Fall 2022
Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
Products and practices that help me gain an understanding of cultural perspectives consist of my personal family traditions and being able to practice my Spanish-speaking skills outside of class (for example, homework assigned to help better understand the Spanish language, and talking to my family in Spanish more.) My mother is Puerto Rican, and my father is Jamaican, so I have always had a close connection to my cultures and their perspectives, I just didn’t know the language well enough to have conversations in Spanish.
With this being said, now I am still improving and bettering my Spanish skills with my maternal side of the family, so now I feel more submerged in my culture and I love it! The more I study my homework online, practice remembering vocabulary with flashcards, and practice speaking at home I can further my ability to deeply connect to my Hispanic culture. This has deepened my passion and love for my culture as I continue to become closer to my roots.
Puerto-Rico-FlagEngaging in Communities
The value and importance of engaging in your immediate and global communities are very high being that my classmates bond together in class even if we’re nervous about an assignment, TalkAbroad conversation, etc. We always work together and help each other so we all can succeed. This consists of a global community since we’re all online, and we all come from different places, backgrounds, ethnicities, and nationalities. This can go for any community, if you’re willing to engage, lead, and communicate you can make the community expand, grow, and prosper in various aspects.
ODUGlobalInterpersonal Communication
Interpersonal oral/audio activities, discussion board, and interpersonal writing/reading activities I have completed this semester consist of: 10 discussion board prompts to complete questions and answer them in Spanish, 2 Flipgrid assignments, 2 15 minute conversations that we complete with our professor, and 2 15 minute TalkAbroad conversations that we complete with a TalkAbroad partner. These assignments were designed to test our abilities to communicate in Spanish, and understand what is being said to us. This tests our interpersonal community skills.
Attached below is an example of our 7th discussion board that shows my interactions with other classmates, and conversing with them through our online course.
DB-7-InterpersonalPresentational Speaking
A presentational speaking activity that I have completed this semester consisted of partaking in 2 15 minute conversations with my professor, 2 15 minute conversations with a TalkAbroad partner, 2 flipgrid assignments, and Contraseña LingroLearning assignments that prompted us to answer a prompt or list of questions in Spanish and record our audio. We spoke about family and our family characteristics, sports and activities we partake in, how our cultures vary from Spanish-speaking countries, and food preferences.
What challenged me was trying to fully remember whole sentences and even certain words that I needed to describe my family member’s characteristics and activities. I overcame the challenges by continuing the conversation or directing it elsewhere (asking a different question, etc.,) and practicing at home to further improve my speaking abilities. Something I would do differently next time would consist of not waiting last minute to study for an interview, and continue practicing my Spanish speaking with my family members so when I have to do an interview with another student or my professor I can feel more relaxed and not as anxious or frozen up. Although this was probably the hardest part for me in taking Spanish 102f due to me graduation this month, I feel as if I am seeing improvement from Span 101f and 102f.
I am unable to attach my TalkAbroad mp3 files with my TalkAbroad Conversation partner due to lack of video, so attached below is my TalkAbroad Workbooks that were required per class expectations.
Hernandez-Madyson_-SPAN-102F-TalkAbroad1-Workbook-.docxSPAN-102F-TalkAbroad2-Workbook-Madyson-Hernandez.docx
Presentational Writing
A written presentation that I have completed consists of the Contraseña questions that I have also stated above. In the Contraseña LingroLearning writing prompts, we discussed our family members and describe their characteristics, our personal preferences with food, sports, and activities, and how our cultures differ in comparison to our Spanish-speaking counterparts. I appreciated this aspect of the class as I have quite a bit of similarities between cultures as my mom is Puerto Rican, and we practice most of the same cultural preferences and family dynamics.
This was a bit difficult at first being that we would really have to expand our Spanish vocabulary, but as time went on of I studying more and more vocabulary, I was able to start writing more to where I can explain in further detail about various aspects of my life. This allowed me to fully understand the language and answer basic questions in Spanish, which has been a main goal of mine my whole life. This now has became easier for me, and I’m happy as my grandma is illiterate. Therefore, she was unable to teach me how to read or write in Spanish. Now that I’m able to, I can start to teach her!
Attached below is a Contraseña LingroLearning assignments that shows presentational writing, and how we are able to thoroughly expand our Spanish vocabulary when required to write in Spanish. This is shown by us being required to answer a given prompt in Spanish.
ContrasenaInterpretive Listening
Some interpretive listening activities I have completed this semester for/related to my Spanish learning consist of various chapter quizzes that involve listening to a prompt in Spanish and answering questions in regard to the prompt on Canvas, Contraseña LingroLearning videos within the modules to aid in our abilities to understand the language. This would information would be given by YouTube videos of pictures matching vocabulary words, and how to pronounce the words.
This would challenge my ability to fully interpret and comprehend the Spanish language. This would be a bit challenging at times as this is also another one of my weakness, but this is what has made me benefit from this class the most as I do enjoy academic challenges. Being able to translate from English to Spanish or vice versa when reading, can be a great tactic to the full conception of anything that you are learning. I have also done an interpretive listening activity by continuing to find novelas to watch with my grandma while reading English subtitles. This would also help me fully understand Spanish in a greater context while being able to connect words from English to Spanish. Since a lot of novelas are in proper Spanish, this also makes it easier to understand the language being spoken especially at faster rates.
Attached below is a video of one of my Flipgrid assignments we had to complete to show that we are able to interpretively listen to someone speaking to us, and us replying to what they say and add additional questions at the end to keep the conversation going. We would then be asked to reply to our classmate’s videos.
Interpretive Reading
Interpretive reading activities I have completed consist of Contraseña LingroLearning assignments that I would have to complete. I would have to read the material in Spanish and answer the questions in English to show my comprehension of the language and culture shown. I would say that for some reason interpretive reading would be easier for me than interpretive listening as I am able to take my time to process and read the material provided. It would be very intriguing and compelling when challenging myself to a topic I wasn’t fully confident in (for example, I was not very confident and equipped of the proper knowledge in Module 7), but I was able to get through every assignment that consists of reading and interpreting. This has also been one of the best ways of fully grasping the Spanish language while also learning about different parts of the world through the textbook.
Attached below is another Contraseña LingroLearning assignment that we had to complete and match the region to a person and the characteristics they described.
Contrasena-Interpretive-ReadingContrasena-I.R.