Spanish has truly been a learning experience for me all around. My first Spanish class last semester prepared me for what to expect from this class. I started this semester with a slight knowledge of Spanish but enough for Spanish 2. I noticed my growth when I stopped doubting myself when it came to what I knew. Once I started to believe in myself I realized I knew more than I gave myself credit for. Learning this made it easier for me to participate in class discussions or complete assignments without feeling like I didn’t learn anything. I still have some trouble with speaking Spanish but I have gotten better at comprehending what is being said. The most challenging part of the class was the video projects because again my strong suit is understanding Spanish but not speaking it. These video projects required me to get over that and to try. I was able to overcome a lot of my weaknesses from the class group assignments. Working with other peers who are learning the same thing is very helpful. They are good in places I lack and vice versa allowing us to help each other. The written assignments helped the most with my comprehension skills because it taught me how to spell correctly, don’t forget the accent marks, and when and how to use the mascaline and feminine verbs in spanish. This has strengthened my ability to write and understand spanish making it much easier for me to do what is being asked of me by my professor. My weakness is my inability to speak Spanish clearly or without second guessing myself. I am confident that it will improve sooner than later. 

Instructions

Exploring Culture

While taking Spanish 102 I have learned a great deal from the lingrohub that we use. I wish It was just a little less confusing to use but as far as helping you understand the vocabulary and how to use It lingrohub does a good job. This has helped strengthen my ability to comprehend certain sentences. Another thing that I think benefited me was the group assignments allowing two people to help out where the other lacks.

These products and practices helped me stay connected with the assignment. They had multiple different ways to help such as on lingrohub they give true/false problems, word problems, word banks, and etc. This helped because I am a student who learns from now only doing but having different ways of being taught. Lingrohub offers a variety of assignments to help with vocabulary and comprehension. They challenged me because It was a new style of teaching I wasn’t familiar with but turned out to be super useful. These challenges reveal that there are multiples sources available meant to help you succeed.

Engaging in Communities

The importance of engaging in your immediate community and the global community because not only does It benefit people around you It also helps you. You will always be affected for what happens in your community especially if you can make a change. Engaging in you immediate community helps you learn and understand the people nearest to you making It a safer and more comfortable neighborhood for all people. Engaging in the global community is important because we should care about helping everyone no matter where they are from because we are all humans who should want a better Earth to live on.

Growing up before I left for college I use to make these care packages with my family and that includes every day necessities and food packages. We use to go up and down the streets of DC and feed and help all the people in need as much as we can. I enjoyed being able to give back to the people who were forgotten and struggling because they were mostly amazing people who just needed an opportunity to be better. Helping your communities teaches you a lot about being grateful and humble because all It takes is a few bad decisions and that could be you and instead of tearing them down we should help them to help themselves.

Interpersonal Communication

In English, give a very brief 3-4-line description of TalkAbroad and other interpersonal oral/audio activities, discussion board and other interpersonal writing/reading activities you completed this semester inside or outside of class for or related to your Spanish learning. (See Modes of Communication link for definition and examples).

Then, in a short paragraph or two, write a reflection that includes each type of the interpersonal (spontaneous, unplanned) communication activities: telecollaborative (TalkAbroad) conversations, discussion board posts, and any other interpersonal exchange.  Explain how you’ve grown with each assignment/activity. What was difficult and how did you overcome that difficulty? What did you excel at and why/how? What/how did you learn from it and would you do differently next time?

Presentational Speaking

This semester the presentation I remember is the cooking class assignment. We were asked to find a recipe or dish to make and then record yourself cooking It while explaining what you re doing and using in Spanish

 We have only done maybe two or three presentations and for all of them my answer is the same. When is comes to the comprehension of the language I can understand what is being asked of me. I struggle with answering the question properly and correctly pronouncing the words and vocabulary. Each presentation makes It just a little easier the next time because the practice from previous ones come about. In my opinion It is definitely one of the harder aspects of this class but not impossible.

Presentational Writing

In this class I did a good amount of assignments that required me to write in Spanish. In my pamphlet I explained what mental health and depression is, symptoms of the illness, and what’s the best course of action to take.

I have grown in that department because I was able to complete the assignment with very little help. For example I wrote a pamphlet about mental health and why depression should be taken more seriously and of course It was in Spanish. I wrote a pamphlet about mental health and why depression should be taken more seriously and was able to understand the information I put in the pamphlet. It slowly became easier to do the projects that we’re assigned with each one I felt my understanding of the grammar grow and help me get through the assignments.I could do better next time by not being afraid to ask for help and use all the resources that are offered to me.

Interpretive Listening

The Interpretive communication activities we did consisted of websites like Lingrohub and the Language Learning Center. Lingrohub gave you different auditory questions and you either had to complete the sentence or answer the question. The Language Learning Center is to help guide you with tutors, programs, and any other resources.

Lingrohub and the Language Learning Center are the two best resources. Especially when It comes to the listening portion of this class. It becomes harder to pick up important or key words when listening to an audio because they speak very fast. It does start to help you with your listening skills making It possible for you to slowly pick up what’s being said. I learned that if you can find the key words you’ll be able to figure out what is being asked of you. My takeaway from the listening experience is just to be extra focused and prepared because they will answer all questions in the audio you just have to be listening. It is a lot harder to do when you don’t have words to follow along with but It does help your listening skills.

Interpretive Reading

The Interpretive communication activities we did consisted of websites like Lingrohub and the Language Learning Center. Lingrohub gave you different auditory questions and you either had to complete the sentence or answer the question. The Language Learning Center is to help guide you with tutors, programs, and any other resources.

Lingrohub and the Language Learning Center are the two best resources. What was unclear for me was some assignments was a little harder to do because of my lack understanding. For example the assignments that wanted me to match what I read about the people to certain boxes. Some things are harder to comprehend than others which makes doing It just a little harder as well. I overcame this by seeking help for that specific kind of problem. I didn’t allow myself to get discouraged and give up because that doesn’t benefit anyone especially the student. Each assignment as taught me how hard It is to learn a foreign language and It’s not an overnight task.