Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
There have been many instances of different products and practices that helped me gain a better understanding of cultural perspectives. One being going to authentic restaurants owned and ran by other cultures and backgrounds, in which give me the opportunity to try new foods. I get to her the workers speak their native languages behind the scenes, then when the come up to the table they speak English to the customers. I also get to try foods native to their respective countries with foods and spices that we do not typically use in our day to day lives.
It is so important to experience other cultures products and practices in order to understand and open your eyes to different parts of the world. The local restaurant that I goto at home, called Taco Maya, allows me to hear people with Spanish as their first language, communicate behind the counter. I am so used to hearing people with English as their first language, so hearing people who are bilingual is really interesting and neat. It is challenging because they definitely have stronger accents, so it sometimes can be hard to interpret what they are trying to communicate to it you. This opened my eyes because it shows how when I speak Spanish, and am learning it in this class, it too have an accent and it may be hard for Spanish-Speaking people to understand me. I can easily say that it is hard to learn another language, as I am trying to learn Spanish, so I learned to work through the stereotype that these workers should be able to speak English perfectly to me and other customers.
Engaging in Communities
Engaging in immediate and global communities is an extremely valuable work of service. To take time out of a busy schedule to give back to the community that has shaped you into the person you are today is so important. It shows that you care about the community and can help so many people, it also can create a chain reaction and inspire others to help and create an impact the same way that you are. Any act of service to the community no matter how big or small, is so important and will create positive change in the world we live in.
Over the past couple years, I have engaged in many different activities that help give back to the community that I am from. Specifically, I am apart of the Old Dominion Women’s Lacrosse, which stresses the importance of giving back to the local community of whom supports our team in many ways. One activity we do is, writing letters of encouragement to first responders and active military members, which are sent with care packages through an organization called Operation Gratitude. Every year around the holidays, we also do a food drive in the local Larchmont neighborhood in which we collected enough food for 791 meals and donated to the local food bank. Volunteering some of my time to give back to the community is such an empowering experience and not only made me feel good after, but also helped people struggling more than I can ever imagine.
Interpersonal Communication
TalkAbroad is a form of communication used in this class, where a Spanish student is partnered with someone from a Spanish Speaking country and video call to carry a conversation in Spanish. Another interpersonal communication activity is the discussion boards we held, where we would have a prompt about something from Hispanic culture, such as foods or places, and respond to our peers responses in class.
In the TalkAbroad discussion between me and my Spanish-Speaking partner, I faced many challenges, but also grew so much as a student learning the Spanish language. It was difficult for me to understand my partner, and was hard for me to understand everything that she was saying, and not be able to use any English. We specifically talked about food, daily routines, introduced ourselves and talked about our family. I feel that my partner helped me get through this discussion by talking slow and helping me understand what she was saying by using hand gestures. I was definitely nervous before the conversation, but once it began it felt easier. This helped me grow, because I gained confidence in myself knowing that I could carry a conversation with a real Spanish Speaking native. I feel that I excelled at understanding what was trying to say, but I had a hard time communicating back with her and pronouncing the words. Next time, I would try to learn more vocabulary so I can form longer sentences and communicate easier with her. I really liked doing the discussion board posts with my classmates, because it gave me a chance to communicate with them, since we barely get to communicate in out online course. It was neat to research different places in Hispanic Culture and also look at the different foods that they eat.
Presentational Speaking
In our Spanish 102 course, we did many presentational activities with each module, in which we would communicate and carry on a discussion with our partner. Each time we would have a different topic, and have a brief conversation asking and answering each other’s questions.
During the Presentational Speaking assignments, we would carry on a conversation about what we were learning in class. I definitely struggled with the pronunciation of words, which made it harder for my partner to understand my questions and answers. To overcome this challenge, I spent more time listening to the power points and hearing how to pronounce the vowels and vocabulary words. It was definitely harder to complete these presentation assignments on an online course, because I barely ever get to hear my teacher speak Spanish and we do the presentations through zoom. Next time I would spend more time learning the vocabulary, so the conversation comes easier. I think me and my partner focused too much on memorizing our lines rather than making it flow like a conversation.
Presentational Writing
In Spanish 102, the main form of Presentational Writing we completed, was compositions with each module. In the compositions we were given a prompt, and then would write a story or paragraph based on the prompt.
composition1Over the course of the semester, writing out the compositions became easier with each module. I think the hardest part of writing out the Presentational Writing assignments would be conjugating the verbs for each sentence and matching it to the correct tense and verb ending. I excelled at using the vocabulary in the correct context and answering all the questions that are being asked of me. It became easier to learn the verb tenses and writing out longer sentences. Above is an example of the first composition assignment we ever done this semester, and I definitely grew so much since then. I think next time, I can make my sentences more in depth and use more vocabulary to make more complex and longer sentences.
Interpretive Listening
In Spanish 102 we had many different instances where we listened to Spanish discussions and learned about Spanish Culture that related to what we were learning. After, watching the video on VHL, we would answer questions based on the video content. We would also have listening quizzes, where we would listen to our teacher ask questions and and answer them.
Una cena… romántica Page 202-203 Adventuras, by Jose A. Blanco, Vista Higher Learning, 2006.
In our Interpretive Listening assignments, we watch videos on the a Hispanic Market, and a date between two people ordering at a restaurant. Watching these videos, it was sometimes challenging to fully understand what they were saying. Although, I enjoyed watching them because they each related to what we were learning in class, and showed us a real life interaction using the vocabulary we learned. To overcome the difficulty, I had my book open to follow along and see what they were talking about by matching it to the vocabulary we learned. I was able to grow and learn from these listening activities, because I could learn and see how to use what we learned in class in real life scenarios. Above we can see a video that we watched for homework, which is about ordering at a restaurant and after we had questions to answer based off the video.
Interpretive Reading
During class, through the VHL Central website, we completed and read many different articles and stories from Spanish speaking countries and related to Hispanic Culture.
The Interpretive Reading activities were probably the easiest activities for me to complete in this class, out of all the assignments we had. I felt that reading these articles, and then answering question based off the reading came easy for me, because I could comprehend the reading. It is so interesting to read these articles and learn about the other cultures and here I liked to learn about Hispanic Designers. The most difficult part of these reading assignments where when they were fully in Spanish, and I came across a word that I did not know, or we did not learn about. To overcome this, I used context clues and looked around the word to figure out what it meant. Each assignment allows me to grow and learn more and more about the Hispanic culture and gain a better appreciation for the culture.