Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

I had learned and relearned quite a bit of information throughout this very short summer semester. I have been taking Spanish off and on for many years and I do feel as if this semester has challenged me at the most appropriate level. I had learned a lot of useful vocabulary that I can see being useful if I were in a situation where I would need to converse with more depth. For instance, learning about medical terms in Spanish, food vocabulary, and professions. I believe that my strengths for this course included being able to manage my time between my other courses, this course, and working full time. Another strength of mine for this class was being able to pick up on the material a lot faster than expected, I would say that is accredited to my previous years in learning Spanish. A challenge I had to face was the formatting of this course. I am not used to online classes and for the majority of this particular class, I had to take initiative and learn the material myself. In previous years, I have had to be present in a classroom and would have to interact with my instructor and other students nearly every day.

Reflecting

Exploring Culture

Lingro Learning was a program that was required throughout the semester which allowed for us to have hands on practice with different topics. I found this rather helpful especially for learning about the different practices of Hispanic culture. Lingro Learning had assignments where we would reflect on the topics that were taught and we would compare them to societal practices from the United States. I loved how inclusive and diverse the lessons were as they would discuss LGBTQ+ communities and the proper Spanish vocabulary for addressing members of those communities. For instance there was an activity where we had to read information on different LGBTQ+ couples from different Spanish-speaking countries. I found this activity to be very eye opening as it shows how life for these individuals in these countries is not as easy as it is here in the United States. In addition to the discussions about the LGBTQ+ community, we learned about the different family units and I appreciate how we were able to learn about vocabulary pertains to single parent households, divorced parents, and step parents.

Engaging in Communities

It is important to give back to the community in some way or another. One of my personal favorite causes to support is the beach clean up that I participate in every month. Considering how often I utilize the beach, I want to make sure I am able to do my part by caring for it. In the global community, I engage by donating to global charities what help those in need such as the World Vision organization that helps provide prescription eye glasses to children in under developed nations.

Interpersonal Communication

CAN DO STATEMENT: I can have a 15 minute conversation with a native Spanish speaker.

Throughout this course, I was required to complete two TalkAbroad assignments and several discussion boards and these activities helped me expand my knowledge on Spanish speaking cultures. I was able to connect with others from a Spanish speaking country and have a 15 conversation where we compared and contrasted our thoughts and opinions through various prompts.

My favorite activity which I believe helped me grow the most were the TalkAbroad assignments. I initially had my doubts on whether I would be able to continue a whole conversation in Spanish for 15 minutes but it pushed me to use vocabulary that I had not studied in a long time and it was great to see how I am able to communicate and utilize what I have learned to communicate with others. The most recent TalkAbroad assignment I thought really brought together most of the concepts we discussed in this class by talking about health and food.The discussion boards allowed for me to explore the differences between culture in the United States and the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries. For instance, the discussion board where we discussed the differences between health care in Spain and the health care system in the Untied States was very interesting to me as it made me wonder why we don’t implement some of the policies from Spain in the United States.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/B-gDogrfDxI

Presentational Speaking

CAN DO STATEMENT: I can pronounce most words in Spanish using the techniques I have been taught.

The pronunciation assignment required us to pronounce various Spanish words which contained different sounds. Each word contained letters from a different part of the Spanish alphabet and we would have to record ourselves pronouncing each word to the best of our ability. I found most words to be easy to pronounce and the activity gave me exposure to more advanced words that I had not seen before. If I were to do this activity again, I would be sure to pay closer attention to the accents and be sure to work on my Spanish accent to make my pronunciation sound more authentic.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/F5kb-GvIKj0

Presentational Writing

CAN DO STATEMENT: I can write a paragraphs in Spanish.

There were a few writing assignments given to us throughout this course. Many of them were through Lingro Learning and we would be given various prompts where we would have to respond to them in Spanish. I definitely grew with each activity as it allowed for me to practice the reading and writing components of Spanish and to be able to utilize them. Also for the discussion boards there was a prompt where we had to compare and contrast gender roles in Spain and gender roles in the United States and we would discuss the different occupation taken on by men and women in both cultures.

Interpretive Listening

CAN DO STATEMENT: I can identify familiar words and phrases just by listening to audio.

There was a lot of practice with listening in this course such as the different activities on Lingro Learning where we would have to listen an audio recording and answer questions based off what we heard in the recording. These assignments I found to be the most challenging as I am not a very advanced Spanish speaker but I do believe that these listening activities have helped me with identifying how certain words should be used in conversation. These listening activities have helped improved my speaking as well as my reading abilities as they all go hand-in-hand.

Interpretive Reading

CAN DO STATEMENT: I can understand most of what I am reading in Spanish even if I am unfamiliar with certain words.

Throughout the course we were given different articles to read for both discussion boards and Lingro Learning prompts which we would read the article provided and answer questions based on what we read. One of the challenges I faced was not being able to expand on my responses as I would have liked to due to my limited vocabulary. I overcame this obstacle by providing a more simple response by using vocabulary I already knew. I took away a lot of great information from these articles which I would not have learned otherwise. They were very informative and would discuss important topics such as gender roles and healthcare in Spanish speaking countries.