Instructions

Exploring Culture

My dad has recently taken up cooking so when I go over to help cook or bake I’ll read the Spanish instructions after reading the English. Also, for some reason when I watch youtube I’ll get a commercial in Spanish every once in awhile and I’ll challenge myself to understand what the commercial is by watching any graphics and reading any words that come on the screen as context clues. This one is pretty fun to do when I am with my dad, who knows a little of Spanish. We sometimes just have small conversation so that I can learn to use the Spanish I do know in the flow of conversation.

All three of the methods I mentioned help me in different ways. Reading the cooking instructions helps me with recognizing and being able to read in Spanish. Listening to the youtube commercials helps me with my listening skills and using my context clues. Lastly, talking with my dad helps me with understanding and responding in Spanish. These challenges actually opened my eyes up to how often we tune out other languages. For example, I never actually paid attention to the fact that some cooking instructions don’t just have English and Spanish translations. they sometimes have other common languages like French or even Chinese.

Engaging in Communities

As a student athlete, we tend to do a lot of volunteer and community service work. I recently went to an elementary school to read to children and one of the classes I read to had a little girl who spoke Spanish and was still learning English. Since she was a child I was able to have a simple conversation with her and connect with her.

This experience shows just how much it can mean to someone to not be separated by a language barrier and be able to meet many new people, young or old.

In English, give a brief description of the value of, and importance of, engaging in your immediate community and the global community.

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

Interpersonal Communication

My experience with talk abroad was different because having a conversation with a native speaker is a little more difficult because when I pronounced a word wrong it was hard for my partner to understand me. But I still really liked the activity.