Exploring Culture

For class assignments during each unit, we had to research how Spanish speaking states had different social medias, work days, and how they used different phrases. With one of the assignments, I learned that in Costa Rica they don’t us tú unless it has something to do with television. As we learned about different states, I became more interested because you would never know they difference in how everybody uses the language unless you do your research.

Then, in a short paragraph write your reflection. Some questions that may help you process your reflections are: In what way did these products and practices help you better understand values and attitudes in the Hispanic culture as well as your own? How did these products and practices challenge your worldview? What challenges did these perspectives reveal to you? How did it cause you to work through a stereotype or misconception you had and cause you to view the world from a different perspective? Use specific examples.

Engaging in Communities

Engaging in conversations using a language you are learning not only helps you retain the information but also engage in the community. Learning a new language is more than learning new vocabulary but also being able to understand others in the world. Our world is evolving, you can’t understand the world without understanding how others see the world.

Reflect on your experience and participation in these communities. Include artifacts such as photos, audio/video clips, etc.

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

In English, give a brief 2-3-line description of any presentational speaking activities you completed this semester inside or outside of class for or related to your Spanish learning. Include a recording of one of these speaking activities. (See Modes of Communication link for description and examples). 

Then, in a paragraph, write a reflection that includes each presentation you completed in which you explain what challenged you and how you grew and overcame those challenges.  What did you excel at? What/how would you do differently next time? 

Presentational Writing

We were given assignment where we had to create a calendar with our class schedule and some of the tasks that we complete throughout the week.

When creating my calendar, it helped me with remembering the vocabular since I had to repeat several things having to do with my activities. After we completed this we had to write a paragraph describing everything, which helped with my memory. At the beginning of each new vocabulary set I always have a little bit of trouble with remembering since that’s another list to add to everything else. Even though I believe I did my best with this activity, there is always room for me to improve, especially with having full blown conversations in Spanish.

Interpretive Listening

There have been several tasked that we have had to complete that requires you to listen to someone talking in order to do your work. In this particular video she is explaining the different places on her college campus that they have. Off of this one video you have to pick out her reactions to each place she describes.

Other than this one activity, there have been several others where we have either had to listen to a voice speaking and for us to reply to it by recording us. With this type of exercise, it helped me with jogging my memory quickly in order to reply with the correct words. There have been times for myself that I knew what I wanted to say but not knowing the correct wording, so instead of looking the word up to have in front of me every time each video breaks down with each section.

Interpretive Reading

In English, give a very brief 2-3 line description of interpretive communication activities you read in and out of class this semester, such as articles, stories, websites like the Language Learning Center, etc. that you completed for or related to your Spanish learning. Include a copy of one of these activities; remember to cite it. (See Modes of Communication link for description and examples).

Then, write a short reflection paragraph that includes the activities you described above. What was unclear or challenging for you? How did you overcome this difficulty? What did you find most interesting or compelling? What was your takeaway from the reading? How have you grown with each assignment?

When you have finished adding content to this page, delete all the instructions except the link to the Modes of Communication.

When you have finished adding content to this page, delete all the instructions except the link to the Modes of Communication.