Exploring Culture

The excerpts from other students in Lingrolearning displayed many similarities to my experiences as a student here in the U.S..

I did not know what to expect from the Hispanic culture. It is a vague idea and my imagination makes assumptions that I just would not understand their way of life. But reviewing the conversations and examples show that Spanish speakers are normal people with the same friendships and conversations as myself.

Engaging in Communities

In learning Spanish, spending time with the language is most important. Learning about students in the Spanish community was fun and interesting. The similarities are enlightening.

Interpersonal Communication

Learning the structure and grammar has been my primary focus. I now know theoretically how to translate sentence structure. Understanding the rules and what words mean and why has been easy. I have not overcome the memorization issues of the vocabulary. More practice is paramount in my success for Spanish.

Presentational Speaking

Describing myself and locations were very helpful in understanding the structure of Spanish. It gave me a reason for how to use grammar and how to attempt to explain basic things to others. Again, vocabulary memorization is the most challenging for me and having a clear topic helped with practice. I was able to prepare and translate my presentations easily. But I should have used what I learned repeatedly to help with memorization.

Presentational Writing

In English, give a very brief 2-3-line description of the presentational communication of compositions, pamphlets, blogs, flyers, stories, articles, and any other written presentation activities you completed this semester inside or outside of class for or related to your Spanish learning. Include a copy of a written presentational activity you produced? (See Modes of Communication link for description and examples).

We wrote descriptions of ourselves, school, campus life, and living situations. These are basic but extremely important for beginning Spanish. Knowing that this will be the most common part of communicating made it interesting. Memorization will continue to be needed and practiced.

Interpretive Listening

We listened to greetings, introductions, self descriptions, location descriptions, and farewells. Unidad 2 – Contraseña was a wonderful example of two students meeting and becoming roommates. Basic introduction and usage of beginner Spanish to build a conversation and a relationship.

Interpretive Reading

Almost every section in Lingrolearning had sections of reading in Spanish. But my teacher gave me a Spanish beginner book (Nuestro Mundo, Una colección de cuentos cortos y artículos) that has helped me advance in understanding Spanish.