By Sierra Towns

Introduction

Let me begin by thanking the reader of this piece and all the educators involved in my journey learning Spanish. Before starting this course, I was nervous because I have very little experience with the Spanish language. I took one course in the nineth grade of high school. From day one, I felt overwhelmed and wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this experience even though I was very eager to learn the language.  My experience was filled with highs and lows. One particular high point in this course for me was receiving a good grade on one of the “Conversation with the Instructor” Assignments.  I consider this to be an accomplishment because I spent hours practicing. A low point for me was when I missed an assignment at the begin of the course. This low motivated me to try harder. I made a schedule on my phone to prevent that from happening again. Now that the course is almost over, I feel a bit more confident, but I have a lot more to learn before I am a spanish speaking pro!

Exploring Culture

One of the most exciting parts of this class was exploring different Spanish speaking cultures. Throughout the course I have explored cultures from countries such as Peru, Columbia, and Puerto Rico. I learned there are similarities and a lot of differences. For this reflection, I will discuss greeting customs as this was a major topic in this course. I used various websites and videos from YouTube to help me explore the Spanish and Latin American greeting customs. One of my favorite customs videos is below. The video discusses several formal and informal greeting scenarios. Learning about how other countries greet each other challenged my point of view on personal space and how I communicate with other people. Personal space is important to me.  At the begin of this course, I didn’t understand why Spanish speaking people greeted each other the way they do. I viewed the greetings as very affectionate much different than in the United States. Over these last fifteen weeks, I learned the importance of greeting others with such affection. I included a piece I wrote back in February in the Artifact section (Discussion 2 Saludos en los países hispanos).

Artifact

This isn’t my best work so it deserves some reflection. Looking back at this piece, I am a little embarrassed about my perspective. It was very close-minded and I focused more on the cons. I was more concerned about germs than how I make the person that I am communicating with feel. How you make someone feel is an important part of communication. After watching more interactions and learning more about Spanish cultures, I think that it is beautiful, that Spanish speaking countries treat each other with such affection and love. If I could redo this assignment, I would focus more on how treating your counterpart affectionately facilities better communication.  I hope to incorporate that love and affection into my greetings. Especially if I am in a Spanish speaking country because I don’t want to seem uninviting. Instead of seeing such greetings as invasive, I see the importance of being kind and loving when talking to others, even to strangers.

Artifact: DB 2 Saludos en los países hispanos

I don’t like having my personal space being invaded even by people that I am familiar with.
I noticed in the video that one of the women in the video the man on the cheek twice and
that was the first time they met. I wouldn’t want to be greeted that way by a stranger and
wouldn’t choose to greet a stranger in that way. Especially in the COVID-19 era. That one of
the biggest cons of kissing each other on the face is that you could be spreading germs.
Another con is that you could make the other person uncomfortable. Some people
including me don’t want their personal space invaded. What if you breath is bad. A positive
thing about kissing on the cheek is that it is more affectionate than a handshake. I would
kiss some of my family and some of my friends on the cheek twice. I noticed that the two
women in the video hugged each other. A hug is my preferred greeting for people that I
know. For strangers, I believe a handshake is a good greeting.

Engaging in Communities

Community is important to me in a number of ways. I have had the honor of serving the community globally through my military service. This experience gave me a sense of belonging not just to my country but also the country that I served in (Qatar).  In addition, the Air Force itself was a community built with a diversity of people. Being a part of this large community help me to value people from different cultures and backgrounds. Serving the community is rooted in the Air Force Core Values which I still hold close to my heart today. In my family serving the community is important. We put a special emphasis on the children in our community. It may sound cliché but it is true that children are our future so we must invest in them. I assist with my daughter’s cheerleading squad. We teach the girls the importance of self-love, confidence and communicating their feelings. In order to help the girls, I must be the best version of myself which involves personal development. In other words, serving my community helps me become a better person.

Artifacts

Interpersonal Communication

During this semester we used Flipgrid and Zoom to complete interpersonal communications with our instructor and sometimes other students. Flipgrid allows users to record videos and post them to a discussion board. My favorite feature about Flipgrid is that you pause or re-record if you make a mistake. Zoom allowed us to have real-time video conversations with our instructor. We also used Contraseña, which allowed us to listen to conversations in Spanish and make recordings.

Artifact

Oral interpersonal communication was hard for me during this course. It was more of the listening/comprehension part of the communication that I struggled with. For example, the Flipgrid assignments (Conversation with Instructor) were challenging to me. The Spanish language is spoken very quickly and it is difficult for me to pick up on the words being said to me. I would get very frustrated because the videos were fast and I just couldn’t grasp them. I learned how to slow the speed of the video down and that helped me to understand better. Looking back at some of the Flipgird videos, I can see where I have grown as a Spanish speaker. For example, I speak more clearly and pronounce my words better.

