Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Throughout my Spanish course I have learned and grown tremendously. Following this semester, I am able to speak and write Spanish more clearly and correctly. I did, although, experience some difficulty during the course. Pronunciation is an important aspect of Spanish that needs to be practiced regularly to be improved. When learning new vocabulary I struggled with learning the correct pronunciation for words. Thankfully, our VHL site has an option to hear the word pronounced in Spanish. This is an asset to me when studying as I think it really helped me practice my new vocabulary correctly, especially while learning a new language online!

Exploring Culture

One of my favorite ways to learn or practice Spanish is by listening to music. Even though I do not understand every word, it still helps me. I am able to hear words in Spanish that I do know and hear them used in context to provide me with a better understanding. I think listening to music is powerful because no matter what language is used we can all enjoy and connect through the beat or music. I may not know all the words but that does not keep me from dancing! Below is one of my favorite songs.

There are many differences between my culture and Spanish culture. Those in Spanish speaking countries have different holidays such as Día de los Muertos. Another difference that stuck out to me about Spanish culture was even how they greet each other. The greetings are more personal, usually involving a kiss on each cheek or at the least a hug. This is different from me because I am not keen on physical touching unless I know the individual well. Recognizing these differences helped me to develop an open mind. I was more receptive to understanding the differences in cultures and doing my best to stay respectful of those differences.

Engaging in Communities

I am a firm believer that everyone has a part to play in their community. Being active within your surrounding community is important. Citizens must give whenever they can. Even if it is a small act of kindness towards one person, or volunteering regularly. In my own community I volunteered for almost three years as an EMT for the city of Virginia Beach. I volunteered my time to care for members of my community when they most needed it.

Interpersonal Communication

Throughout this course I got to use various methods for interpersonal communication. In class we made flip grid videos to introduce ourselves to our classmates. I made discussion board posts to engage with others. We did several speaking activities such as oral interviews with the professor, peer oral interviews, and TalkAbroad conversations with native speakers.

At the beginning of the semester when I had to have a conversation with someone in Spanish I was terribly nervous. After my first unplanned conversation I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I was able to rely on the vocabulary and grammar I had spent so much time practicing! I felt much more confident in my speaking ability following these interpersonal communications. These different activities also gave me the opportunity to speak with different individuals so I was able to experience different conversationalists.

Presentational Writing

This semester I did one composition that encompassed all the modules we had learned. I had a chance to use all my new vocabulary, conjugations, and different parts of speech.

Even with all my practice I know my conjugation skills are not perfect. I could still use some practice with the different types of conjugation of verbs. Another area of difficulty is remembering the accent marks for different words. Trying to remember the correct placement of accent marks especially in word with multiple vowels has been something I am trying to master. These skills will improve simply with more practice!

Interpretive Listening

On our VHL site several activities included listening. Whether it was listening to conversations between two people or watching the culture videos and listening to them.

Most of the time I was able to figure out the listening activities. Sometimes I feel as if it went too fast and I was not able to catch all of the conversation. I would usually listen to the conversation more than once so I could be sure of what I heard, or have a second chance to try and understand something I did not get the first time. The culture videos were a great chance for listening and seeing. I was able to listen to natural conversation unfold between native speakers that were using the new vocabulary while also learning about Spanish culture.

Interpretive Reading

Since this class was online I had a lot of practice reading in Spanish. Most, if not all, the activities on VHL required reading in Spanish to answer a question. Sometime we had to read a paragraph or story and pick out the information to answer a set of subsequent questions.

These reading activities were great practice. I was able to read at my own pace. Also, as opposed to the listening activities I was able to see the words so I knew I was not hearing them wrong. I enjoyed the reading articles that gave a glimpse into the different parts of Spanish culture. These readings helped me to learn about different holidays, the prevalence of open air markets, and the different style of homes found in Spanish communities.