Beginning Spanish II…..

During my third semester of college, I have faced many difficulties in my foreign language course. My interest in the language was not as great at first as it is today. I have become deeply intrigued with Spanish throughout my second term of study. I consider every day as a chance to push myself further and take on new obstacles. The in-class exercises are really interesting and help students retain the language. For example, when my lecturer has taught me the proper pronunciation and usage of new terms, I can practice saying them out loud. The oral exams were the hardest part of the course, therefore I was really anxious when I took them. Still, I was always able to make an outstanding impression on myself.

Artifacts

One of our first tasks at the start of the semester is this flyer. In retrospect, I’m pleased with the work I put into this PowerPoint. I can see that it seems a tad crowded, though. I deliberately made an effort to follow the project rules when creating this flyer. My primary problem, I found, was typing without thinking, but after pausing to collect my thoughts, I realized that I understood more than I had previously realized. Since this was my first project of the semester, I am very pleased with it.

Project 7-1: Gimnasia Wildcats

One of our first tasks at the start of the semester is this flyer. In retrospect, I’m pleased with the work I put into this PowerPoint. I can see that it seems a tad crowded, though. I deliberately made an effort to follow the project rules when creating this flyer. My primary problem, I found, was typing without thinking, but after pausing to collect my thoughts, I realized that I understood more than I had previously realized. Since this was my first project of the semester, I am very pleased with it.

• Details of what, when, where, and with whom this activity would be happening.
• A brief paragraph with the benefits of the sport taking place.
• 1 or 2 catchy phrases to keep the reader engaged.
• Photos or Videos regarding your sport.

LingroLearning

^ I’d like to share with you a screenshot from LingroLearning, our homework application. The experience of regularly completing our homework on this site has been tremendously helpful. With the help of insightful questions, the program aims to push your thinking. The tool that allows you to review your response before publishing it and make any necessary corrections is one of my favorite features. It’s also incredibly great that the program explains why you answered a question incorrectly and gives advice on how to do better in the future.

Project 9-1: Como Mantenerse En Forma

Here’s another example where I’ve demonstrated a discernible improvement in my ability to retain knowledge beneath this text. As for me, as the semester draws to a close, I can’t help but feel more comfortable with my typing. I think my greater comfort and calmness when typing and completing my schoolwork on a regular basis is what’s responsible for my improvement. I’m confident in my abilities now, and I can’t wait to implement my ideas and showcase my newly acquired knowledge. All in all, I really enjoyed working on this assignment, and I’m positive that it helped me expand my vocabulary in Spanish the most.

I observed that staying off internet access completely during the course was one of the things that really helped. I promise you, it completely changes the game. Although I understand that using Google Translate can be enticing, I can assure you that it is never 100% correct. It’s always obvious to a native Spanish speaker when a statement has been translated, and it looks horrible. In barely two weeks of classes, I made the decision to give up on Google Translate. I was thrilled to attend class and felt like I was learning a lot more right away. You won’t learn anything in the lesson if you use a translator because it’s just an easy way out.

Interpersonal Communication

This semester, we were introduced to TalkAbroad. This is a fantastic way to practice your spanish speaking skills. Not only are the people on TalkAbroad super nice, but they are easy to talk to and understand that you are not too fluent just yet. They are patient and often times will help you out of they know what you are trying to say. I had 2 TalkAbroad sessions, both with the same girl. We had a lot of fun talking to each other, and I was surprised at my knowledge!

I have really appreciated all of the assignments that have been presented to us this semester. Oral examinations and surprise quizzes are my top 2 favorites, if I had to pick. Ironically, even though I didn’t get the finest quiz scores at the start of the semester, I still learned from them—namely, how important it is to be ready for a pop quiz at any moment. I was motivated to check my vocabulary every day by these unexpected quizzes so that I wouldn’t be caught off guard. I learned a lot from my blunders with verb conjugations in the first oral exam. This inspired me to study hard and make sure I didn’t repeat my mistakes.

In all honesty, I have not had a natural interaction with someone who speaks spanish. I will say, speaking with my fluent spanish speaking teacher and my previous professor from Spanish I, has helped me tremendously. TalkAbroad has helped me a lot with my pronunciation. I feel lI have excelled in my understanding since August. It has not been easy, but it is worth it. I took what I learned last semester and applied it to my learning this semester. I kept all the lessons I learned in Spanish I and kept them in mind going into this semester.

To be fully honest, my fear of making mistakes in front of my professor, Professor Rosario, is a major driving force behind my desire to better my Spanish. Although she is a serious character, her high standards have motivated me to perform better.

Presentational Speaking

We did not complete a lot of presentational speaking but we did a lot of in class activities. My professor would groups us into pairs, or just call on us randomly to answer questions. I like that because it keeps you on your toes, you always have to be ready. Even if you didn’t know the answer to the question, my Professor would walk you through it, and help you understand why it was right or wrong. We had the opportunity to speak to each other about our classes for a spoken discussion assignment as part of our curriculum. These assignments were really enjoyable for me, in part because I like the sound of Spanish when talking about academic subjects. I do not have any recording from this semester, I have a lot more experience and confidence in my speaking under my belt.

We had a couple projects this semester. Majority of them were in person presentation. At the beginning of the semester we did a Sports Flier Project. This was fun for me because I love the sport I do. I write mine about gymnastics, and the physical benefits of the sport. I also wrote about who is the most famous Gymnast in Cuba, and what sports dominate in other spanish speaking countries. Next, we did a presentation about physical or mental health. I chose physical health. I made a presentation abotu how to stay in shape and healthy. Whether this means a little less screen time, or actually going to the gym, everything I wrote about is beneficial to living a healthy lifestyle.

Presentational Writing

This kind of learning task was not frequently assigned in my class. It was all essentially oral. This semester, the mini-quizzes were our only written tasks. This was very helpful because I often found myself getting caught up with the speaking, I forgot how to write in Spanish! I am thankful we had such a variety of learning techniques.

Interpretive Listening

We had numerous audio-based homework tasks in Linguafolio. It was up to us to listen and discern what was being stated. I can now sort of understand what people are saying around me when I hear Spanish, which has really helped.

Interpretive Reading

My eyes were learning Spanish with the aid of everything in each lesson. This was incredibly helpful to me because I learn best visually. 99 percent of our tasks required us to read in Spanish.