Mi portafolio de Español
101
A detailed analysis of my achievements in Spanish 101
Addison Welch - November 30, 2014
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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Introduction
Before taking Spanish 101, I knew that I struggled with foreign languages, but I also
knew that I work very hard in all of my classes. Dr. Talaya was great at understanding my
weaknesses and encouraging me to work at them. Eventually, I think I have made positive
steps towards becoming more comfortable with learning Spanish. Though I have had good
grades and bad grades in Spanish 101, I am proud of the accomplishments I have made.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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La Comida Hispana
Leer y número uno
In La Comida Hispana, I had to know a great deal of vocabulary that was
presented in the textbook, but also some vocabulary that was specific to
España and other countries. Some examples of these words were: lechoncito,
carbito, los chilindrónes, el sancocho, etc. To understand the passage fully, I
had to research these words on my own. I really enjoyed learning about the
different times of food. I would love to try all the different types of chilindrónes,
but it would be hard for me to eat piglets and goat kids! I love baby animals! I
chose this piece of work as evidence as a skill of my reading skills because of
the extra effort I put in to make sure I understood the article. Because I worked
so hard to understand the reading, I was able to translate the information into
writing well. From this activity, I learned that additional research and cultural
insight is imperative to fully grasp a new language and culture. A culture’s food
is a big identifier, and this is no different for Hispanic countries. Food is
completely embedded in their culture.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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El pretériteo: !De fiesta!
Leer y número dos
In this assignment, we had choose the right vocabulary word to fill
in the blanks of a dialogue of Juan’s best friend who is throwing him a surprise
party. Then, you had to choose one of three verbs and conjugate it in the past
tense. Not only did you have to know what the dialogue was saying, but you
had to know the definition of the verbs and what one best represented the
context of the situation. I think this is great piece of my ability to read in
Spanish because of the extensive vocabulary knowledge I had to have to
complete the activity. Though it wasn’t graded, I thought it was a great and
challenging introduction to learning the preterite tense. From this activity, I
learned that knowing the context of the situation is essential for understanding
a language. SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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En el centro comercial en examen capítulos 6-7
Leer y número tres
For en el centro comercial en examen capítulos 6-7, we had to read the
paragraph and put the appropriate verbs in the preterite tense. The paragraph
was about a couple who went on a shopping trip together and the description of
their schedule that day and what they bought. Since the paragraph was guided,
you gave us which verb to use and conjugate. In addition to knowing the verbs,
it was critical to understand what the passage meant. Specifically on this test, I
think I had a great knowledge of the vocabulary. This paragraph was filled with
the more difficult vocabulary words. Even though the objective of this
assignment was more writing based, I believe it is good evidence of my reading
ability because of the complex vocabulary used in the paragraph. I learned that
it is important to understand Spanish as a whole, not just to do something to get
the answer right. Grades are important, but they aren’t everything!
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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Escuchar en examen capítulos 8-9
Escuchar y número uno
For en el centro comercial en examen capítulos 8-9, we only had two tries
to listen to a dialogue about a conversation between a man and a waiter. The
man was ordering food for his son and was asking the waiter for
recommendations. The tricky part about this exercise was that we fewer times
to listen to the conversation. Also on some questions, more than one of the
answer choice was said in the conversation. In other words, you couldn’t just
focus on hearing one word, you had to know the importance and order of all the
words. I think this is a good evidence of my listening skills because I was able to
follow the conversation and get all the answers right. Being that it was the first
time we only got 2 tries to listen to the conversation, I was proud of myself.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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Escuchar en examen capítulos 1-5
Escuchar y número dos
In the listening activity on the midterm, we had to listen a tour guide give
tourists recommendations. Although we got three times to listen to the dialogue,
it was the first time where we had multiple answer choices said in the dialogue. I
got almost all the answers correct, but I made slight mistakes where they said
more than one answer choice. I think this is good evidence of my listening skills
because I got the answers mostly right, but more importantly I was able to use
this assignment and practice these skills to do better on future assignments. As
seen on the chapter 8 and 9 exam, I was able to get better at these skills. From
this assignment I learned that to know more about the language, you need to try
to understand the entire conversation instead of selectively listening for certain
words.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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Cultura Cuba
Escuchar y número tres
I absolutely loved getting to know about one of your favorite cultures,
profesora! It was an interesting alternative to our usual assignments, which was
really appreciated. It was great introduction for listening to Spanish. Since you
were talking, there was no ‘replay’ and that made it challenging. With that, you
did not ask us multiple choice questions or write complete sentences. The only
thing we had to do was write down pieces of information that we could
understand. Again, this was a great introduction because it taught me to not get
so caught up on the words I don’t know when hearing Spanish, but focus on
what I can pick up and understand. I was able to use this lesson and pick up
lots of great information during the presentation.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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De compras en examen capítulos 6-7
Escribir y número uno
This mini-essay was to create a monologue between a sales clerk and a
customer. We were given 12 vocabulary words and out of those twelve, we had
to use six of them in the assignment. I used 10 vocabulary words. We also had
to use indirect object pronouns and the preterite tense, which I used. I think my
monologue was well-written because I used a wide range of vocab and different
types of grammar structure. The only mistake I made was in slight grammatical
errors. I believe that writing monologues requires another set of skills separate
from those needed to write narratives/stories. This assignment taught me those
necessary skills to write in multiple forms in Spanish.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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Thanksgiving
Escribir y número dos
Throughout the semester you shared bits and pieces of Hispanic culture,
so I really enjoyed getting to share a really big part of our culture with you!
Thanksgiving is a time of year where Americans take time to focus on what is
most important, family and friends. Also, Black Friday has become huge in our
culture within the past 5-10 years. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving
where tons of stores have great sales, and many people go shopping. I work at
one of the stores, so I wrote about how a good chunk of my Thanksgiving break
was spent working! This assignment is a good evidence of my adequate writing
ability because I am able to translate concepts of my culture and write it in a
other language. From this activity, I learned that it is important to share our
cultures. I hope you learned something too!
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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Una Cena en El Toledano
Escribir y número tres
For this assignment, we had to create a story when given a certain topic
and certain key events already provided. I wrote about a man who wen to really
fancy dinner with his friends to his favorite restaurant. At the restaurant, he
ordered his favorite food and a great band played. He loved this band so much,
that he decided with his friends to form a band named after his favorite food. I
believe that this assignment was our longest in length. I thought my story
concept was really creative. While being creative, it also made logical sense to
what we were learning in class. My story encompassed a lot of the vocabulary
and grammar concepts, and that and the creativity is why I think this assignment
is a great representation of my writing abilities. From this assignment, I learned
that I am capable of writing Spanish narratives in various lengths.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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The Skits
Hablar y número uno y dos
The skits were definitely were my biggest obstacles, but I think that I was
able to get better at speaking in Spanish throughout the semester. In both skits,
I had a major hand in writing the scripts. That was my biggest contribution. I
think that both of my group’s skits were funny and creative, especially our
second skit. I loved the concept of our second script. I think that both of our
scripts are great evidence of my speaking abilities simply because I was able to
preform well when I was uncomfortable. What I learned is that you need to face
and conquer your weakest area of speaking a language. Once I did, it raised my
confidence knowing that I was going to get a good grade on the projects.
SPANISH 101 PORTFOLIO - ADDISON WELCH
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