Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Address the reflection exercises in each of the following sections. For each section, you will need to embed portions of these assignments and activities as artifacts to substantiate your reflection. Then, at the end of each section, include a link to the document or embed it as a PDF. 

Tutorials are available:

• Embedding a PDF
• Embedding Media (Images, Audio)
• Embedding a Video

An Effective Reflection Is

• Written in English.
• A demonstration, explanation, comparison of skill and growth described through what you learned and the challenges you had in that learning while highlighting your best work.
• A discussion of how you overcame any weakness or obstacles. Explain what you mean.
• Supported by evidence as represented by your artifacts (course materials, photographs, video, conversations, projects, news reports, authentic materials, etc.).
• Specific, addressing particular strengths, weakness, skills, transformative experiences, etc., avoiding vague generalizations (ex: “I learned a lot.”).

An Effective Reflection is not

• Only sharing an artifact without context or discussion.
• Only a description or explanation of an artifact. Focus on your learning and growth as a result of having completed that experience.
• An attempt to justify your work to an instructor. Instead, think more broadly about future audiences that might benefit from seeing evidence of your work and the skills you are developing.

Instructions

Exploring Culture

In English, give a brief description of products and practices that helped you gain understanding of cultural perspectives. Remember not to make value judgments or comparisons of better/worse or right/wrong. Different is just different. You are talking about your growth of understanding.

Then, in a short paragraph write your reflection. Some questions that may help you process your reflections are: In what way did these products and practices help you better understand values and attitudes in the Hispanic culture as well as your own? How did these products and practices challenge your worldview? What challenges did these perspectives reveal to you? How did it cause you to work through a stereotype or misconception you had and cause you to view the world from a different perspective? Use specific examples.

Engaging in communities : 

I think it is very important for me to be engaged in your community because it helps me gain a better understanding of my surroundings and others around me. Being engaged has made me a more open and transparent person overtime. Community engagement can transform communities. By encouraging public participation in projects that impact society it facilitates fair, equitable, and sustainable outcomes. One thing that I participated in within my community was the first week there was this program called FSE and we helped people move into their dorms. I got to talk to many different people and talk to their friends and families that came along. It really helped me to get to know a few people and also be comfortable since I was also new. 

Interpersonal communication :

An activity that I did on my own was I was listening to a youtube video in spanish and i was writing while they were speaking. I was practicing listening to the words and knowing what it means then writing it on paper in spanish. 

This helped me so much to improve the way I wrote in Spanish because the more I listen the more I am familiar with the words. This helps me know how full sentences are spoken and sometimes it is difficult knowing how I should write it.  Whenever I do not know how the words they are speaking are written I turn the subtitles on to help me. This is how I tested myself by listening and then writing down what I heard. This was one of the things that  helped me improve on how i pronounced words and read them. 

Presentational writing : 

A presentation writing  activity I have done inside of school is I wrote two compositions  one was about myself and I had to describe myself such as my name , date of birth, phone number , and email address. The other composition I did was I wrote about my schedule which included what time my classes start and what days I have my classes and what kind of activities I do during the week. 

Reflection : It was very difficult for me to create scentaces knowing what and which words to use and knowing which words would fit and which words wouldn’t. But to help myself I went tutoring on my own time and I reviewed the vocabulary. Knowing the vocabulary and when to use it is what helped me write the most. For example “ gusta “ and “ gustan” both mean (  like ) but are used in different ways. I would practice on my own and try to form my own practice sentences to improve and do better.I will do better by continuing to review the vocabulary and going out my way to watch youtube videos if i need to and asking more questions in class. 

Presentational speaking : 

A presentation speaking activity I have done in class is I made a video describing  my university and the different things on campus in spanish. I spoke about the library and the school cafeteria and what activities I do there. And what  some of the things inside them are.  I also talked about my dorm and what is in my dorm. 

Reflection : Some of the challenges that i had was pronouncing some words to overcome this and do better. I went on youtube and searched for some audio of some Spanish words so that I can hear them correctly pronounced and then practice and repeat the words. I would also have my friends ask me questions in spanish and me reply in spanish so that i can practice pronouncing and speaking spanish. I would also be on zoom calls with the language tutors and they would correct me and help me say the words. This helped me in so many ways and I improved my pronunciation so much. 

Interpretive listening: 

This semester I listened to a Spanish speech on youtube. It is called the language of motivation. (  El lenguaje de la motivación) Her name is Maria Graciani and she gave this speech at TEDxsevilla .TED talks is a program that brings people together to share their experiences. And I listen to this video on lingro learning of the girl describing the university.  

 Reflection: In lingro learning it helped me alot with my own project and how to explain things. I heard the word universidad a lot so it let me know that the video was about the university and it also showed the school on the screen and gave an example. Listening to the ( El language de la motivación ) I had seen some words that I had recognized and one of them was  porque. It helped me know how the word should be used in a sentence. And it is also helping me with vocabulary since I’m listening to it and seeing how it is being used in a sentence. 

Interpretive reading 

I read in lingrolearning.com about the custom of naps. I also read about Four cultural collaborators talking about the siesta and their daily life where they live. They talked about their lives and how each of them lived.

What was difficult for me was trying to understand what I was reading so I would use a dictionary. I would search for the words in the dictionary and look for the meaning of the word and then I would go back and read it correctly. This has helped so much with remembering the vocabulary because now it is in my head because  when I look it up and learn the meaning I  read the sentence again. What I found the most interesting when I was reading was how they talked about how people rented houses and or rooms near the college and no one ever lives alone. I learned about the different lives of the people. One of them mentioned how they live with their parents and work ( part time ) to help with my expenses.