Exploring Culture

The use of Exploración Cultural on Lingro Learning and youtube videos watched for specific discussions boards have helped me gain understanding of cultural perspectives.

The Exploración Cultural on Lingro Learning was very helpful for me in terms of learning about Spanish-Speaking countries and their views on certain aspects like body positivity, environmental policies, migration trends and much more. Completing each module for Exploración Culture was very eye opening because I was learning information that I would have not known due to my own lack of research and learning about the Hispanic Culture. During a discussion board we had to complete in class, I learned about the ways Spanish speaking countries handled the pandemic and the methods used to still give access to education was amazing to read.

Some of those countries provided take home kits for students , broadcasting educational programs on tv and the radio was something that I found very impressive. The use of radio to broadcast education was very intriguing for me because I would not have thought to use a radio in that way, it shows how innovative these Spanish speaking countries are. It was more than just take a laptop, log on to class and do the work , the accessibility was there even creating hotlines for parents who may needed help with the adjustments. There was another discussion board that was centered around immigration and I learned a lot through that as well that was refreshing because immigration can be seen as a negative thing in the media. The youtube video “How Does Immigration Impact the Economy” was very informational and expressed how useful immigrants are and the ways that they contribute to America.

Interpersonal Communication

TalkAbroad was used to be able to speak to someone in a Spanish-speaking country and engage in a conversation about specific topics such as traveling and ecotourism and interpretation of art and history. The discussion boards were to be completed for each module where I answered the prompt question and engaged in conversation with other students within the class. Conversations with the professor as well in Spanish was another aspect of interpersonal communication.

My experiences with TalkAbroad are always a little difficult due to me getting in my own way. I have a hard time understanding what is being asked or how to say what I want to in a full sentence. I do like the exposure of talking to those who speak Spanish, it is a great way to put what I have learned to use and grow out of being shy. Moving forward, I would be more prepared with questions to ask my partner. I don’t know what will be asked by them but if I prepare more questions to ask then I can have control over the conversations at certain times.

The discussion boards are always a great way to express my thoughts and to hear what everyone else has to say as well.Doing the discussion boards helps me engage with my classmates and get to know them better as well. The discussion boards aren’t that difficult unless I am stuck on what I want to say or don’t know how to say it in Spanish. The discussion boards are easy to excel in, I think I did well in giving well thought out comments and engaging with my classmates under their posts as well. I learned a lot of new and interesting information from these discussion boards because of the different topics such as traveling/ecotourism, technology, immigration and more. They would have a video clip or an article attached that was in support of what we had to write and I did like that aspect as well, I don’t think there is much that I would differently floor discussion boards.

The Flipgrid and zoom conversations with the professor was another use of interpersonal communication. The flipgrid conversation was interesting, that was my first time doing that. It seems like a great effective way to converse with students and it was very simple to just record myself and post it. The difficulty with the flipgrid may have just been having to listen to the recording over and over trying to understand what was being said. I wanted to make sure I responded appropriately so it can be a little time consuming due to my own inability to not understand certain things. I think I did pretty well with my response back, I tried to make complete sentences and make as much sense as I could to make it feel like the conversation was flowing naturally. Next time I would listen to the recording more and possibly write out was being said because that would help me be more prepared in how I want to answer.

The zoom conversations were also difficult for me. I had to know how to use the correct grammar and vocab which was hard at times because I would want to say what makes sense to answer with instead of saying what I did know what to say. Understanding what is being said is most of the time not an issue for me so I think in that aspect I did well with knowing what was being said to me. I learned that taking long pauses are not helpful for me or my grade so next time I should say what is on my mind and not second guess or overthink myself.

Presentational Speaking

There were a few projects for this class that were speaking activities that I had to complete. The first presentation speaking activity was for project 12 that included talking about ecotourism.

In Project 12 , the assignment was to create a video about a destination that included ecotourism. The challenges I had within this was making sure I was pronouncing my words correctly and that it was all making sense. I overcame those by just making sure I slowed and took my time, I recorded the video many times before finally making one I felt was good to submit. I excelled in making the visual to the project and to be able to show my face while speaking. I knew that was a requirement so I made sure I had pictures and that there was a way to see me as I spoke.  

Presentational Writing

Presentation writing was included in Project 11 where the use of having to create a style guide for a client. We had to use vocab from module 11 that was bout clothing and styles.

In project 11, it was easy to put together the outfit , describe what each item was and make it coordinate with the clients style as well. Within the style guide portion, I tried to use words that I knew from the unit and vocab as much as I could and also used some key phrases from the examples that were given on the example from LingroLearning. The difficulties is always making sure my sentences and what I am saying is making sense but I overcame that and my paragraph read well.

Interpretive Listening

There were videos within LingroLearning and our class material that were helpful during the semester in learning and engaging in discussion posts. In English, give a very brief 2-3-line description of interpretive listening activities you completed this semester for or related to your Spanish learning. (See Modes of Communication link for description and examples).

The video about Immigrants and the economy was very informational. I didn’t know much of the information within the video and it was interesting to hear the ways that Immigrants have a positive impact on our country despite what may be portrayed of them in media. It confirmed for me even more that immigrants , undocumented or not , do hold value within the US as they do jobs that most Americans wont do or they are simply hard workers because they left their own countries for a better life and opportunities. There are video clips of vocabulary and grammar in the course material and LingroLearning that was helpful in the overall learning of the Spanish language.

Interpretive Reading

Majority of the work within LingroLearning was interpretive reading along with a few articles that were linked for discussion boards. The Texto portion for a few units in LingroLearning consisted of stories in Spanish that had to be read. The articles that were apart of discussion boards to helped aid with answering the prompts but also gaining a new understanding and look at Latin American history.

The readings were very interesting. The story within LingroLeatrning was sharing what it may feel like for an immigrant who comes to America and has to leave behind people they care about and have questions about that. I think that was a good read to understand immigration on a deeper emotional level. The articles used within our discussion boards provided information and looks at Spanish art.

Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofa is a website that displays the art exhibitions and collections of Spanish-Speaking artists. It was nice to see the beautiful artwork that was created and to express what we liked or didn’t like within the discussion post.

Latino Book Review is an article that shares the three American universities that were in the European perspective , founded in Latin America. This article was nice to read and gain information from because it was all new to me. I never researched any universities or colleges that were not within my own state so it was a great insight to see these Latin American Universities. It highlighted an important and positive part of Latin American history.

An article that I thoroughly enjoyed was How countries across Latin America use technology during COVID19-driven school closures. I enjoyed this because I have not considered what other ares in the world were doing in terms of navigating education through a pandemic. After reading I was amazed at how these Latin America countries used all the resources they could to ensure it was accessible to everyone. Take home kits, broadcasting on tv and radio were clever ways to go about making sure there were multiple options for students to receive an education. My biggest takeaway is that with the resources and technology, learning can still be productive even in times of uncertainty.