Exploring Culture

This class was not what I had anticipated at first. My first initial thought was “OMG SPANISH… YAY (sarcastically). As I went through with the class, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed my classmates and the professor especially. In Spanish 102, we used LingroLearning like how I did in Spanish 101.

Throughout the course we used LingroLearning to learn vocabulary, conjugations, to do homework, projects, and more. I surprisingly understood more this semester in LingroLearning than last semester. I completed most of my homework and tried to stay on top of my work. As well as LingroLearning, our wonderful professor, taught us as well when we felt like LingroLearning didn’t really teach us. I definitely understood more when our professor further explain to us what is what.

LingroLearning allowed us to learn about the different Latin countries and all the present cultures. It helped me understand more because I got to read paragraphs about different people from Latin countries and how their cultures differ. I wouldn’t say there were any challenges that changed my perspective because each culture is different. I would say cultures in Latin countries are similar to cultures in Morocco.

Engaging in Communities

Engaging in your community is very important because it allows you to get to know different people and where they come from. Personally, I don’t really engage in my community as much as I would like to because I am always busy with school and work, which is already a lot to balance together. Just because I don’t engage as much doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. You will meet some of the best people just in your community.

Interpersonal Communication

Talkabroad was new to me because I had never used it in any Spanish class I took. It was really interesting and caused me to be nervous at the same time because you are talking to students who are fluent in Spanish when you’re not. We completed 2 15-minute TalkAbroads this semester. I did mine with 2 different people, so I can see the different languages/accents from 2 different countries.

We did 2 TalkAbroads throughout the semester. The first TalkAbroad was about family and what you like to do. I think this one was the easiest one because I knew how to describe my family pretty well because we had done a project on this before the TalkAbroad. The girl I spoke with was very helpful and nice. She explained to me what she was trying to say when I didn’t understand what she was saying. The second TalkAbroad was about sports, food, and health. I would say this one was a little harder just because it required a lot of conversation. I tried to do as best as I could, and even though I feel like I could’ve done better at the second TalkAbroad, I still tried. The girl I spoke with was also very helpful in explaining what she was trying to say.

What I learned from TalkAbroad is to just review your vocabulary before you just rush into trying to talk with a native speaker. I would definitely try to study way before the TalkAbroad. Even though I had planned the dates of when I wanted to talk to these people, I would wait until the day of to try and prepare for the TalkAbroad, which I will not be doing in the future.

Presentational Speaking

We had many speaking activities. We would talk to our partners in class whether that be asking questions or answering, it was always present in order to improve our Spanish. We did 2 projects that required us to speak. One was on describing your family and the other one was a ‘How To Make A Specific Food’.

Each presentation was different because it required different vocabulary. The first project was the description of my family, which was easy. I knew the vocabulary that I wanted to use. The second project was a ‘How To’ which also wasn’t too hard because I had access to most of the vocabulary. I excelled at choosing the right vocabulary for the description of the project. I would practice my pronunciation of words more so that the people that watch my videos understand what I am trying to say.

Presentational Writing

We definitely wrote a lot in this class whether we wanted to or not. We had 2 projects that were written. One was on getting people to join your sport or activity. The other project was an infographic on how to maintain your health. Overall these projects helped me become a better writer.

The first project was on what sport you will be having and why people should join that sport. It was just a persuasive piece of writing, which I do enjoy writing. I didn’t really find any difficulty with this project. However, the second project was a little difficult for me. It was an infographic on how to maintain your health. It had different conjugations and phrases which is where I was lost. I got feedback from the rough draft, which is what helped me the most. I could definitely improve my writing by continuously practicing.

Interpretive Listening

Interpretive Listening didn’t only include what we did in LingroLearning. It also consisted of us listening to our professor and actually comprehending what she was saying.

We had homework that would play a phrase and we would have to choose whether it was true or false, what the correct conjugation form was, or what they were trying to say. I think listening was the hardest out of everything only because I am only fluent in English and Arabic, so hearing a new language tripped me up. Trying to hear what word is being said or whether it was a V or B was hard because sometimes the words being said to have the same sound. I wouldn’t say I overcame this difficulty only because I am still learning the difference between what. Hearing that 2 different letters can make the same sound sometimes was very interesting. I am still continuing to grow in my listening and Spanish.

Interpretive Reading

Reading wasn’t necessarily hard or easy because even though it’s given to you right there, you still have to be able to comprehend what’s being written. The reading we did in this class was homework and reading about the different cultures of different people.

One of the activities that were done is reading about the different cultures of different Latin countries. There would be one paragraph from 5 different people and their countries. Some words were very challenging to understand only because I had never seen them. I overcame this difficulty because I would ask what the word meant. I think everything about reading was very interesting just because it’s so new to me. Growing in reading is a continuous everyday thing.