professor which we had to answer in Spanish. The most recent Discussion was based on our health. We had to record our answers to the questions in video format. In the end, we had to ask each other at least two questions in Spanish and answer them in video format.

The most challenging thing for me about that assignment was probably being in front of a camera and uploading them. I overcame that by recording multiple takes of myself answering the questions. By doing this I tried to slowly become more comfortable in front of the camera. I also practiced what I was going to say before recording.

Presentational Writing

In terms of presentational writing, the only thing that comes to mind is our homework assignment. This assignment that we had to complete on the site lingrolearning. The bases of each of these assignments were for us to research different things about a Spanish-speaking country. The country that I choose to research was chile. While researching Chile I learned that the most popular sport is basketball. I also learned that they have both a male and female basketball team.

The most difficult part about completing this assignment was finding information. Surprisingly enough I found that information was easier to find when researching in English instead of in Spanish. I also found that I got more primary sources when searching in English. When I searched in Spanish I mainly got blogs in the results. I think next time I will try to explain my question in more depth when searching in Spanish.

Interpretive Listening

The interpretive activities that we were assigned to complete were two conversations with a native Spanish speaker. Those conversations were completed through the website talk abroad. The first conversation was based on our family. The second conversation was based on health and food.

Since our class is online I learned mostly outside of the classroom. That being said I really enjoyed using talk abroad. The most challenging this for me while using it was probably trying to utilize our vocabulary words. I think I struggled with this the most due to being nervous. I will say though by the second conversation I wasn’t as nervous as I was during the first one. This allowed for the conversation to flow a lot better the second time. The thing that I took away from these conversations is that I need more practice in conversation. I found that I was a lot more talkative in the second conversation than I was in the first one. I think that was because my second conversation partner was a lot more welcoming/ had a warmer present of sorts as were with my first conversation we were both kind of nervous and awkward.

Talk Abroad Conversations: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xv_VCjtgn4kA5bB1u24DllvLfX3HQWfv?usp=share_link

Interpretive Reading

In terms of interpretive reading, there were many times when we had to read articles and studies in Spanish. This mainly took place when we had to complete research or if we were taking tests on canvas. Outside of class, I happened to find a social media account that helps you learn Spanish. It is a Tik Tok app and the account is called leumas.ogaitnas. on the account, there is a blue puppet that teaches short phrases and sentences in Spanish. I also utilized the app Duolingo in order to practice what I learned in class. I found that those were good ways to not only practice what I learned but also incorporate new words into my vocabulary.

The most challenging part of those two activities especially with Duolingo would probably be keeping up with it. I found that often times I would forget or be too tired to complete a session with Duolingo. On those days they would grant a streak freeze where you can freeze your daily streak so that you don’t have to start over from day one. I overcame this by practicing as soon as I grab my iPad since I use it to create art as well. I found by doing this that It’s harder to miss days. I’ve also found that Duolingo is good in terms of reviewing vocabulary words that I learned in this course.