Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Throughout the semester, discussion boards were assigned to allow the class to explore the culture of different hispanic cultures. I found myself intrigued by the different facets of culture that were presented in each module. The discussion board that had the most impact upon my was “La Universidad”, where I was presented with facts about the University of Granada. This pertained to me, as I am also in university right now; it was interesting to compare different aspects of Old Dominion University and University of Granada. For instance, I have noticed that there is a longer history behind most universities in hispanic cultures because America was established relatively recently compared to different hispanic countries. Therefore, I find myself excited to learn about different hispanic cultures because some traditions can be tied back to ancestors from thousands of years ago; there is so much history to be explored!

Engaging in Communities

Engaging in your immediate community and global community is very important for the development of interpersonal skills along with empathy! Humans are social creatures, we crave connections in order to understand and learn from one another, therefore engaging in a community is very important. While my community engagement is limited due to online schooling, I believe this community was created through the video discussion boards that we completed. This is because the students commented on each other’s posts and responded to varying questions in Spanish; not only did this teach us Spanish-speaking skills but also fostered a community environment within an asynchronous class. Connecting sometimes feels hard as a completely online student, but the comments I would receive on my FlipGrid videos would assure me that I am not alone in my journey. I have learned that I have a lot of similarities to my classmates and that I am not as different as I thought I was.

Interpersonal Communication

A plethora of interpersonal oral/audio activities were presented throughout the semester. Not only were skills tested in person over Zoom, but my favorite activities were discussion board conversations where I was allowed time to rehearse my skills and I knew what to expect (however very unrealistic in the real-world setting). Therefore, I appreciate the in-time Zoom calls to test my on-the-spot knowledge.

The most difficult part of spontaneous, unplanned communication activities is not knowing what to expect. I am a book-oriented learner, and often get choked up in social aspects in a classroom setting due to Generalized Anxiety. When a conversation is occurring naturally, I am completely fine; however, when there is one ounce of pressure put upon the conversation and I am expected to know the answers off the top of my head my mind goes completely blank. I could have rehearsed one thousand times and know every answer to any question, but when put into the pressurized situation my mind races with thoughts of anxiety and panic rather than the answers I need. This has been something difficult to combat with, as I still have my moments with this ailment; however, through my job as a server and the varying modes of discussion that were assigned throughout the semester I am learning to handle this. What I have learned the most is to take a deep breath to re-center myself and remind myself that I know what I am doing and to trust myself at the end of the day.

When re-watching the video clips of myself speaking Spanish that I have posted throughout the semester, I can notice my confidence growing. I went from being uncertain to demonstrating that I can put forth the knowledge I have studied in a verbal form. This also helps me combat the anxiety around spontaneous activities, as practice makes perfect!

Presentational Speaking

Presentational speaking regarding my Spanish learning was completed through various discussion boards posted through FlipGrid. FlipGrid was an amazing tool used to communicate with peers and present various topics in Spanish through an asynchronous class. The video below is a presentation of me presenting my favorite person, my boyfriend, and describing why that is.

Then, in a paragraph, write a reflection that includes each presentation you completed in which you explain what challenged you and how you grew and overcame those challenges.  What did you excel at? What/how would you do differently next time? 

Throughout the semester I completed several presentations including this one where I described my favorite person, along with others that challenged my speaking abilities. This pushed me to not only learn the knowledge, but to apply it to my own life and scenarios. Through these exercises, I have gained confidence speaking Spanish in public, as I now use my skills to communicate with co-workers of mine. This allows them to feel more comfortable in the workspace, along with me using my knowledge in real-time. This is the ultimate test, as on the spot is quite different from a planned test of knowledge. Throughout the semester I would say I have grown quite a bit from just “knowing” the book knowledge to being able to apply it.

