Exploring Culture
Taking Spanish I and II has given me a new respect for a beautiful culture, language and people. Having been in the military I had the opportunity to explore many places and interact with many people. I have been to Puerto Rico and Rota, Spain and enjoyed every second of my visit.
In addition, having the opportunity to interact with natural Spanish speakers during the class has been invaluable for my education. It was really fun to get to know my Spanish I and II teachers better as well as the rest of my fellow classmates. I am looking forward to traveling someday to incorporate and use what I have learned and experience other country’s culture into my life.
Engaging in Communities
The value and importance of engaging in your immediate community and the global community is that it allows you to become stakeholders in the community. It also feels good knowing that you were involved in something that benefits the community. People who participate in community engagements are also showing their commitment to help other people and be understanding of others. Getting out and exploring is important and taking parting and learning other peoples culture helps you understand a lot about them. Engaging in communities means engaging in their culture like going to markets and being out with local people and also taking part in community cultures like experiencing a siesta…my favorite.
Interpersonal Communication
This was my first time using TalkAbroad and it was nice to have a conversation with a Spanish speaker from another Spanish speaking country. My partner Sandy was from Ecuador. I also had a chance to go over lessons with a classmate. Both of these experiences allowed my to learn form them and also hear how words and phrases sound when said by other people. I would defiantly recommend TalkAbroad to anyone needing language practice with someone because it was a good experience.
I was nervous at first with TalkAbroad but my partner Sandy made it very easy and made me feel relaxed. Having constant conversations so so important for people who are learning a new language. With learning new words and phrases each week it was important for me to use them in sentences so I would become more familial with them and feel confident using them.
Below is the audio recording of my TalkAboard Conversation.
Presentational Speaking
Throughout the course we had a chance to hear audio examples and respond with out own recording and written answers. Still being new at this language, it was nice to be able to replay the audio files and listen closely to what was being said, I don’t think if I wasn’t able to do that I wouldn’t have understood most of it. (sometimes I replayed it multiple times)
I don’t think I would do anything differently than what I did to learn and get through the lessons. The class did challenge me to be prepared and stay on top of my lessons and assignments and to practice what I have learned!
My audio file example is loaded above in the Interpersonal Communication section
Presentational Writing
The daily and weekly reports I did helped keep my on track with all of my assignments. Staying organized helped balance work, life, family and college. Without these daily and weekly assignments I might have lost track of a assignment or due date for completing something. Below are examples of each of my week wrap up progress reports.
Interpretive Listening
The four video lessons were my favorite part of the course. I enjoyed listening to the conversations between the people in them and hearing how words and phrases actually sound.
It was nice that the videos related to the words and topics we were learning during that lesson. Having the ability to go back and rewatch the video to pick up on words that I missed. It was nice to see and understand words as I see the action or item in the video, it made it easy to understand sometimes hearing the words they are saying and actually seeing the item or action. I have photos of each of the four clips below.
Interpretive Reading
Having quizlet weekly words, the reading lessons in the book and vocabulary words at the end of the lessons were key to me learning. I probably should have taken the time to find other articles to ready during class to help my learning curve. Below are some of interpretive reading activities I remember during the class.
Reading was the hardest part of the class to me but in some lessons having pictures helped a lot to understand what category the word fell into. Practice…practice…practice is what helped me overcome the reading difficulty, I still need more…
