Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

In my life, I know quite a few fluent Spanish speaking people. Talking to them extensively about their lives and their family has given me insight into different Spanish speaking places that I was otherwise uneducated on. I learned more casual conversation, slang frequently used in these areas, and how daily life is in these areas. It opened my eyes to different walks of life that I otherwise would have been completely blinded to.

Engaging in Communities

I often hang out with my Spanish speaking friends and their families, which is a good feeling as I never got to hang around the Mexican side of my family as much as I’d liked to. My friends and I frequent our friend’s family store where they sell a variety of Mexican candies, supplies, and even have an in-house restaurant.

Interpersonal Communication

During this class, I called and talked to some cousins and aunts from the Mexican side of my family. We talked about how we were doing, our families, our lives, and what we did for work. It is always super interesting catching up with them, as they live on a farm and always have something interesting to say.

With the activities I have participated in in this class, I have gained knowledge on other peoples’ perspectives and learned things alongside my classmates about life in various Spanish-speaking countries. Since I grew up around fluent Spanish-speaking family members, learning and speaking Spanish is not too hard for me. What challenged me was learning the intricacies of conjugations and the specific cases in which you use different conjugations. Studying and learning more about when and how to use these different forms of conjugation helped alleviate these difficulties.

Presentational Speaking

In the classroom of an Elementary school class I had been teaching, there was a group of kids who mainly spoke Spanish and knew only a little English. For these kids, I told them our activities and lessons in Spanish so that they would understand and be able to do the same activities the other kids were doing with the same amount of instruction.

Presentational Writing

During this class I’ve written a handful of responses and discussion board posts. I viewed and learned new things about different places and broadened my bank of knowledge.

Interpretive Listening

I already listened to a plethora of Spanish music, but recently I’ve tried to recognize the lyrics without looking them up. It is kind of difficult as they speak very fast, but it is a fun activity and does help me to understand Spanish faster.

One such song I’ve been listening to a lot is Sobredosis by Romeo Santos.

Interpretive Reading

In this class, I read an article about healthcare in Spain compared to in the USA. It was a very good read, and made me consider seriously the differences between our country and the rest of the world.