Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Throughout the course, students were provided with a culture section within each chapter, covering various customs/traditions of Spanish Speaking Countries. In addition, our professor also provided us the opportunity to learn more culturally throughout various discussion board assignments.

One of the cultural assignments that I was most interested in was about multiple Spanish-speaking countries and how technology has influenced their culture. Reading about various ways that technology has both positively and negatively impacted the way of life for each country has given me a different perspective, as well as being able to relate with how we interact with technology here in the United States.

Engaging in Communities

As previously discussed in earlier class discussion on Engaging in the Community, I am still a firm believer in staying involved and connected with one another. Not only this provides for benefits on the local level, but as well as nationally. A supportive community that is able to stick together is a strong community. One that is able to provide support, updates on health and well-being, and as well as overall moral support.

Another benefit is staying connected on various local and state levels, keeping up to date on laws and new regulations, as well as updates on officials and candidates for elections, etc. I will continue to be a strong believer of being well-connected and I can testify the power of this: sharing information, supporting one another, and much can be said about the global community as well.

Interpersonal Communication

Within the Spanish Intermediate I 201 course, there were a multitude of learning opportunities, which included face-to-face recorded practice (via zoom with classmates), self-recording, as well as video conversations with Spanish speaking people from various countries, via TalkAbroad. In addition, student’s skills were also tested with the professor within a face-to-face zoom “interview.”

Throughout the course of the class, students learned new grammar, vocabulary, and culture related topics, in order to supplement their overall fluency and knowledge. Such topics were reinforced throughout various online homework assignments, video learning, and reading passages. Furthermore, the skillsets and fluency adapted throughout the semester, as well as previous Spanish 101 and 102 classes, were continuously tested throughout a multitude of methods. For example, on one recorded assignment, students were tasked with working with a classmate to develop a video using the recently learned future and conditional tense and additional grammar and vocabulary to create a compelling real-life scenario conversation. The student was to provide an example in their recording of a scenario where the other student appeared to misunderstand the context of the conversation. Within this exercise itself, we were able to work on sharpening communication skills in general, in addition to practicing the newly learned uses of future and conditional tenses, as well as supplemental vocabulary. In addition, similar tests of ability were applied throughout the Talk Abroad conversations.

Overall, I found the cumulative of exercises to contribute to my overall ability to effectively speak and understand the Spanish language at a greater intensity. Also, if I were to make any adjustments in my studies, it would be just to increase consistency, in how often I review and practice newly learned material, as well as previously learned material, in order to retain the essentials in speaking, writing, and listening more effectively.

Presentational Speaking

Throughout the multitude of presentational speaking opportunities throughout the course, I feel as if the overall amount of exercises, as well as additional practice and repetition contributed heavily to the success of effective speaking. I personally feel that a great form of presentational speaking was with that of the face-to-face classmate recordings. This challenged students to work with their peers to formulate a realistic type of conversation that one would have in the real world, while putting their newly adapted grammar and vocabulary to the test. At the same time, this forced students to put their fluency to the test while requiring one another to verbally communicate what they’ve learned on paper, and be able to do so in a conversation with another classmate. I feel like this is highly effective in advancing to a higher level of fluency and increasing skillset in verbal communication. In addition to classmate zoom conversations, I believe the most effective and challenging form of presentational speaking was that of the Talk Abroad sessions. In preparing for this face-to-face virtual conversation, students were given a specific topic, related to themes previously reviewed in the semester, in order to talk about within the conversation. Newly acquired vocabulary and grammar would equally be important to study and review ahead of time in order to effectively carry out this conversation and would determine success overall.

A little different than previous beginner Spanish courses, these Talk Abroad sessions consisted more of an in depth array of topics. For example, my previous and final Talk Abroad session of the semester required us to not only introduce ourselves and talk about personal life in Spanish, but also talk about the subject of art, which of course we had learned earlier in the semester. Doing so, I was required to supplement our conversations with a variety of vocabulary and grammar uses, recently learned throughout the course. With much practice ahead of time and repetition, I believe what drove success was the repetition and previous face-to-face practice with classmates. In addition, this conversation also required the factor of knowledge and learning new things about various subjects such as famous painters and the art world in general, in order to be able to communicate such topics within the conversation. I found it to be a challenge, but with that comes with the payoff of increased fluency. I find the Talk Abroads to be more of a challenge and highly effective however, due to the adaptability required of the student. Since this conversation is less structured compared to our face-to-face classmate conversations, this free-flowing form of conversations requires the student to improvise and push past their limitations.

Presentational Writing

During the semester, students were also tasked with a multitude of writing exercises. This included discussion questions, culture related topics, as well as various projects throughout the course. I feel the cumulative of writing exercises allowed for us the opportunity to increase our fluency greatly and practice the newly learned vocabulary and grammar throughout each module of the course. Especially with the projects, I felt were a great way to reinforce the new learning, but as well as provide practice for previous grammar and vocabulary in which we’ve learned in the previous Spanish classes 101 and 102.

One of my latest writings assigned to me can be found below. It was a writing exercise which prompted students to write a story, similar to the format of a short story we were required to read and analyze earlier in the semester. Students were tasked with applying various grammatical practices in which we’ve recently learned, as well as providing the appropriate use of previously learned material, such as varying conjugations in the past, present tense, as well as present participle for example. I feel this form of writing really enabled to instill new material and refresh my mind on previously learned material.

Interpretive Listening

In addition to writing exercises, students were also tasked with listening to a multitude of interpretive listening exercises over the course of the semester. There were multiple topics, including general conversations as well as cultural related topics and so forth. All in all, I find the interpretive listening to be a helpful tool for learning and familiarizing oneself with the language. I believe it has helped increase my learning as actually hearing the audio dialogue provided enough exposure to instill vocabulary, grammar and the general flow of Spanish conversation.

An example below is a snippet from the course (this video does not belong to me and I do not own the rights to it). We were tasked in watching the entire video and learning about this museum and its history and be able to answer questions relating to it and in turn, be able to write our own passage about a famous art museum in history in the same context.

Interpretive Reading

Throughout the course, Interpretive Reading was also a huge part of learning and adapting and increasing fluency. I personally feel it is as equally important as to that of listening, because it allows you to take your name and read the words and gives you’re a visual of the structured format of sentences. Throughout many of the assignments, there was a good portion of reading in order to reinforce new material, as well as previously learned material, which in turn allowed for the opportunity for students to strengthen their skillset.

On assignment that stood out to me was that of a story we had to read about a girl who shares her experience about moving to America from her homeland, and having to start a new world, after leaving her old life. Throughout the story, we were introduced to a new array of vocabulary as well, so this was a challenging aspect, but also a beneficial one to strengthen our skills and continue our journey of learning and expanding our fluency. In addition, it was great to read about the stories of Hispanic speaking people and their experience emigrating from their countries and how that might be like. Overall, I have found these types of assignments and interpretive reading in general to be a huge part in learning a foreign language.