Clearly, there was lots of conversation in this class which was very good for me who had not taken a Spanish class since high school. We did lots of different projects like interviewing a native Spanish speaker and creating a webgraphic, and we also had our own Tumblr group where we posted vlogs in Spanish.
This class made me think of my Spanish classes in high school. We wrote a lot; I have many documents in this folder with various short compositions written about Hermione Granger, analyses of articles, and letters to friends. Also, there was lots of in-class conversation which I like a lot. The girl who sat next to me in this class didn't like our professor at all, but I loved her. She wasn't the most organized, but she was funny, caring, and a good teacher!
Another Spanish class that I really loved! We had lots of conversation in this class, and I learned a lot about the history of colonization in Latin America which is very upsetting. We watched a documentary called "When Two Worlds Collide" about the mistreatment and disrespect of indigenous populations in Peru. Here's an article about the documentary. It's not on Netflix anymore, and it is still worth the watch if anyone gets the opportunity to see it. In my final paper for this class, I wrote about the impact of Simón Bolívar on Venezuela and how his legacy was carried on by Hugo Chávez.
This was my first fully virtual Spanish class, and for some reason, it was much more difficult for me to speak Spanish over Zoom. It can be very intimidating, especially when I know I'm going to make mistakes and the class is being recorded. My professor for this class really challenged all of us to think outside of the box, and I learned so much about the United States by learning more about countries like Puerto Rico that is run by the United States without getting adequate governmental representation. The Golden Dream is a movie that we watched about children from Guatemala traveling to cross the border into the U.S., and it was very beautiful and sad. I recommend this class. The topics are very interesting and eye-opening.
I was very nervous about learning lingusitics for the first time in Spanish when I had no understanding of linguistic concepts in English, but my professor does a great job of breaking down topics so that they make sense! This class has made me look at Spanish in a completely different way to where I can possibly guess where a Spanish speaker is from based on their accent...Pretty cool!
One of the perks of being in upper level Spanish class is that you get to focus on cultural studies rather than just grammar. For our first class, we read a graphic story about a girl who got her period for the first time. This opened a conversation on perceptions of menstruation in Latin America as well as in the United States. I was immediately interested in the class, and it has not disappointed! We've also covered topics like motherhood, childbirth, breast cancer, and more.