Exploring Culture
I gained more knowledge and understanding of cultural perspectives while taking Spanish 102. Some practices and products that helped me gain a better understanding were the traditional dishes, music, and dance. Some of the practices were the hierarchy in families, the bond, and formal talking with elders. These practices and products allows for a better connection and understanding with an individual.
The practices within families helped me gain a better understanding and perspectives that all family structures do not look the same. The products helped me understand that they vary among countries such as traditional dishes and music. I feel that sometimes learning about a new culture can be challenging as it can be different than what we are used to. I think the biggest misconception would be thinking the language and dishes are the same throughout different countries.
Engaging in Communities
There is significant value and importance in engaging in my immediate and global communities. Engaging within the immediate and global communities allows for a better understanding and respect for the language and the culture. Being able to engage with immediate and the global community has helped me tremendously with understanding the language and gaining confidence when speaking.
Interpersonal Communication
I have participated in many interpersonal communication activities such as discussion boards and TalkAbroads. The two TalkAbroads were focused on family and the second focused on healthy lifestyles. Discussion boards varied based on the unit learned. TalkAbroads were most influential to my learning and understanding of Spanish.
My TalkAbroad experiences I feel have had the most impact on my communication and confidence in speaking. I was very timid during my first TalkAbroad, it was focused on family, I was nervous to speak the language. I struggled with the sentence structures and certain words. However, with my second TalkAbroad, healthy lifestyles and food, I gained confidence and felt more comfortable speaking the language. I knew a lot more and studied before to help boost my confidence. I did struggle with sentence structure but I overcame this by using the structure of “I like” and “my favorite.” I excelled at the portions regarding food and family because it was something familiar to me. I learned that more time and effort needs to go into these conversations.
Presentational Speaking
I completed a few presentational speaking activities. One of them consisted of repeating the alphabet and pronouncing of vowels and consonants. It also required for corresponding words to be repeated.
For the presentation of the alphabet, I had more difficultly with pronouncing certain consonants. I tried to use videos to help with pronouncing and memorizing of the consonants. I have become more familiar and comfortable with the pronouncing of consonants. I excelled at pronouncing vowels and some of the consonants. I would try and take my time, focusing on the consonants and words I had a hard time remembering and pronouncing.
Presentational Writing
Presentational writing activities I have participated in are discussion boards and LingroLearning writing activities. These activities varied based on the unit being taught such as family structures, food, sports, healthcare, and careers. Each of the discussion boards for the various topics were interesting.
I was able to research and learn more about the culture and customs. For me what became easier was understanding Spanish when researching and reading. The difficult part was finding enough information about a topic. For example, LingroLearning assignments asked for research on a particular topic, marriage equality, but a country of the persons choice. Information on countries regarding certain topics was hard to find or it did not answer all the questions asked. In order to find more information, I tried to word the sentence differently for what I was in search of. I excelled at writing discussion boards as most had the information needed. The discussion board for family structures, had a linked article regarding the importance of family structures in Hispanic families. I would take more time with writing and researching certain topics.
Interpretive Listening
I have completed various interpretive listening activities while taking Spanish 102. Some of activities were listening to videos about favorite sports or dream jobs. Other activities of interpretive listening were through LingroLearning.
The videos listening to people talk about their favorite sports was a little challenging. Some of the words I did not initially understand. Watching the video over a few times and slowing the video down helped me understand what was said. I found more interesting that tennis and soccer were the favorite sports among the speakers in the video. The listening experience had a positive effect on me. It allowed me to better understand the flow and speed of native speakers. It also taught me to take my time and rewatch for words I don’t understand.
Interpretive Reading
I completed major activities using interpretive reading through LingroLearning. There were a few activities were I had to research and read about certain topics such as marriage equality, foods, sports, and healthy life styles.
The activities requiring researching and reading was difficult at times especially for words I did not know. For example, the research about marriage equality and the articles were advanced and in-depth. These articles did contain a lot of information that was not easily understood upon the first reading. What helped me overcome the difficulty was to look at the surrounding words and to close focus on the topic itself. I found that laws in regarding marriage equality vary across Latin America and in Spain. The biggest takeaway when researching marriage equality and LGBTIA+ laws in Argentina was the country being ranked number one as regarding LGBTIA+ rights. I have learned to use surrounding words to help understand what is being said in the article. It has helped me grow and understand Spanish in articles.