Exploring Culture
Description: Throughout this year in spanish 101, we spent a lot of time working with other cultures and how their lives compared to ours. I found this extremely interesting because it is not every day that you get to see how other peoples lives operate around the country. Most of the time, we were comparing our universities and schools to theirs. There were plenty of differences that we found and a lot of them were mind blowing. As an example, almost all Latin American schools don’t even have dorm rooms, the students live in off campus housing or the commute from home. I’d say that learning about these other cultures gave me a deeper understanding of the spanish language itself because it was able to show me just how diverse this world really is.
Reflection: As I said above, doing these practices taught me a lot more about the spanish language and diversity in general because it made me realize that not everyone lives the same type of life that I do. I would say that overall, I live a pretty standard lifestyle and I find it really cool that if I were to travel across the country and see the way that others live, I know that I would appreciate my life so much more than I do now. One stereotype that was hardest for me to get rid of was spanish speaking people do not always live in poverty. For some reason, I view spanish speaking countries as poor even though they have most of the same things that we do, if not better. A challenge that these practices brought to me was researching information about other countries. I found it hard to find information that was written in english so that I was able to understand these peoples lifestyles and how different they really are from me. Another thing that was cool about learning about these other cultures was that I was introduced to famous people in spanish speaking countries that I probably never would have known existed. Attached below is my work example that correlates with exploring culture.
Engaging in Communities
Description: There are many values of engaging in your community and even the communities around you. One major value in this is getting to know the people who are around you in your every day life. For example, when I worked in the physical therapy industry, it was important that I got to know each and every patient that came in because I knew that I would be seeing them often and I wanted to be able to connect with them on a personal level. As a younger kid, I earned a lot of respect from the older patients that would come in because I was so outgoing and willing to sit down and have a conversation with them. Engaging in the global community is a bit more difficult for most people. Most people grow up wanting to be famous and being able to give back to where they were born/raised but obviously, not everyone can be famous. One way to engage in a global community is by just simply being nice to people every day. One compliment can go a long way with people and it could literally make someones entire day.
Reflection: One way I have engaged in my local community is by being an athlete. I have younger kids that look up to me just because I am talented. It truly is a good feeling knowing you have people that look up to you and want to be just like you. I can’t think of a specific example of where I’ve engaged in the global community besides going to church. I’d say church is its own global community because there are people all across the world who share the same religion and are able to connect because of it. An example of me engaging in my local community is shown below.
Interpersonal Communication
Description: We were given an assignment this semester where we were told to find a spanish speaking person and interview them with 5 questions of our choice. Unfortunately I did not complete this assignment but there are many other ways I’ve demonstrated interpersonal communication for spanish 101 throughout this semester. Also, on lingro hub we were given assignments where we had to communicate with the computer and respond to what was being asked in spanish.
Reflection: Some of the assignments that we did that pertained to interpersonal communication were: the homework assignments on lingro hub where we were assigned to talk back to the woman who was having a conversation with us in spanish through the computer. Also, the 1 on 1 interviews with our professor throughout the semester. And lastly, the 1 on 1 interview with a spanish speaking person of our choice (which I did not complete). Although I did not complete the last assignment, I still believe that I grew a ton with interpersonal communication within the semester but there were definitely some difficulties. I found it hardest to understand the question I was being asked in certain conversations. Also, I would know what I wanted to say, but sometimes struggled with finding the words to actually say in spanish. By now, I have gotten a lot better at this due to our final being a interview with the professor. I have been practicing a ton with flashcards and doing 1 on 1 interviews with my tutor to help me practice. I feel like I have worked extremely hard this past week to be able to get to where I am now as far as understanding spanish in general. One thing that I believe I have been excelling in is understanding the question that is being asked to me and being able to know the words to answer it. As I said before, this was something that was extremely difficult for me earlier this semester but I feel like I am finally starting to get it. Attached below is proof of me having a conversation with the woman on the computer in spanish in one of our homework assignments.
