Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
There were several practices that allowed me to gain an invaluable understanding of cultural perspectives. Using Talk Abroad to speak to native Spanish speakers and the VHL Cultura videos were two major practices we used in this class.
Talk Abroad allowed me to speak with two women from South America. Maribel was from Nicaragua. Through our interview I learned a bit about her home and family, Maribel’s favorite festivals and holidays. We were able to connect over our love for horseback riding and travel. Ximena was from Columbia and worked as a large animal veterinarian there. Our interview was an experience that I will likely never forget. As I am aspiring to become a large animal veterinarian, it was amazing to be able to speak with a veterinarian from a different country and learn about how their schooling is conducted. Talk Abroad was an eye-opening experience that gave me a unique perspective of the Hispanic and Spanish worlds. It also allowed me to see exactly how much my skills in speaking Spanish had progressed. The Cultural videos helped me to better understand values and attitudes in the Hispanic culture by letting me see and hear what it was like to be in Spanish speaking country. They challenged my world view by making me acknowledge the fact that the world is filled with cultures vastly different from my own.
Engaging in Communities
It is important to engage in your immediate community so that you develop an understanding as to how your community works and flows together. In turn, this is why it is important to engage in the global community. Communities across the world must learn to interact with one another peacefully. An understanding that every community is different must be made to allow such peace.
Every year our local park hosts a dairy cow show. As the show is hosted within a community park, the public is able to attend and learn about where their milk comes from. Many dairy farmers take pride in teaching the youth who attend the show about the love and care their cows receive. The milking parlor is used as a teaching center as it is open to the public for viewing.
Interpersonal Communication
Talk Abroad was our main speaking activity during our short semester. We were required to schedule two interviews this semester. We listened to audio for our tests and through VHL. As I mentioned above, I had wonderful interviews with intelligent women in South America who gave me a greater appreciation for Talk Abroad. I much prefer it to VHL.
Talk Abroad was extremely helpful as it gave me the chance to have to work through understanding both the words and the accents. From the first interview to the second, I felt that I gained some confidence and was not nearly as nervous for the second interview. Writing down my questions ahead of time helped me to be very prepared for each interview. I have to continue to progress with my Spanish vocabulary, so that I have more to say in the interviews. The audio activities in the tests and VHL were fairly simple although more difficult to understand than the women I spoke to in Talk Abroad. The audio activities tended to speak rather quickly for someone who does speak Spanish fluently. I found it to be better if I could see the person with whom I was speaking. It made it easier for me to determine what they were saying.
Presentational Speaking
This semester we were required to record Prueba Orals for VHL. We were given a list of questions we had to answer and then record our answers. We were also required to create videos for our discussion board assignments.
I did not feel as though these were difficult assignments. The most challenging part was determining what to write. As far as reciting the paragraph, I have always had a fairly easy time reading and pronouncing Spanish words. It has always been a challenge for me to record myself. I tend to have difficulty with speaking in front of anything even if it’s just a recording.
Presentational Writing
To complete the semester, we were required to write a composition. The composition required us to answer a question about telling our mothers about a “car crash” that we had been in. It required using preterite and imperfect tenses. As the assignment was complete in the Respondus Lockdown Browser I do not have a copy of it. We were also required to write a discussion post which involved a small amount of Spanish writing as well.
Understanding and answering the question in the composition was easier than I thought it would be. Even if I did not quite understand every single word in the question, I could understand enough to answer the question adequately. This allowed me to be able to complete this assignment without too much difficulty. The discussion board posts were not nearly as complicated and required less thought and precision than the composition.
Interpretive Listening
We had several different listening activities we had to complete. The VHL recordings required us to listen and interpret what was being said to answer questions pertaining to the recordings. Tests and quizzes also involved a listening portion.
I had to listen to recordings about several different subjects such as someone’s routine or what they had to do. I had to listen to a recording and say whether or not it was true or false. One thing that was challenging was when the speaker would speak too quickly, and I could not catch what they said. As always, I am reminded that the faster a language is spoken, the harder it is to understand. I believe that my ears have begun to adapt and listen for different key words and sounds. Below is one of the audio recordings we were required to listen to on VHL.
Interpretive Reading
This semester we were required to read brief paragraphs from VHL and general reading from the PowerPoints.
These activities were fairly challenging. I was able to understand what the readings were about through bits and pieces. My takeaway was that I need to be able to understand the little pieces of the sentences as well as the big pieces. I believe that with each assignment I was able to understand more parts of the sentences.
