Exploring Culture

Reading literature works and music sometimes really helps me gain understanding of cultural perspectives. I think keeping an open mind when reading cultural literature works or music helps me to understand a culture better because I do not try to see or view that culture through my own cultural lenses. I just keep an open mind.

When I read the poem “A Salvadoran Heart” by Yesika Salgado, this poem helped me understand that in Salvador there are corn and cotton fields. That in Salvador roosters crows may wake a person up. There are many rivers and places with many landscapes. The many images that Salgado gives in the poem help my understanding of Salvador that it is a place abundant in natural resources. The challenge that Salgado’s perspective revealed to me is that when many Hispanics immigrate, they experience a disconnect from their homeland and culture. For instance, in the poem, she states “My father died, and my mother remained alone / I am thirty-three and unmarried / I am asked if I want a husband / asked if I will return to my country / they are the same question / I do not want to answer.” This helps me understand that Hispanic upbringing and very different than other people’s upbringings.

A Salvadoran Heart — La Piscucha (lapiscuchamagazine.com)

Engaging in Communities

It is important to engage in your immediate community and global because it helps strengthen the community. When everyone within a community participates it makes the community stronger by everyone helping each other out. When you engage in your immediate community it helps make better decisions for the community where everyone is being supported and benefiting. It is important to engage in the global community it offers the chance for every to thrive equally and every voice is being heard.

One example is when I did the TalkAboard discussion talking about the different stereotypes within our different communities. I think this demonstrates how when a person engages with their immediate community and global communities, they make a voice themselves within that particular community.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1h9ZQM285ZsOfRBB3e1CDSzksTIHz195GDWZxrT5eeIQ/edit?usp=sharing

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication helps people connect and exchange information. It is when two spark conversation trying to understand one another.

Talk abroad is one interpersonal communication that has helped grown a lot. I enjoyed speaking Spanish with native Spanish speaker. While participating in the conversation It was very difficult to understand sometimes what was being said, but by asking questions I was able to understand and get pass the language barrier. In the discussion boards I found very easy because Spanish was being used, but because there were many native English, I felt I was not alone when speaking a foreign language. It helped that I related to others because it made understanding each other easier. I think I excelled in the talk abroad conversations because I really got through and entire Spanish only speaking Spanish. I also understood everything that was going on in the conversation. I learned that I could speak a foreign language and get through it by asking questions. I learned that asking questions is what get people through a conversation.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11oM_gisJP74ZS5pXBWVUYmUO6oqZ1gsh4T7mQv8QnXo/edit?usp=sharing

Presentational Speaking

One presentational speaking activity I did was the assignment where we had to pronounce Spanish words and record ourselves. In this recording I pronounced Spanish and was focusing on pronunciation.

Often times I struggled with pronunciation with Spanish vowels. It was hard for me to differentiate the vowel sounds when it came to pronouncing then in Spanish. I would often pronounce the vowel sounds in English when speaking in Spanish. I had to practice every day the Spanish vowel sounds in order to pronounce them correctly when speaking Spanish.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qhClpAGDczWqMdpxMAPg97vPSf7o9sgi9Mnjty4uV2s/edit?usp=sharing

Presentational Writing

One assignment that was presentational writing was the discussion boards. We each had to have open discussions with our classmates on certain topics mainly discussing Hispanic culture.

The post above contains a picture of my discussion board. In this discussion board we talked about how we identified ourselves. And I talked about how I sometimes feel like I’m stuck between two worlds because of my cultural background. I think it was very difficult for me to share to others about my cultural background because it’s not something that I talk about often. I overcame my fear of talk about my cultural background when I was reading others discussion board posts I could relate too. I felt really motivated to share how identify myself and my cultural background because I felt I was not alone. I believe I excelled at getting more comfortable with sharing with my classmates.

Interpretive Listening

Interpretive listening is the act of listening to others. As you are listening to others you are keeping an open mind and being respectful.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aQOanhC6bjtB6ZNT-50uRi8wCeLsRXycxovk9I64dWs/edit?usp=sharing

This video above is a snippet of the many videos we had to watch throughout the semester. We had to in take the information and then do quizzes. These videos were sometimes challenging because they were sometimes hard to understand. To get through thaws challenges I would take notes and watch the videos at least 3 times for comprehension. From these videos I would take away with learning how to conjugate different verbs and knowing when to use these conjugations. These videos help me develop a deeper understanding of the Spanish language.

Interpretive Reading

Interpretive reading is understanding a text thoroughly and clearly. Some assignments that we did this semester that required interpretative reading are the discussion boards.

When we had to read others post and then comment on them it required interpretive reading. Sometimes I would have a hard time commenting on my classmate posts because I could not relate to what they were talking about. Sometimes I had to actually put myself in their shoes to understand their posts. Take away from commenting on my peer’s discussion board post is learning more about my classmates and learning how to put myself in other shoes.