Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Some products and practices that assisted me in gaining an understanding of cultural perspectives were the discussion board activities and the cultural activities within Contraseña.

The way that these products and practices helped me to understand the attitudes and values in the Hispanic culture were by giving brief but informative glimpses into multiple cultures. The activities in Contraseña were very informative and fun to complete, making it easy to learn about different heritage’s. These products and practices challenged my worldview by completely widening it! I only knew a snippet of a few different cultures, and through Contraseña and the discussion board activities I was able to learn and experience much more than I already had. These challenges that these perspectives revealed to me that the world truly is bigger than we know, and there is a wealth of information that many of us couldn’t even imagine. These perspectives caused me to work through the stereotypes and misconceptions that I had by showing me so many different cultures and proving that none of them are all the same!

Engaging in Communities

The value and importance of engaging in my immediate community is priceless to me. Through work I mentioned that I was taking a Spanish class and I had co-workers and friends from many different backgrounds always offering to help me out as well as asking how I was doing. It was interesting to compare the things that I’ve learned in SPAN101 to the things that friends from Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Peruvian cultures know and the way that they all use different words for different things! It was interesting to see how the proper grammar in Spanish can flow differently through each culture when speaking versus writing. It was also great to find another way to converse with many others. A lot of people I know that speak a second language always mention that they don’t use it enough, so them helping me helped them continue to hold onto that gift!

Interpersonal Communication

Some activities that I completed this semester were audio tests, writing and reading exercises, and communication with others. In Contraseña we had multiple exercises where a word was spoken in Spanish, and we had to write it down correctly. We also had many quizzes with different audio excerpts with multiple choice answers having to pick the correct sentences that were spoken in each clip.

Each conversation, discussion board post, and Contraseña activity really solidified each section we went over in SPAN101. Not only are you learning a new language through reading, but you’re also learning by listening, speaking, and writing. Each assignment and activity really helped with learning each section, progressively adding a little bit more. While adding more information, the older information introduced was utilized to keep it fresh in the mind. I feel like I excelled most at the audio quizzes and reading activities. I found it much easier to listen to an audio bit and write the word or select the word from multiple choice, than it was to read and try to say the words. Hearing each word and how it’s supposed to be pronounced and enunciated was beneficial in learning how to speak in Spanish. The assignments that were most difficult for me were the group projects. Working full time and being on the other side of the country while having to rely on another person and their schedule was incredibly difficult. I ended up not getting most of the group projects done, and regret that because they are very beneficial in the learning process. Next time I will go out of my way to get ahold of my partner and really make sure that we get these projects done in a timely manner as to not receive unnecessary zeros.

Presentational Speaking

I did not participate in any presentational speaking activities, but I did work on my Spanish with friends from work. In addition to that, the oral interviews with the instructor were wonderful in realizing how much we have actually learned throughout the semester.

Working with my friends from work on my Spanish was a wonderful experience. I was able to learn and notice different dialects, as well as different ways to make the language flow better and sound less forced. It was fun to have friends teach me how to better pronounce words to get better at my craft.

Interpretive Listening

In this course, we completed multiple interpretive listening activities, and I personally found them to be the most beneficial. We had many audio clips to listen to and reflect, as well as assignments with listening.

The different things that I listened to and heard this semester inside and outside of class were incredibly helpful for my understanding of the Spanish language. Listening to friends speak and correct me when I incorrectly used a word was extremely helpful. The audio recordings helped especially in the beginning for the alphabet and numbers to make sure that we’re getting the basics right. Each activity absolutely helped me grow as the semester went on by increasing the difficulty and forcing me to really pay attention to the words being said in each audio activity.

Interpretive Reading

In this semester we had to read many paragraphs in Spanish to pick out key words in order to understand what the overall idea was. We read award recommendations, texts through friends, e-mails from student to teacher and parent to child, and many other formats and styles of writing.

Some of these activities were challenging, especially the more hearty paragraphs. Learning to read for context clues was extremely helpful, and made reading each activity more clear. The way I was able to overcome this difficulty was by reading each activity over and over as well as going through my notes to make sure I’m understanding the context clues. The most interesting thing for me were the text messages. These were interesting because we really got to see how informal messaging looks for most Spanish speakers.