Presentational Writing

Through presentational learning, I have learned to enhance my grammar skills, as the vocabulary is much more focused upon within writing. Challenges that I encountered while learning to write Spanish, rather than just speak it, is including accents and ensuring spelling is correct. I had a bad habit of trying to write the words how they sounded in my head according to English grammar rather than the Spanish rules of grammar. Throughout the semester I have been tested in four exams for my writing skills and I would say that slowly my skills have gotten better throughout time. Below is a question pulled from Exam 3, where I had to use my writing skills to answer the question. Overall, learning the grammar will benefit when I must write longer pieces of work in the future regarding Spanish classes.

Escribir. Imagine that you have met with Luis to discuss what he will be doing his first week in Lambaré, Paraguay, both at work and in his free time. Write a short paragraph (80 words min) in Spanish in which you describe (3) three things he has to do and (3) three things he is going to do. Be sure to include at least:

Answer: El lunes Luis tiene que trabajar en la mañana, después Luis va a practicar yoga este tarde. Por la noche Luis tiene que descansar a las diez en punto. El martes Luis tiene que trabajar muy temprano. Por la tarde Luis va a dormir la siesta a las tres y media. Luis va a cocinar cenar por la noche y tiene que dormir después. El miércoles Luis no tiene que trabajar. Luis va a desayunar a las nueve en punto en la mañana. Por la tarde Luis va a jugar al fútbol con amigos. Por la noche Luis va a salir y bailar con amigos. 

Interpretive Listening

Interpretive listening activities were completed through the use of audio questions in each Exam along with LingroLearning including an audio section where one must interpret and respond to the audio question.

What I learned through interpretive listening is that sometimes words may sound similar, and it best to use context clues to decide which word was said. This was more difficult in the beginning of the semester, I had less knowledge to base context clues upon. However, with practice this became easier and it is now easier to determine the audio and how to respond. This has been used in person, as at work temporary workers came in to help the staff, but only spoke Spanish. When the person was talking to me, I was able to contextualize what they were asking me upon context clues and the key fact that time was included (they were asking what time we normally leave work). Overall, this skill will be very useful in the future!

This is a short video that I have used throughout the semester help my comprehension skills when listening to Spanish!

Interpretive Reading

Throughout the semester our reading skills were tested with comprehensive paragraphs to read or correct grammar within on each test. There would be various questions asking us to read and interpret the text or correct grammar/vocabulary based upon the context. Below is an example of one of the paragraphs assigned on an exam that we would read and interpret.

Exploración cultural. Read the following report by the World Bank. Then follow the instructions to complete the activities. 

El Banco Mundial confirma que recibir una educación universitaria es esencial para reducir la pobreza (poverty) y la desigualdad (inequality), y aplaude los logros (achievements) de Latinoamérica. También mantiene que existe una discrepancia notable entre los estudiantes que comienzan a estudiar en la universidad y los que obtienen su título universitario. El Banco opina que, en parte, mejorar (improving) la comunicación entre los administradores universitarios y los estudiantes potenciales va a aumentar el número de estudiantes que se gradúan de las instituciones latinoamericanas. Recomienda lo siguiente:

Publicar más información sobre las expectativas de instituciones y programas para que los estudiantes puedan tomar decisiones importantes.

Compartir más información sobre becas (scholarships) y ofrecer más. Además, conceder más préstamos (loans) estudiantiles para ayudar a eliminar dificultades financieras.

En general, comunicarse más frecuentemente con estudiantes de segundo y tercer año para ayudar a asegurar su éxito, tanto personal como profesional.

Ayudar a los alumnos a buscar un trabajo después de graduarse.

El Banco Mundial también afirma que las empresas deben intentar crear más trabajos de calidad que hacen uso de una fuerza laboral más competente.

Answer the following:

El propósito del informe es ___ estrategias para retener (retain) a estudiantes universitarios.

When beginning this class, I found these questions the hardest to interpret. This is because there was a lot of text, therefore it was easy for myself to get lost within the large amount of unfamiliar text The overwhelming feeling would overtake my ability to interpret Spanish. However, with practice this became easier, especially if I were able to break the paragraph down into smaller chunks. While there were unfamiliar words within the paragraph, I would use context clues to solve the questions and get the main idea of the work of writing.