Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
One practice that helped me gain understanding of cultural perspectives was watching Spanish cooking videos on YouTube. I watch these videos often because I enjoy cooking and I thought that it might help me in spanish class.
Watching the spanish cooking videos really helped me gain an understanding of what spanish people often eat and what ingredients/seasonings they typically use to give their food a unique flavor. They also helped me realize how a lot of what we eat is influenced by the environment we live in and what is available in it. One of the stereotypes/misconceptions I had is that Americans ate the most fattening foods, But in reality. American people and Spanish people eat a lot of the same food, just made differently. The perfect example would be the taco that every American is used to from restaurants like Taco Bell compared to Carne Asada Tacos.
Engaging in Communities
Engaging in your immediate and global community leads to better outcomes when it comes to issues within the community. It helps people to overcome challenges easier and it provides people with experience that will be helpful to them in the future.
Interpersonal Communication
Throughout the semester, I completed various interpersonal communication activities, including 5 interviews and responding to 4 discussion boards. Prompts were provided for each assignment to guide me as I was completing them.
With each interpersonal communication activity, I did grow in a way, but I also faced many difficulties. The interviews were the most difficult for me because there I really had to make sure I was prepared for whatever my partner would say. That, In addition to speaking to someone I had never met before, induced some anxiety. I did grow with each of these assignments, learning new vocabulary with each one, and I also got the opportunity to hear how native spanish speakers pronounced words with accents. With preparation, I excelled with each interview, but in the future, I would still do more preparation. Reading and responding to each of the discussion board posts really helped me expand my vocabulary and learn more about the spanish culture.
LINK TO TALKABROAD INTERVIEW 3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lLtD72Qoqb7Ouq83n2IWRH-KsBT_YgJr/view?usp=sharing
LINK TO TALKABROAD INTERVIEW 4 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VEx5CJ_noDz_Tl8VIWRB6awJgsLiZ9e6/view?usp=sharing
Presentational Speaking
Throughout the semester, I completed 4 Discussion Boards. One of them required me to respond in a video, where I described my ideal home, in spanish. I also completed a communication assignment at the beginning of the semester, where I had to recite vocabulary and answer questions through a screencast video.
In both of the assignments I often had to practice reciting each slide before recording as I had trouble pronouncing some of the words. I usually looked up the pronunciation of the words I had trouble with. For the most part, though, I did pretty well with pronunciation as I was familiar with most of the words. In the future, I will work on learning more words and vocabulary so pronunciation won’t be an issue.
LINK TO Mi Casa Ideal Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DywdmZbFdUjqxZ_3tJ2NQc4SHgkKbbUv/view?usp=sharing
LINK TO Assignment Comunicación Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_pODoLDPIQ4vlfLO4V2uBue_f900HRJH/view?usp=sharing
Presentational Writing
Throughout my semester in Spanish 201, I completed 4 Discussion Board posts, where we often had to read an article or watch a video and write a response based on it.
As I completed more discussion boards, responding in Spanish became much easier. It also helped me throughout my other assignments. Sometimes when I had to view videos for the discussion board, I would have difficulty understanding them, but all I did was rewatch the videos until I fully understood them. I think that thanks to all of the other assignments around the discussion boards, I excelled at responding in spanish. In the future, It would probably help if I did more research outside of the article or video provided to be able to make a longer response.
Interpretive Listening
I completed many Interpretive listening activities throughout the semester. Within each of our learning modules in BlackBoard, Professor Crites provided a song for us to listen to in Spanish. She also assigned video quizzes that required us to watch videos created by her presenting information that was going to be present in the quiz. In VHL Central, We also had to listen to animated tutorials that presented the information and vocabulary we were going to be exploring in the chapter.
When I would listen to the music provided by Professor Crites, I often had trouble understanding the lyrics as they were in Spanish. I overcame this by really paying attention to the captions provided on screen and sometimes I would translate words I was unfamiliar with. I found the style of music very interesting. It is very similar to English music, but it has its own unique sound that I enjoyed. With each song, my ability to understand the lyrics progressed. I was also able to expand my vocabulary through the music and Prof. Crites’ videos.
Interpretive Reading
Throughout the semester, We had to complete various Lectura and Cultura assignments in VHL Central. These assignments required me to read an article or short story related to the chapter to complete questions.
When reading some of the Lectura and Cultura Assignments, I sometimes was unfamiliar with certain words. I overcame that by using the vocabulary tools provided by VHL Central to figure out what the word meant. I learned a lot of interesting information while completing these assignments. In Lectura 12 (pictured above), I learned about La Casa Colorada, a colonial-style building built in 1769. While I was reading this Article, I learned a lot about how buildings were constructed in the 18th century compared to now. Each of these assignments helped me to grow as a Spanish speaker by expanding my vocabulary.
