SPAN 101

Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Spanish 101 has taught me that there is more to a Spanish course than just learning the language. There are many pieces to to learning the Spanish language such as identifying the gender for terms and verb conjugation. Verb conjugation has been a major struggle for me but my goal was to not get discouraged and continue to do the best despite any challenges. I would see paragraphs written in Spanish and get instantly overwhelmed because I did not understand it all. My approach to overcome this struggle has been to utilize tutoring services, instructor communication, and REVIEW! I realized that you do not have to know what every Spanish word means in order to understand a sentence or paragraph. The key is to focus on the words that you DO know and that usually provides a good understanding. I am proud of my progress learning Spanish this semester and I look forward to advancing my Spanish speaking abilities.

An assignment that I completed for Spanish in the Lingrolearning platform.

Exploring Culture

For SPAN 101, we completed the majority of our assignments using the Lingro Learning platform. Each module contained a section called Exploración Culture which focused on learning and researching countries that speak the Spanish language. These exercises were helpful in learning about different cultures. Another exercise that was helpful in the exploration of other cultures was our class discussion board post which often centered around comparing customs of other cultures to our own.

This is a snapshot of a discussion board assignment that was about our opinions on the Spaniards and Latin American custom of kissing on the cheek. We compared their custom to our custom here in the states and discussed the pros and cons.

Engaging in Communities

Community engagement helps to establish trust amongst members of a community and shows unity. It is empowering when members of a community work together for a common cause regardless of race, ethnicity, language, or beliefs.

Presentational Speaking

Unfortunately, I was unable to upload footage of my presentational speaking activities due to file compatibility issues with the website. We utilized Flipgrid to complete our presentational speaking activities for Spanish this semester. Most of our assignments for Flip were conversations between us and our professor or us and our fellow classmates. It was interesting to hear everyone else learning to speak the language too. All of our assignments were interactive as we were required to respond to a select number of our classmates post each assignment. I was new to using Flipgrid so it was learning process but fun nonetheless.

Presentational Writing

Our class did not perform a lot of presentational writing this semester but I look forward to doing so in future Spanish classes as I continue to develop my knowledge of the language and culture.

Interpretive Listening

Interpretive Listening assignments were completed through both Flipgrid and Lingro learning. Flipgrid assignments for interpretive listening consisted of us listening to both our instructor and peers as they spoke Spanish. We had to interpret what they said in order to be able to respond. These assignments required both critical and interpretive listening as it is not always easy to understand what is being said especially when you are still learning the language.

Lingro Learning assignments often centered around listening to an audio clip and determining which word usage was correct based on that audio. For example, verb conjugation and correct form for a word.