Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

While taking Spanish 101, understanding the culture of various Spanish-speaking countries around the world was important. In order to understand those cultures outside of the Lingro textbook, I would talk to my friends from Latin American countries or research online about other countries. Listening to Spanish music was also a way to learn about other Spanish cultures for me.

Talking to my Latin American friends taught me some of the ways their culture differs from American culture. For example, my friend Omar and I were talking about our eating habits. I mentioned that I usually eat more of a snack for lunch and then eat a heavier meal at dinner. Omar was shocked by this statement. He said where he is from, Venezuela, lunch is considered the heavier meal and dinner is a light meal. When we Face-timed, we would often talk about the similarities and differences between our countries.

Thanks to the social media assignment in Lingro, I learned even though Spanish-speaking countries are different in terms of language and structure, they have a lot of similarities. They used a lot of the same apps as the United States like Instagram and Facebook.

Engaging in Communities

Community is one of the many facets of civilization that makes the world go round. Community inspires people to be the best version of themselves. The community can also give people a better sense of self and belonging. As a college student, my campus is currently my immediate community. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to visit a Spanish-speaking community yet. Below are some images of my current community. I later featured some of these places in my campus tour project.

Interpersonal Communication

In Spanish 101, I was given assignments to further my speaking abilities. Some of those assignments included oral questions on Lingro. I also had activities to improve my conversational skills when writing, such as class forums.

Honestly, I found these prompted activities to be very challenging. It was difficult for me to apply what I learned to more real-life scenarios. Sometimes I would hold back in the forum posts because I was worried people would make fun of me for not having the most grammatically correct response. After speaking in Spanish with other students, I began to realize we were all in the same situation. There was nothing to be embarrassed about because we were all learning together. None of us were able to speak Spanish fluently. In Spanish 102, I will make sure to be comfortable from the beginning of class. This way the professor can correct my speaking mistakes.

Presentational Speaking

In Spanish 101, I had presentational assignments. Usually, these were in the form of end-of-unit assignments. One was an interview with a Spanish speaker. We published the video on Lingro. The other assignment was a tour of my campus. This video was also published on Lingro.

These assignments were some of my favorites. They allowed me to hear what I sounded like while speaking Spanish. Not only did they allow me to hear myself, but I could also see what facial expressions I was making while I spoke. I now understand the faces you make while speaking, non-verbal communication, are crucial to getting your point across. At first, I was’t very good at sounding conversational. Instead, I sounded like I was reading from a script. The more assignments I did, the better I got.

Presentational Writing

Over the course of the semester, I was assigned presentational writing assignments. One was an overview of my schedule. The other assignment was a paragraph about who I am.

In the assignment about who am I, I informed the reader of my age, birthday, personality traits, and how I was feeling at the moment. This assignment was meant to aid in my understanding of the verbs “ser” and “estar”. It was also the first project of the semester. As a result, I struggled a little because I was still getting used to the format of the class. The second assignment was the schedule paragraph. In this project, I described what I do every week. This activity was supposed to help me learn how to use phrases like “I have to” or to talk in future tense ” I am going to”. Next time, I will definitely try to use more colorful language.

(Schedule paragraph)

Interpretive Listening

Scattered throughout the course, I was expected to complete assignments where I listen to audio and respond accordingly. These assignments were only on Lingro.

I actually didn’t struggle with the audio assignments. In previous Spanish courses I found them to be very difficult. However, I am a little used to them at this point. A big critique I would note is my responses to the audio. Since these audios were usually assigned as homework. I did no sound very energetic in my responses. I sounded very monotoned or like I was reading from a script. In the future, I will try to make my voice sound more natural even when no one is actually listening.

Interpretive Reading

Outside of the textbook readings, I wasn’t assigned a ton of reading assignments. However, I was occasionally assigned Spanish emails or letters to interprit.

These assignments were some of the most difficult in the entire course for me. This is because most of the reading assignments contained unfamiliar vocablulary. I was often frustrated because I had to keep looking up words to understand the text. Not only was there unfamiliar vocabulary, but the structure of many of the sentences only made sense to a Spanish speaker because the phrases could’t be translated directly. Next time, I will definitely email my professor when I don’t understand the nuances of the Spanish language.