Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
The competencias culturales and the lecturas that we did throughout the semester really helped me with learning more about Latin American culture and exposed me to new cultural perspectives. It also highlighted the ways in which Hispanic and American culture is different in some ways, but also similar in others. Watching the videos that went with both of those activities showed me a wide array of cultural aspects throughout Spain and Latin American countries like Ecuador. We also discussed cultural differences during class a little bit such as how words like “moreno” can have a slightly different meaning depending on the country.
These activities helped me to better understand the attitudes and values within Hispanic culture by having us read an article or watch a video that displayed some aspect of Hispanic culture such as family life, sports, or how school is in Latin America and Spain. After reading the article or watching the video, we would then answer questions about it to test our comprehension skills. It improved my knowledge of Hispanic culture, my reading skills in Spanish and my understanding of certain behaviors within Hispanic countries. Some of the topics these activities included how big soccer is in Spain and Latin American countries and families in the Spanish-Speaking world tend to be bigger as well and most people are very family-oriented. Greetings in Hispanic countries is also different from the United States such as how they kiss on the cheek when greeting while here in the States some people would consider that an invasion of privacy or weird. These activities expanded my worldview by showing me a different way of life than I am used to.
Engaging in Communities
Engaging in our local community can provide support and a sense of belonging to those who need it most. It allows us to engage in activities with each other that improve our local community and brings us together which can form friendships. While I haven’t done a lot of engaging in my own community, especially recently due to COVID-19, I understand and see the importance in doing so and hope to become more involved in the near future.
When it comes to engaging in our global community, that can break down barriers between cultures and bring us together so that we can see the ways in which we are similar instead of being divided by our differences. Being educated about different cultures and ways of life is the first step to becoming more culturally aware and accepting. When I visited Italy in July 2019 I felt that it exposed me to a new culture that I was not used to and that experience helped me to understand cultures different from my own better. Engaging in both our local and global communities can bring us together as a community and inspire change within ourselves and others.
Interpersonal Communication
During this is semester in SPAN 101 we did several discussion boards were we got to interact with our classmates as well doing a student to student interview where one of us was a hypothetical broadcaster and the other was to be a college freshman being interviewed. We also had many opportunities to communicate with each through the breakout rooms during our Zoom class meetings where we answered questions and got to interact with each other.
While the breakout rooms with our classmates were awkward at times with trying to break the ice and get the conversation going I do feel that they were necessary and they helped with real life communication skills because we were forced to think on the spot. It also gave us an opportunity to help each other if we were struggling with a certain question or didn’t understand what was being said or how to structure a response. The discussion boards were something that I felt I did very well with in the class because we got to be more creative with our responses. While the breakout rooms were somewhat difficult for me I do feel it helped a lot with communicating effectively and it took me out of my comfort zone which I appreciated. If I were to do something differently for next time I would be more open and talkative and help people more when I see that they might need it. I liked doing the one on one student interview because we got to help each other with the project and I think it turned out very well. This project was something that I did not have a lot of difficult with and I feel that it made me comfortable with speaking Spanish in front of another person.
Presentational Speaking
A presentational assignment we had this semester was to do an interview with ourselves where we pretended we were leaving a voicemail for a friend coming to our city and went into description about our city, things to do, etc.
This interview was more challenging for me than the other two we had previously done. The first two, one with another student and the other was a one on one interview with our professor, came more easily to me than this one did. I found that the memorization aspect was the most challenging, but I believe that was because my speech that I wrote for it was way too long. Even though I did struggle with this assignment I found that I exceled with the writing aspect and it taught me that I need to slow down when speaking Spanish because I tend to talk to fast. I think I learned a lot from this project because it taught me to be more thorough with my work and to manage my time in a mannerly fashion.
Presentational Writing
Throughout this semester, we have done many writing activities during class and in discussion boards, but the one activity we did that exercised our writing skills the most was the compositions we were assigned to write.
In total, we wrote two compositions in SPAN 101 having to turn in our rough draft each time in addition to our final copies. These assignments helped to explain my vocabulary in Spanish as well as applying what I have learned in the class in my own way. When I did the rough draft for the first composition I did make a few mistakes, but thankfully I was able to go back and edit it a little bit more and polish it after getting feedback from my professor. However, when I did the second composition I was able to turn in my rough draft as my final draft as I did not have any editing to do to it. I think this demonstrated how my writing skills had grown throughout the semester and I got better with writing in Spanish the more that I did it. These compositions really made me think outside the box and forced me to think critically about how and what I was going to write for them.
Composicion-1-Final-DraftComposicion-2-Final-Draft-1
Interpretive Listening
In our SPAN 101 class, the main portion of our listening activities happened in class in our Zoom meetings, in our competencias culturales, VHL homework and in our exams. Our one on one interview with Mrs. Sefcik also included interpretive listening as we had to listen to her questions and answer accordingly.
Having a professor speak Spanish during class made me more comfortable with hearing Spanish being spoken more often and it helps with real life situation where you might speak with native speakers. Listening is not my strong suit, so having a professor speak mostly in Spanish helps with comprehension. I can understand everything that is being said in Spanish during class for the most part, there are only a few words here and there that are not within vocabulary that I can’t comprehend. When I did the interview with my professor I was able to understand what she was saying and ask her politely to repeat a question if needed. I feel that with practice and with listening to Spanish more and more it becomes easier to understand it while listening. I felt that the homework through VHL also helped me with listening to Spanish because it gave me added practice that I felt was needed.
Interpretive Reading
The four lecturas we did throughout the semester helped to improve by interpretive skills in Spanish by having me read an entire article in Spanish and then answering questions about the article.
These assignments helped with my reading skills in Spanish a lot because I was assigned to read an article which I read until I was able to comprehend what was being said. Some of the words and phrases being used I had not learned yet in class, but thankfully I have some previous Spanish knowledge so I was able to understand the majority of what was being said. I found the readings to be helpful because they expanded my vocabulary and my comprehension skills were at use. I thought the readings we did were also very interesting to read as they were about Latin American culture and life.