Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
During this semester I was able to learn about the health care systems of other Spanish speaking countries and specifically look into the healthcare differences between Spain and the United States. The most obvious difference was the way healthcare is paid for and how that effects the average lifespan of its citizens. While the US has some of the most advanced care around the world, only the most wealthy can afford the treatment whereas healthcare is provided freely in Spain. Seeing how that encourages everyone from the rich to the poor to engage in the healthcare system and get more regular checkups goes a long way to increasing the lifespans of the people living there.
Engaging in Communities
Through out the semester there were many discussions in the class about healthcare, food, and family that helped me better understand my fellow classmates. Getting to speak and respond to each other helped develop a community of peers within the class that I could reach out to or help should they have an assignment they couldn’t understand.
Interpersonal Communication
While learning the Spanish the ultimate goal of mine was to be able to hold a simple conversation with someone who only speaks Spanish and I was able to realize that goal this semester. By participating in the TalkAbroad program I was able to match with a Spanish speaking person from Argentina and have a 15 minutes conversation about family, food and health. I was able to understand and communicate my thoughts and ideas much easier than I would have anticipated and it goes to show how much I’ve learned over the course of 2 semesters of Spanish.
Presentational Speaking
For class I responded to a conversation prompt from our professor to simulate a typical conversation between two intermediate Spanish speakers. I had to understand what the other person was talking about and asking and then come up with my own responses while not reading from a script or any prepared material. This made me focus entirely on the language and helped me think in the language I was speaking rather than thinking in English and then translating.
Presentational Writing
My main source of writing this semester was in topic discussions with other students where we wrote about cultural or vocabulary related topics. Discussing with the class helped me with my writing and comprehension as I had to understand what the other students were writing in Spanish in order to contribute to the conversation.
Interpretive Listening
During the semester I listened to vocabulary pronunciation and Spanish interviews related to the vocabulary we were learning. Hearing the interviews about what sports people liked to play and what jobs they wanted to have when they grew up gave me a better understanding of the flow of conversation in Spanish and how people from around the world view sports and careers.
Interpretive Reading
During the semester I was able to access news websites that had articles written in Spanish that I could practice reading and then attempt to comprehend the material. This lead to me learning new words from context and further refining my understanding of the Spanish language.