A few weeks into the semester, I started making note cards. If I could go back to the very beginning of the course and make notecards from the start. I would also encourage myself to do more recordings of myself speaking Spanish and listening to them. This would help build my confidence. The Zoom meetings with the instructor were intimidating but more realistic. We don’t speak in recordings but rather face to face and that’s what happens in the Zoom conversations. The most difficult part about completing these assignments was getting over my fears. I was always so afraid of messing up. Over time, I learned that it is ok if I didn’t understand a word or phrase and that I could ask for the meaning during the conversation. I overcame these difficulties by practicing speaking in the mirror. At first it felt awkward but now it helps me focus on eye contact while speaking Spanish. My final reflection would be that I got better at learning the language when I stopped being intimidated and started having fun with it. Now I try to teach Spanish to my daughter to help reinforce my learning. Like anything else speaking Spanish takes practice and I feel more confident the more that I practice.

Artifact

Presentational Speaking

Presentational speaking was easier than interpersonal speaking, but I still have a long way to go in my Spanish journey. For this section I included a Flipgrid assignment that we completed. Though it was better than some of my previous posts, I can see many things that need to be addressed.

As I reflect upon watching myself speak, I looked down a lot (to read) because I wasn’t confident about what I was saying even though I practiced. Over time, I have learned to stop speaking from memory and speak as if I were speaking English. I had a very difficult time learning to speak naturally and not from memory or reading for a notecard. I started asking myself is “how would I respond to what is being said?”. Knowing what a speaker is trying to express and knowing how to respond are important because both skills are essential to communicating in any language. If I could go back, I would research topics that I am interested in (like cooking) and then do oral presentations about what I learned. Talking about things that you enjoy makes speaking easier. I would recommend that to a student that is new to this class.

Artifact

Presentational Writing

This time I included a small piece of writing I completed in Contrasena. It isn’t a very long piece writing but gives a description of someone I admire.

Artifact: =Contrasena

Elegí hablar de Sharika. Ella es de Colombia y vive en Miami. Ella es cuarenta y seis años. Sharika es popular en todo el mundo. Ella es hermosa y talentosa.

This is one of my most disappointing writings, mainly because it is so short. This would have been a great opportunity to use my Spanish vocabulary and show that I know how to use the verbs properly. Out of all of the areas of Spanish, I feel most comfortable with writing. As I have grown as writer of the Spanish language, I try to use more infinitive verbs instead basic verbs such as “ser” or “estar”. It makes writing more interesting and gives the reader a better understanding of what you are trying to say,

Interpretive Listening

I love music. So, it was only nature for me to explore learning the spanish language by listening to music. I included one of my favorite songs. MI Gente, by J Balvin featuring Beyonce. I am still learning all the words but learning the lyrics has been fun. I also used some Spanish nursery rhymes.

I don’t hear very well so listening to the Spanish language was difficult. I often had to slow recording down or ask the speaker to talk slower. Overall, the words were unclear and that was frustrating for me. Music was a great way for me to listen to the Spanish language. I listened to different artists from different countries. The various music was sung at different speeds and tempos. I also listened to Spanish Nursery Rhymes. Nursery rhymes are easier to hear and I was able to understand the words better. This helped me grow as a listener of the Spanish language because I understand Spanish words better. It’s easier for me to read in Spanish so hearing the same words repetitively, expanded my comprehension of Spanish vocabulary. I would recommend music and nursery rhymes to new students or new Spanish speakers. I am currently teaching my daughter some Spanish nursery rhymes.

Artifact

Interpretive Reading

For interpretive reading I primarily used two things. I used cooking recipes and I also read children’s books to help me understand Spanish better.

I love food even more than I love music. I had the idea to look up some Spanish recipes with instructions. This was both a fun and tasty experience. It also gave me a chance to experience foods from different cultures. Similar to the nursery rhymes, I read Spanish children’s books to my daughter (the best I could). The most difficult part of reading Spanish was the grammar. It was hard for me to distinguish if a word was a verb or not. After we completed unit 5, I understood grammar better. I had to look up most of the words to overcome this difficulty. Over time I got better with vocabulary because I had to look up words I didn’t know. I would then explain the meaning to my daughter. I would recommend reading Spanish recipes to new learners and if I could go back, I would have started at the beginning of the semester. It made the experience fun because I enjoy cooking.

Artifact

Work Cited Section

Balvin, J. Mi Gente. 2019.

The Spanish Experiment. https://www.thespanishexperiment.com/stories. 2023.

YouTube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb4ZNJgaEy4. 2015.