Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Instructions

Exploring Culture

In many of the videos that we watched for our discussion boards, I learned about the cultural value placed upon soccer, the integration of tapas in Latin culinary tradition, and many others. Those videos were very helpful, but so were the Cultura assignments we had to do on VHL. These provided excellent insights into Latin culture and society.

It is very difficult to learn about another nation’s culture as a whole, but it is far easier to do so in tiny slices. The videos and Cultura assignments gave us those tiny slices of culture that we would have otherwise not known to look for. After all, how could we research tapas if we had no knowledge of its existence? Tapas in particular was interesting because it is essentially just bar food and appetizers, the types of things that we in America already know and love quite well. Equally, I often make jokes about my own culture’s (American) obsession with food, but looking at Spain’s similar infatuation with tapas made me realize that it is actually quite normal. It was also very interesting to learn about the outside markets as those were things I had seen on television but had never actually thought about beyond that.

https://reader.vhlcentral.com/aventuras5e/student-edition/ave5e_vtext?rid=1033912#/book/ave5e_vtext

Engaging in Communities

Especially when it comes to learning languages, engaging in one’s community is very important as it allows us to practice what we know instead of practicing any bad habits of ours. Globally too, as it is important to learn about the cultures of the world, at the very least to learn perspective.

I am always nervous when talking to other people in Spanish as it is difficult to take your time and relax, but I feel that I have gotten better throughout the semester in talking in Spanish. As I have practiced more, I have gained confidence in the language and find it easier to communicate with others. Most specifically, I had a lot of fun with my partner in one of my Entrevistas. I did well on that assignment and was very relaxed during it too.

https://m3a.vhlcentral.com/sections/1033912/activities/500738

Interpersonal Communication

TalkAbroad is a tool that allows people from different countries to talk with each other and practice their languages with natives. The Entrevistas or interviews we had to in Spanish were designed to help us practice our language skills too, whether it was the teacher or another student. Lastly, the discussion board was a tool that allowed students to communicate in a meaningful way and offer feedback and responses to our writing posts.

From my first Entrevista with my professor to my most recent one on TalkAbroad, my vocabulary has grown as have my grammar skills. When I first started, I was unable to speak in any tense except that of the present. Now however, I am more than capable of speaking in both the past and present tenses and have demonstrated such in the course of my interviews. My discussion board posts, too, have improved with my grammar skills as I have learned to improve the way I write and respond to my peers. The most difficult thing for me to overcome has been my nervousness and anxiety when I am speaking live to someone else, and though I have gotten better, it is still something I struggle with. In my next Entrevista, however, I plan on taking my time speaking and not trying to rush the words out. I excelled at the discussion board posts as those were always enjoyable and required very little in the way of newly learned grammar skills. From those posts, however, I learned that I should continue to develop my writing skills for my Spanish abilities to truly stand out.

“Tapas, or tapear, just seems like regular bar food or average appetizers, so I think they look tasty and would like to try them. Yo creo que tapear haría bueno en los Estados Unidos. Personas les gusta cerveza, y personas les gusta comida, es un combinacion muy bueno. Mi comida favorito probablemente es pizza. Si, es basico, pero es tan buena. El lugar mejor por pizza es la casa. Pizza en el sofá con Netflix es una noche excellenta.”

Presentational Speaking

This semester, due to Covid, we did not give any formal presentations due to our class, but I would imagine that our Entrevistas with student partners might count as presentations to the teacher. Unfortunately, other than that, we were simply not able to due to the pandemic.

Unfortunately, we only had the one Entrevista with a student so I only completed one presentation this semester. However, it was challenging to work with someone miles away with whom you could talk to easily. Because of that, our biggest issue was communication. We were both forced to check our emails more regularly than we usually do in order to make sure we never missed any messages from each other. However, we did very well at the actual speaking part as we were both ably prepared beforehand. I do think that it would have made our lives easier if I had created a new group in Discord or some other similar online chat software to facilitate communication. If and when I do one of these in the future, I imagine I will be doing that.

https://m3a.vhlcentral.com/sections/1033912/activities/500738

Presentational Writing

This semester we completed a variety of different discussion board assignments where we watched various videos and responded to prompts. We also completed a writing composition piece right at the end of the semester. In this composition we had to write about a restaurant in our area.

The discussion boards became easier over time as I got into the rhythm of writing them, but they were never difficult. They were always fun, though, and always taught us more about Latin culture and society. The composition, however, was quite difficult. It would have been far easier if we could see a selection of prompts before hand, just to get more ideas for what to write. However, that would also give more chances for people to prepare their answers ahead of time. As it was, I largely struggled with thinking about to say, not how to say the things that I wanted to. Ultimately, the most difficult part was that it was timed. I think in the future, I just need to study more and practice my Spanish outside of class so I can get better with the grammar more.

“Un buen restaurant local es un Italiana restaurante llamado Aldo’s. Tiene buena comida y mejores precios, especialmente por la typo de comida elegante. Los camareros son muy simpaticos y siempre arreglados. Tiene un plato principal fantastic, es un plato de pasta con un salsa muy delicioso. Tambien, eso tiene muchos vinos blancos y tintos, pero no me gusta vino tinto. Es en una ubicacion muy buena Tambien, hay un panaderia al lado. Yo fui al restaurante con mi novia el ano pasado para nuestra aniversario. Los cocineras son rapidas con la comida Tambien, la espera nunca es larga. Pero, tiene un postre sabroso, tiene el helado con chocolate, pero es muy delicioso. Finalmente, mi parte favorita de la restaurante son las sillas. Ellas tiene las mejores sillas de todos los restaurantes de la ciudad.”

Interpretive Listening

This semester, we had to complete many listening activities on both the VHL website as well as when we were watching videos for our discussion prompts. The videos always talked about pieces of Latin culture, but the VHL assignments were simply on whatever our unit was about.

I remember listening to people talking about shopping, what food they liked, where they were going on vacation, and their daily routines. The mist unclear parts of them were when the people talked fast and slurred their words. Someone who was a natural or fluent speaker in Spanish could no doubt understand them, but as a student, I had some trouble. Ultimately, I simply had to listen to the audio over and over again until I thought I had the answer. The most interesting things were discussion board videos where we learned about Latin culture and society. These audio activities have taught me that it is important to speak Spanish outside of class, or else I will never fully master the language. Each activity taught to be more and more careful while listening, as well as to use context clues to figure what a particular word might be.

file:///C:/Users/Waffl/Downloads/ave5e_text_l07_pronunciacion_oraciones.mp3

Pronunciación – Oraciones, Lección 7, VHL

Interpretive Reading

We had many reading activities this semester on VHL and also on Blackboard when we read each other’s discussion posts. By and large though, the majority of our reading activities came from VHL assignments that were about whatever the particular was on.

Very often there would be new words in the readings that I did not know, making it challenging to sometimes understand what was being said. However, I was generally able to use context clues as well as the words I already do know in order to determine the translation of the sentence. The assignments were most interesting when they had to do with Latin culture instead of whatever Marta bought at the store that day. However, as with many of my assignments this semester, I learned that it is important to speak Spanish outside of class as much as possible. I have tried to do that more and more throughout the semester, leading to a better understanding of grammar throughout the class.

https://reader.vhlcentral.com/aventuras5e/student-edition/ave5e_vtext?rid=1033912#/book/ave5e_vtext

VHL, Adventuras, 148-149.