Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

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Exploring Culture

Throughout the semester we did work on VHL Supersite and discussion boards that focused around Spanish culture. We would work on discussion boards that focused on healthcare in Spain, or Cultura activities that talked about other health services in Spain. These activities really helped me to gain a better understanding of the culture in Spain and it helped me see the differences between Spain and here.

I feel that Spanish 201 has been the most helpful to me when it comes to learning about Hispanic culture in class. It was really great to have discussion boards that focused on culture because it allowed me to talk with other students about what we learned. For example, the discussion board on healthcare in Spain opened my eyes to so much, especially to the differences of healthcare systems in the world. Another activity that really helped with understanding culture was the “Cultura” activities in VHL. I especially liked these activities because after reading we took quizzes that helped further my understanding even more. Doing these activities ultimately helped change my worldview. Learning about healthcare services or internet cafes have helped me realize both the similarities and differences that exist between cultures all over the world.

Engaging in Communities

Engaging in your immediate community is important because it helps you build relationships with other members of the community that have similar goals or interests. This helps to bridge the gaps between people who are different ages, genders, ethnicities, etc. Engaging in your immediate community can in turn help the global community come together because when one community has a good relationship and they continue to work together, they can come together with others just like them.

I find a lot of joy in volunteering and being a part of my community. Before the pandemic began , I had the opportunity to be involved in Salem High School Leadership Workshop which is a weekend program that teaches high school kids effective leadership skills for both school and the community. This is something I was involved in as a delegate and staff member during my time at Salem. I was also involved in SCA which hosted events like the canned food drive which went out into the community to collect items for the food bank. Experiences like these have allowed me to build relationships and align with people who are both similar and different than me. Doing things like this has allowed me to learn valuable skills that I can take with me all through my life.

Interpersonal Communication

During Spanish 201, we completed a lot of activities regarding interpersonal communication. We completed discussion boards where made a post and responded to classmates. We also completed TalkAbroad conversations and Entrevistas that allowed us communicate directly in conversation with a partner.

The discussion board activities helped me to grow in my reading and writing for Spanish. It allowed me to answer questions in Spanish on my own and then read classmates posts in order to respond back to them. This is something I exceled at because I like being able to read and write because it gives me some time to think about what I am saying. The Supersite interviews were not something I was able to do this semester due a family emergency with my partner. TalkAbroad conversations were the most challenging but also my favorite interpersonal communication activities. They were difficult for me because talking to a native Spanish speaker was intimidating so I was always nervous. I liked them because my partners allowed me to learn a lot of new things through conversation. I was able to grow a lot between TalkAbroad activities from last semester now because I was more relaxed and prepared each time.

Presentational Speaking

We did not do many presentational speaking activities this semester but we did have a discussion board where we had to create a video describing our ideal home which pertained to the unit we were studying.

My ideal home video was an activity that allowed me to be able to talk on my own about something I was interested in. The challenging part of this activity was trying to find information that went with the ideal home I chose. I overcame this by going through the entire chapter of the textbook so that I could find enough information and vocabulary that would pertain to this activity. One thing I excelled at was my recording. Once I was able to get what I needed to say it was very easy for me to record and get into the video. It was actually fun for me to record this video because I liked being able to talk about my dream home.

Presentational Writing

This semester I would say the most presentational writing that we did was in VHL. When didn’t create anything like blogs, flyers, stories, articles, or pamphlets. However, the VHL activities we completed were sufficient in teaching us how to write full sentences that were grammatically correct.

Doing sentence activities in VHL was extremely helpful in trying to learn to write Spanish effectively. We were able to do verb conjugation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and more. The only difficulties I had during these activities were trying to make sure I was doing verb conjugation and sentence structure correctly. I overcame these difficulties by using my textbook resources in order to get the sentences correct.

Interpretive Listening

Most of the Interpretive Listening activities we completed were in Supersite. This included listening to audio files and then answering a series of questions that pertained to what we heard.

The interpretive listening activities were sometimes difficult for me because I found it hard to gather what the speakers were saying during the recordings. The people speaking are fluent in speaking this language so it makes it a bit hard for me to understand. I overcame this challenge by listening multiple times and only trying to answer one or two questions at a time. I was able to take away from this listening experience techniques on how I can break a conversation down ,when it goes by to fast, to be able to understand it better. I think each time we did this on VHL I was able to understand more and more and better able to answer the questions.

Interpretive Reading

Throughout the semester we read articles in VHL, especially during Cultura activities. We also did reading in some Discussion Board posts in order to learn information. This reading was usually followed by questions to ensure we understood what it was that we read.

Then, write a short reflection paragraph that includes the activities you described above. What was unclear or challenging for you? How did you overcome this difficulty? What did you find most interesting or compelling? What was your takeaway from the reading? How have you grown with each assignment?

The interpretive reading activities were not something that I would consider my favorite part of class. However, I was able to learn a lot about Spanish culture from these activities. During these activities I had some difficulty with the reading because there was often a lot of vocabulary that I wasn’t familiar with. I overcame this difficulty by taking it one sentence at a time. One interesting thing about these articles was that they included a lot of material about the culture that I was not aware of. Learning through interpretive reading was a growing moment for me during the semester because it allowed me to learn real and true information about Spanish culture.