Exploring Culture

Over the course of this semester I learned about the environment, patterns and affect of migration, the interpretation of history through art, and popular influential creative writers within various counties in the Spanish – speaking world. For many communities the effects of climate change and Migration has impacted the way of life. A few prominent issues are deforestation, pollution, forced immigration, outcasting foreigners, and corrupt governments. Artists and creative writers are using their talents and platforms to inform their audience of past and current affairs.

Below are a few interesting facts I learned from Unit 14 and 15.

Unidad 14:

En Uruguay más popular cultura de arte es contemporary. Tienen muchos tipos de arte muy famoso. The types of art that can be found in Uruguay are Galleries, Street Art/graffiti, Architecture and Monuments. Estos forma de arte son popular porque les contar a historia y cultura de Uruguay y su población. Some important figures are Pedro Figari who is known for his Post-impressionism art movement, Carlos Vilaro whose art showcases the African minority population and several monuments dedicated to freedom fighters. 

Unidad 15: 

Yvette Modestin was born and raised in Colon, Panama. She is a current contemporary influential writer, poet and activist. Her work focuses on the experiences and activism for the Afro Latino/ Afro descendant community in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Engaging in Communities

TalkAbroad is a great tool that I have had the privilege to use over the course of this semester. I have been able to connect and interact with individuals from various countries such as Uruguay, El Salvador, Argentina and Guatemala. Through these conversations I have been able to get a first hand account of life within these countries and gain a friendship during the process. In engaging with the Spanish communities local and globally, I have begun to see improvement in my listening and speaking skills.

The following link is a recording of the conversation I had with Agustina who is from Uruguay. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yDTbNELy1oLDGs0a8dnx7m2edw6DMqGY/view?usp=sharing

Uruguay is a small independent nation. Because it is really small residents and natives have to travel to other places for some activities like visiting museums. Whereas, in the United States there are museums in small most all states. A similarity between both the United States and Uruguay is they both had to fight the Spaniards as well as Europeans in their fight to gain independence. Another difference that we discussed is the limited access to the art profession. In Uruguay it is difficult for individuals who are passionate about art to find a place to study it because there is no school or university. Whereas, in the United States there is a lot of opportunities, however, the market caters more to music and acting platform than dancing and other visual arts

Presentational Speaking

The two presentational speaking assignments I completed this course were two TalkAbroad conversations. The topic for the first conversation was ecotourism and clothing. The other was about Art and the interpretation of history. Below is the link to my discussion with Mariam about Ecotourism and clothing in El Salvador and the United States.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gDrGW1zmh7B_6BjLePumggsUYNzYQB7x/view?usp=sharing

An area in my communication that I am experiencing trouble with is responding back in a responsible time when answering questions. During my beginning stages of learning Spanish, I would translate questions and my assignments from Spanish to English. It temporary helped me get through the work that I was assigned however I was not retaining what I was learning. This technique has made it difficult for me to answer questions because my first instinct is to say it in English first and then try to translate it to Spanish. Which leads to long periods of silence within my conversations.

Presentational Writing

Our Presentational Writing activities were discussion boards and Short Answer Responses on Exams. From Spanish 102 to Spanish 202 I have grown a lot within my writing skills. I have also seen growth in my confidence as well. The discussions boards further developed the topics that we discussed over the course.

With my writing I have seen improvement in the structuring of my sentences. However, I struggle with ensuring I am conjugating my verbs correctly. I have also notice that I like to use the same verbs like es, gusta or encanta because I know how to use them well. A new goal that I have set for myself to aid in developing my writing skills is to use 5 new verbs that I have learned in each writing assignment I have to complete. This goal will help make my writing more interesting and advance my vocabulary skills.

Interpretive Listening

This course primarily focused on our listening abilities. The picture below is a video that celebrates the 60 year anniversary of the Modern Art museum of Buenos Aires. The artist and employees talk about the history of the museum and the amazing work that is taking place today. In added the sub captions to the video, I was able to see the various ways to use the imperfect, preterite and the present tenses when talking about events that occurred in the past and ones that are still currently taking place.

I have seen significant improvement in my listening skills. Outside of the classroom, I have been taking steps to fully immerse myself into Spanish. I have been rewatching movies that I know well in English in Spanish to see the various way things are said in Spanish. I have started to explore different genres of music. As well as playing on Duolingo in my spare time. These activities have increased my vocabulary greatly. By increasing my interaction with Spanish culture and learning more words, I am able to use context clues to figure out the meaning or significance of sentences.

Interpretive Reading

Within this course we read two short stories. The first story was about a woman named Finita La Gringa. The story shed light on the impact of immigration and assimilation to new customs, culture and people within the new country. The second reading is called El eclipse by Augusto Monterroso. This narrative provides a historical account of the initial interactions between natives and colonist.

Since grade school I have struggled with reading comprehension. However, Lingolearning utilizes the varios articule of texts to structure their assignments. By structuring the work this way I was able to pick up on the various gramatical tenses and how to use them in my own writing. Although I have seen improvement in my writing, I have trouble utilizing the gramatical tenses I have learned to speaking.