Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Instructions

Exploring Culture

The thing that changed my perspective on the Spanish culture the most would probably be the assignment in which we had to watch a video about the different celebration in each month of the year in Mexico.

The celebrations in Mexico let me see a fraction of the culture that is present in Mexico and in looking at the way they celebrate them I could compare how we celebrate our own holidays. While my worldview did not shift dramatically it did change how I see the Mexican culture as a whole. The one that did change how I see things the most was the running of the bulls. While I did not work through any stereotype one thing that did change how I see their culture was Carnival which seemed like it would be so much fun to visit and participate in.

Engaging in Communities

The importance of participating in communities is huge since it allows you to interact with people that you haven’t before and can allow you to learn new things. This can lead to multitude of things like personal growth or making new friends. A good example of which was the flip grids we did, we learned about each other through the videos we did.

Interpersonal Communication

In the class we did two things that stuck out as interpersonal communication which was our flip grid assignments and discussion boards. The flip grids were important as it allowed us to see what we look like and due to the assignments basic information about ourselves. For the discussion boards we learned about each other likes and dislikes and how each oof us see a certain topic and our opinion on them.

We had three flip grids that allowed us to see our progress throughout the class period. The first was for us to introduce ourselves to the class in the form of conversation. It also allowed us to bench mark what we first learned in the class. The second video was about what we are doing at that time and the tests we had in the coming future. It allowed us to use the new words we learned to form more complex sentences rather than the more basic ones. Finally the third video was a combination about all that we learned as we talked about our family and described them and why they were important to us. The final video allows us to compare with our first video and see how far we have come and the growth in our sentence structure and communication skills.

Presentational Speaking

While not a full presentation the closest things we did were flip grid videos. In which we had to respond to the question of the professor like a conversation. They allowed us to benchmark our growth during the class.

The first video was for us to introduce ourselves to the class as we used the basic words we had learned at the very beginning to form simples sentences.The second video was about what we are doing at that time and the tests we had in the coming future. This video was harder than the first due to the fact we had to make more complex sentences as we had to describe where we were and what we were going to do. Finally the third video was a combination about all that we learned as we talked about our family and described them and why they were important to us. This video required us to take what we learned in the class and apply it as it was a culmination of all that we had done so far.

Presentational Writing

The best thing that relates to this is our discussion board assignments. In the assignments we either had to watch a video or read something and discuss our opinions on the subject with each other.

For the discussion boards we gradually got to learn about each other and basic Spanish and things about Mexico. I grew with each assignment as I learned about different subjects like one of the oldest universities in Spain to the celebrations in each month in Mexico, while learning the opinions of my classmates on each subject. There were a few difficulties as we all have our own world view and how we see things once we learn about things that are different than what we have experienced we struggle sometimes. Though learning about differences in the world is what makes it interesting. For what I could do better is understanding the background information of subjects as without it somethings are hard to learn.

Interpretive Listening

In some of our quizzes and test we had to listen to audio recording and write or check the box of what they were talking about. This allowed us to take we were learning and actually apply it in practice.

The biggest things we had to listen to are some of the lessons, quizzes, and test. Some were very challenging as remembering what each word sounds like and what it means is tough. The way I overcame it was to listen to the recording multiple times and find context clues if I didn’t remember what a word meant. The different jobs was what I found interesting as some of them did not sound like what the english word is. The biggest take away from the lessons, quizzes, and test was that even if I did not get it right the first time was to listen again and learn it the next time. I grew with each activity as I learned from the activity and I learned from each mistake I made.

Interpretive Reading

The best example I can think of was during test where we had a paragraph or short excerpt and we had to read it and answer questions based off of it. As we had to interpret the sentences of the paragraph and the question to see if they were true or false or what word fit in the sentence correctly.

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? The overall assignment I found pretty hard as it was tough if you did not remember what a word meant and how it related to the rest of the sentence. I tried my best to overcome this by looking for context clues in the text and doing my best to memorize the vocabulary we learned. The thing I found the most interesting was the different excerpts we got to read were different each time. My takeaway from each reading was the application of the things I learned before and how I could apply them. I grew with each test as it forced me to think hard and deep about each passage and how they relate to each other and what they mean.