Final Spanish Update
Late May and early June is the time of year for finals, and Spanish is no exception. Everyone in the class was required to upload two videos of us practicing. The videos aren't meant to be professional; they're meant for us and the teacher to see our progress throughout the year. I did the first video on 6/1/16 and the second video on 6/7/16.
- What has been the greatest tool you’ve used to enhance your vocabulary?
- Probably Duolingo. I try to do a lesson every single day, and each time I learn something new.
- How are you encouraging and motivating yourself and/or partner?
- I always encourage myself by telling myself that I am capable of doing what I set my mind to do.
- What are your goals in having these conversations?
- I mostly want to teach myself the simple topics that I'll need to know for average living.
- How comfortable do you feel speaking in Spanish compared to the first day of class?
- I have improved so much since the beginning of the semester. I knew no Spanish, but now I can recognize certain words and phrases.
- How do you imagine yourself having a conversation with someone you’ve never met?
- I imagine it going okay, but they would be able to tell that it's my second language.
- What are other topics you’d like to discuss?
- I don't really know which topics I'd seek out to discuss.
- Why did you choose your partner, or choose to work with me for the final exam?
- I thought that working with someone who is comfortable with Spanish would teach me things that I wouldn't otherwise learn.
- Have you watched television/movies in Spanish? Have you listened to music/radio in Spanish? Please explain.
- I haven't been able to, but I plan to over the summer!
- Explain your process for practicing Spanish outside of the classroom?
- More Duolingo, and some conversations with my sister and mom.
- Explain how you have made connections from reading articles in class?
- When I read Spanish, I pay attention to the pronunciation more. It's difficult to catch the meaning sometimes.
- How was your second video different from the first one?
- The second video had a lot more questions than the first one.
- The second video had a lot more questions than the first one.
That just leaves my reflection on the final. I did my final on 6/9/16. Being honest, my performance wasn't what I thought it would be. I didn't do as good a job as I thought I would. I didn't know a lot of the words I could've studied, and I had a bit of a difficult time identifying certain words. This isn't entirely my fault, though. The required topic for the final was politics and/or immigration. I don't like talking about those topics anyways, so I found difficulty finding the right words. One way or another, my Spanish studies need improvement, but that's something that I can do.