Exploring Culture

Things that have helped me have a better understanding of cultural perspectives is talking with people who have lived or were born in a Spanish Speaking country. They taught me about their culture in many ways such as showing me pictures, telling me about different traditions, and much more. I have also travelled to Puerto Rico while on a cruise in December of 2019 and having viewed their culture helped me learn more about the country. Though, I only spent the day there, I still feel like I learned a lot. I would love to travel there again for more than a few hours to really get and live through the cultural experiences.

Engaging in Communities

At the time of writing this, we are still going through the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result a physical separation from our immediate community. However, knowing a few people who were born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to the United states has helped me learn more about their community.

Presentational Writing

During the semester I had to write a letter to a committee nominating someone who I admire for a prize. The person I chose to write about was my mother as she is a big part of my life and my #1 best friend. We also had to write a short paragraph talking about ourselves as well as creating a calendar of our everyday life. With each assignment it allowed me to have a better understanding of what we learned in the unit. They tested my knowledge from what was taught to me in the class.

Interpretive Listening

Some interpreting listening activities we did throughout the semester was through the website LingroLearning. Some of the assignments we had to do from the website was listen to someone and either respond, spell the word, etc. We also watched videos in and outside of the classroom and reflect/answer questions on it.

Interpretive Reading

This semester we never really read anything. We did use the LingroLearning website and had a few short paragraphs and then answered some questions based off of that paragraph and what we read. I liked doing these types of assignments because I was able to comprehend and figure out what they were saying at my own past. Though there were times that I needed to look back into the vocabulary to get reminded what a few words meant.

Interpersonal Communication

Some activities I have done this semester that include interpersonal oral/audio activities, discussion boards, and other interpersonal writing/reading activities are through the website LingroLearning. It will not allow me to post them onto here, but we did all of the activities listed above on that website. I have also learned some interpersonal communication from a close friend of mine who lived in Puerto Rico her entire life.

Presentational Speaking

Some presentational speaking I have done is through a project in Spanish class. It had me go around campus talking about things I like to do and places I like to go while on campus. I also talked about places I spend most of my time at, which was my home. The thing that challenged me the most with this assignment was bringing the words from my mind out of my mouth. My pronunciation was good, it was just hard to bring them out and say it. But, once I was able to get the words out it was a lot easier for me.