Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring culture

                Over the course of this semester I outside of class explored the culture of Spanish countries. Specifically, I took a journey through their cuisine.

On my mother’s side I am Dominican and as such I grew up eating many different Dominican dishes. However, it has been years since then but taking this course reprised my interest in the food. I began by asking my family in the Caribbean how to cook certain dishes. For example, my aunt taught me how to cook her arroz y habichuela. Around this time the course began covering foods and other terms which helped throughout my conversations. Through exploring this side of Spanish culture, I realize that the regional delicacies which are common over there are sparse in America. Furthermore, ingredients are more expensive and are less fresh than what one could get in the Dominican Republic.

Engaging in communities

                Engaging in the communities around me has allowed me to improve my fluency in Spanish. Through the participation in different communities such as the class discussions has allowed me to see how others utilize the same material taught to describe and communicate with one another.

Interpersonal Communication

In this course I participated in two 15-minute talk abroad conversations. Outside of the course I engaged in Spanish conversations while my family in the Dominican Republic. Through these conversations my ability to speak Spanish and convey my intentions with my limited knowledge improved.

                The talk aboard conversations I had went pretty well using what I learned I was able to communicate and learn about the person I talked with.  However, what I learned from the most in these conversations was the ability to think outside the box when speaking. Through out the course while we learn most of what we need to engage in a conversation some vocabulary in missing especially when talking about advanced subjects. It was through this these conversations that I utilized my limited vocabulary to convey what I wanted to say even if I didn’t know the specific word without disrupting the flow of the conversation. Outside of Talk abroad my conversations with my family provided a stress-free environment where I was able to hone my skills.

Presentational speaking

                Throughout this course there were many presentational speaking opportunities. For example, there were multiple entrevistas conducted whereas either alone or with a partner a topic was discussed. Through these conversations my communicational skills were improved.

Through the presentational speaking opportunities in the course I was able to learn new ways to express and communicate in another language. This was especially important when working with a partner. With a partner we were able to discuss ideas and develop new ways for approaching some subjects.

Presentational writing

The presentational writing in the course mainly took two forms. The First is the periodic compositions which were given. Secondly, there were discussion boards in which Spanish conversations were conducted between students.

Through the compositions I was able to develop my Spanish writing skills. Each assignment proposed a different scenario based on the learned material. This introduced difficulty because different scenarios required different verbiage and tense. While I found coming up with what to write simple the need for a consistent tense gave me difficulties.

Interpretive listening

The interpretive listening opportunities in this course mainly came throughout the homework. I listened to Spanish music. Through listening I was able to improve my pronunciation of words.

                In the homework’s the often videos or recordings of Spanish speaking. Many of the recordings feature different scenarios and different people discussing. Though this I was able to correlate the pronunciation of words to their meaning. In this homework I found that while I understood what they were saying sometimes their speed required me to review the recording.

Interpretive reading

Reading was an integral part throughout this course. Reading opportunities arised in the homeworks inwich we read passages and interpreted their meaning. Furthermore, outside of class I read some Spanish novels.

Some challenges I faced when reading was understanding the sentence structure. However, because of my Spanish background I found that understanding the written content simple. With each assignment I found new ways to found sentence and broaden my knowledge of Spanish.