Presentational Speaking
Description: Some of the assignments that we did this year that included presentational speaking were our quick tour around campus talking about our three favorite places, and completing a schedule and writing a paragraph about it in spanish to describe what we do throughout our days. I believe these assignments were helpful for me because it really forced me to come out of my shell and speak in spanish. These assignments were also challenging because you have to try and act as if you speak spanish in your every day life.
Reflection: First, I will begin by attaching my quick tour around campus where I spoke about three of my favorite places to go at Old Dominion.
VIDEO #1: https://youtube.com/shorts/fHl6NtUwsh0?feature=share
VIDEO #2: https://youtube.com/shorts/XuRdG016t60?feature=share
VIDEO #3: https://youtube.com/shorts/seMXGJ_8GEc?feature=share
As I said in the description, although the videos are very short, I found this assignment to be so difficult just because I was trying to make sure that everything was perfect. Also, it was difficult because I was trying to expand my vocabulary and not use the same words in all three places that I visited on campus. I believe one thing that I excelled at while doing these assignments was my grammar, I feel like I did a good job of putting all of the words together in each sentence without stuttering and it sounded as normal as spanish can sound in my opinion. One thing I would do differently next time is to add more information. Before I made these videos, I did not realize that the final video was supposed to be 2 minutes long. I thought it was just a few short clips about our favorite places.
Presentational Writing
Description: In my opinion, I believe that every single assignment we did this year besides the ones where we were speaking can fit into the category of presentational writing. All of our homework assignments where we were told to conjugate verbs and fill them in correctly can count as presentational writing. The main presentational assignment that we completed this year was our schedule. Earlier in the year, we were prompted to create a schedule of what we do in our daily lives and write a paragraph in spanish about it.
Reflection: Overall, I believe that the schedule assignment was one of the easier assignments that we created throughout this semester. From the beginning, I was good with writing out times and things I do at certain times so the hardest part was actually thinking about what I do each day and putting the schedule together. Another thing that was difficult for me was making sure that I write all of my information in the present tense vs. past tense. I overcame this issue by just remembering to put everything in the “yo” form to prevent speaking in the past tense. Attached below is the paragraph I had written about my schedule I created earlier this semester.
Interpretive Listening
Description: There were many assignments that we completed throughout this year on Lingro Hub that dealt with interpretive listening. Other than homework, I cannot think of any other types of interpretive listening assignments that we did besides when we were in class working with a partner. On my own, I did some interpretive listening assignments to help me prepare for the speaking final with my professor which just included going over flashcards and hearing questions asked out loud to determine if I was able to comprehend what was being asked of me.
Reflection: In the Lingro Hub homework’s, I felt it was most challenging to listen because we were asked to listen to a 2 minute recording, then respond to 5-7 questions about it. I found this to be the most challenging of all of the assignments because you had to re-listen to the recording multiple times in order to answer all of the questions without making a mistake. I was able to overcome this difficulty by making sure that after I got an answer, I would pause the recording instantly so that I could put my answer down, then continue listening to find the answer to the next question. When we work as partners in class, we speak back and forth to each other in spanish to make sure each of us are understanding and comprehending the spanish language. I feel as if these assignments were much easier because your partner and yourself are able to correct one another and lead each other in the right direction. Attached below is an example of one of our listening homework’s on Lingro Hub.
Interpretive Reading
Description: To be honest, pretty much every assignment that we did this year can fall into the category of interpretive reading. Some were more major than others, but they all served the same purpose. One of our bigger interpretive reading assignments was on lingrohub when we were given a paragraph with 7-8 blanks and we had to conjugate verbs and fill them in where they were supposed to go. This was something that I struggled with all year and I still do struggle with it today.
Reflection: I believe that this is something that was most challenging for me all year because when reading, you really have to know every word that is written otherwise it will be hard to understand. When you are listening to someone, you get some clues from the tone of their voice and you can just put a few words together to understand what they are trying to say and how they feel about whatever they may be talking about. Towards the end of the year, I began getting a little bit better at these assignments but still not great. My vocabulary has definitely grown from doing assignments like this and also, I am for the most part able to conjugate verbs without any problems. Attached below is a picture of the type of assignment that I spoke about:
Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication