My thoughts on Spanish 102
For 102, my professor was Profesora Padilla. In Spanish 102, we began to cover more extensive verbs and their endings. The preterite tense was covered heavily and we spent a majority of the semester focusing on it.
There were quite a few classes in which groups were formed in order to help those who were in need of a lending hand. In this time, interviews between students were conducted and meeting up before the assignments were due was heavily suggested. In working both in groups and with partners, learning was easier as I had someone else to bounce ideas off of as well as a conversation partner. We made each other’s speaking, writing and reading abilities stronger simply by partnering up.
A problem, however, began to arise when students would not be in class, and therefore there were others left without partners. At one point, I had two separate partners. This made time management a little difficult, however, I had the opportunity to converse more often as well as help those I was working with.
Some of the most helpful activities in Spanish 102 were the workbook pages we would complete. They could be printed out and filled in by hand, and they could also be printed out multiple times so that I could practice more.
Artifacts
The artifacts included for this section will be embedded at the bottom of the page.
Included in these artifacts are:
- A sample outline from a composition
- A workbook page
Exploring Culture
In Spanish 102, we had a unit based on travel and vacations. One of our assignments was to create a travel brochure for a Spanish speaking country. Heavy research had to be done, and so I made sure to do as much research as I could.
When researching other countries and their cultures, it is important to maintain respect, especially if there are traditions that are very different from our own.
Engaging in Communities
Where I live, there is a huge Hispanic and Latino community. Many of my friends in school were from countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and Guatemala. A lot of students were taking Spanish classes in order to be able to communicate with exchange students or students who immigrated from Southern America.
Interpersonal Communication
In 102, many assignments were based on speaking. Through the use of software such as the VHL Supersite and VoiceThread, these assignments were completed.
A few other assignments, however, were completed in person. Such assignments included interviews with both students and Profesora Padilla. These assignments were helpful as they show how effective learning can be through conversation. While I struggle with speaking too fast or stumbling over words, this semester I found it easier to control myself and converse in a way that felt more natural.
Presentational Writing
One of the writing assignments I remember most was the second composition. The topic and theme were about restaurants, as we were learning about different types of foods, dishes, and how to order in Spanish.
With this composition, we had to use the preterite tense to indicate that the event had happened in the past. It was also important to describe dishes, especially if you didn’t know the name of it. It was difficult to describe the dishes, though, because there were some food items we hadn’t covered but were part of the menu at the restaurant I had written about. For the next time, I think it would definitely be easier to write about a restaurant with easier foods and names.
Interpretive Listening
While I don’t remember many listening activities from VHL, I do remember that we had listened to a song. We has listened to the song “A Dios Le Pido” by Juanes, a popular singer from Colombia.
While it was a little difficult to understand what exactly Juanes was singing about, looking up the Spanish lyrics and being able to read them while listening along to the song made understanding it much easier.
Artifacts
WB-5.1-Estar-with-conditions-and-emotionsLewis-Composicion-2