- My journey in Spanish 202 was rockier than I would have personally liked but it did teach me a tremendous amount about myself and what it will take for me to be successful continuing to expand my knowledge in Spanish. One of the harder parts for me to pick up on was the conjugations, which is something that traveled over from Spanish 101. Early in the semester I struggled to correctly conjugate words. I could not remember the different endings and various, that could be because Spanish is a perishable skill and I was not using it at all during my breaks. As I have began to progress throughout the semester, I have been able to pick up on various skills to help me communicate effectively. This is most notably shown through my flipgrid 1 grade. It was the highest grade I have received in the course so far and it completely encapsulates my journey through Spanish 102.
Exploring Culture
Flash Cultura is my biggest connection to Spanish culture. The most prominent one talked about the cultural differences between eating habits in the United States and Spain. This helped me understand how people go throughout their daily lives and what values were emphasized in the culture and communities.
One of the most notable differences in Spanish culture and here in the United States would be the food. In the United States, Americans tend to put heavy emphasis on breakfast and it is often called the most important meal of the day. In Spain, breakfast is a much lighter meal because the most important meal of the day comes during lunchtime. Called Comida or almuerzo this is recognized as the most important meal of the day and is usually eaten anywhere between 1-4 pm. In Spain, during these hours restaurants shut down, schools bus children back home, and workers get off all to enjoy a hearty meal with their families. While we have differences in what times our largest meal of the day should be, one thing can be said, amongst both cultures food plays a very big role in the dynamic of the family.
After discovering that the second meal of the day was the largest, one question continued to come back to mind. What is it that makes this time so significant compared to breakfast or dinner? Lunch, better known as La Comida, is a midday meal where Spaniards eat their largest meal. The meal usually includes multiple courses. Traditionally, the meal last around two to three hours. Students are released from school and work is let out so that everyone can be home to enjoy a meal with family. It seems to encapsulate the very essence of Spanish culture where the family is the most important aspect.
Engaging in Communities
Working at a hotel has afforded me the opportunity to engage with many different people with vastly different backgrounds. Of the people I have been fortunate enough to encounter one was a construction worker on a work visa from Cuernavaca, Mexico.
One thing that he taught me was that Mexico does not have a state official religion. While most of the population is largely catholic. Some polls have it ranking up to about eighty percent. He also taught me about the cost of living in Mexico compared to the USA. This is seen in the cost of renting and groceries mostly. The biggest price difference comes with buying popular American clothes due to higher tariffs on imported goods. Lastly, Ajmad stated that life seems to run at a faster pace.
Interpersonal Communication
The TalkAbroad was for the students to test our knowledge gained in class with native Spanish speakers from various countries. The goal of TalkAbroad is for students to gain real-world experience using the Spanish language in everyday settings. Other forms of interpersonal communication would be in a grocery store speaking with other Spanish speakers or having a phone call with a friend in Spanish.
TalkAbroad was my first ever unscripted use of Spanish outside of the interviews with our professors during class. It was a little bit less stressful because of my first partner David. While at times I struggled to respond with any sustenance he kept the conversation engaging and very easy to follow. This help me immensely when it came to my confidence level, the first TalkAbroad showed me that the skills being reinforced in class actually work out in the real Spanish-speaking world. The confidence boost helped me use Spanish in my daily life more frequently. At my current job, we have long-term workers staying with us. One night some of the Spanish-speaking guests were locked out of their rooms and I was able to use my knowledge of the numbers to get his room key reprogramed. For me, this was a very important step in my journey to becoming fluent in Spanish because I was able to use what I knew to help someone else.
Presentational Speaking
For our class’s presentational speaking, we utilized a flip grid. Flipgrid allowed us the opportunity to record ourselves before using our Spanish skills in real-world scenarios.
The growth from my first Flipgrid to my second was tremendous. I felt more comfortable using the Spanish I have been learning throughout the year. The more I began to use words the easier it became to retain them as well. I also was able to start pinpointing words in other sentences. This skill helped allow me to understand what was being said to me without trying to translate them into English. During my first video, I said I thought Spanish was hard, as the year went on I do not think it is hard anymore, it is just something that you can only get better with through repetition.
Presentational Writing
Composition 1 would be the best showcase of writing I have for the course. Presentational writing centers on being able to write coherent sentences in Spanish. While this seems simple if not careful you can begin to write with extreme redundancy. Just like with English the goal is to convey a central message as straightforward as possible.
As we progressed with our writing, creating more nuanced sentences became easier. From Spanish 101 coming into Spanish 102, we did not do too many writing assignments. Spanish 102 forced me to be more descriptive with my sentences. The use of diacritical marks improved as I began to understand more dealing with spelling and grammatical structure. One issue I still have yet to master is the proper use of “SOV vs SVO”. I still from time to time lack the ability to properly structure those responses.
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Interpretive Listening
The student will be able to understand information, concepts, and ideas orally from a variety of culturally authentic
sources on a variety of topics in the target language.
¡Vacaciones en Perú! was one of the best examples of this, Omar takes a trip to Peru as he walks us through some of the nation’s main attractions and history. One of the biggest attractions is Machu Picu discovered by Hiran Bingham in 1911. The hardest part is identifying keywords because, just like with American accents, they vary from region to region. What I found the most interesting was how unique each of these countries is unto themselves. The outdoor markets of Spain vary completely from what you may see in Puerto Rico. With each different flash cultura I learned a bit more about these countries.
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Interpretive Reading
During class the Professor brought us coupon magazines from Spain. Inside them were various items that were for sell. Some items you could find here in the United States while some others were native to Spain.
Within those magazines I learned about the differences in pricing for foreign objects. One object that I noticed that seemed to be beloved worldwide was nutella. Reading in Spanish is something that I can understand a bit more compared to hearing it. The most difficult part is not translating it english to understand it, when I was looking at the magazines the pictures made it easier. Instead of looking at soap and immedialty traslating it into English my brain would register it as “jabón.”