Integrative Narrative
My time at CSUMB has shaped me into someone that as become more confident in the skills and knowledge that I have learned in all of my Spanish classes.
At the beginning of my academic career as a Spanish major, I remember struggling to read and write in Spanish. I knew that my skills weren’t strong but I could get by if I needed to read something or write something in an informal setting. However, I can remember writing a composition for my SPAN 300 class, feeling frustrated as I sat down to write. I knew what I wanted to convey; the only problem is that it was in English and not in Spanish.
It is one thing to say that you are fluent in a language. Everyone who knew me thought that everything came naturally to me. While, yes, the speaking portion was not difficult because Spanish is my first language, it was a huge reality check to see that there was so much that I needed to learn.
I figured out that in order to make my skills stronger, I would need to practice outside of class. I kept a journal where I would write down words in Spanish that I did not know the definition to when I was reading. I forced myself to write long hand paragraphs so I could memorize the accents, rather than letting the computer automatically fill it in for me.
All of my classes helped me better myself in different aspects of the Spanish language. With each and every class under my belt towards the completion of the degree, I felt myself getting better and better. There were fewer times that I got frustrated at myself because I could not find the right words to phrase something. My reading comprehension skills went up with every assigned reading that we had in class.
As a linguistics emphasis, I struggled at first in SPAN 313: Intro to Spanish Linguistics. I got so overwhelmed with all the vocabulary and theories that I wanted to give up. But I knew that I would need to learn it in order to pursue my dream of becoming an interpreter.
Even though most of the classes that I took were in Spanish, I was never fully submersed in the language. I would speak Spanish when I was in class, with my parents, but the rest of my social interactions were in English. When I was thinking about how I wanted to go about completing MLO 5, I knew that I wanted to study abroad. Studying abroad in Madrid was where I utilized every single skill that I learned over the past year for more than 4 hours at a time. I didn’t realize it until later but even speaking and thinking in Spanish all day made my language skills stronger. On the academic side, I did struggle for a little only because the academic structure and expectations are so different than the American University systems. However, I started writing compositions at a faster pace and they felt more consise. I felt like my reading and writing skills excelled while I was abroad and my oral comprehension skills improved as well.
I also have to acknowledge the support and guidance of my teachers and advisors. They pushed me to better myself as a student and to make sure that I pushed myself beyond my limits. If I had a question or did not understand something completely, they would make sure that I knew what they wanted and how to go about it. Without my professors, the experience would have been completely different. I am grateful for what they have taught me.
Comparing the beginning of my sophomore year when I started taking my Spanish core classes to now, the end of the WLC 400 course, I found myself reading pages and pages of Spanish with little or no difficulty and I could write longer papers in Spanish without having to stop every once in a while and look up a word to translate on the internet. I speak more fluidly without having to stop about what I want to say first in English and translate to Spanish. I confidently say that the CSUMB Spanish Major has taught me everything that I need to learn in order to continue on the next step after graduation.
At the beginning of my academic career as a Spanish major, I remember struggling to read and write in Spanish. I knew that my skills weren’t strong but I could get by if I needed to read something or write something in an informal setting. However, I can remember writing a composition for my SPAN 300 class, feeling frustrated as I sat down to write. I knew what I wanted to convey; the only problem is that it was in English and not in Spanish.
It is one thing to say that you are fluent in a language. Everyone who knew me thought that everything came naturally to me. While, yes, the speaking portion was not difficult because Spanish is my first language, it was a huge reality check to see that there was so much that I needed to learn.
I figured out that in order to make my skills stronger, I would need to practice outside of class. I kept a journal where I would write down words in Spanish that I did not know the definition to when I was reading. I forced myself to write long hand paragraphs so I could memorize the accents, rather than letting the computer automatically fill it in for me.
All of my classes helped me better myself in different aspects of the Spanish language. With each and every class under my belt towards the completion of the degree, I felt myself getting better and better. There were fewer times that I got frustrated at myself because I could not find the right words to phrase something. My reading comprehension skills went up with every assigned reading that we had in class.
As a linguistics emphasis, I struggled at first in SPAN 313: Intro to Spanish Linguistics. I got so overwhelmed with all the vocabulary and theories that I wanted to give up. But I knew that I would need to learn it in order to pursue my dream of becoming an interpreter.
Even though most of the classes that I took were in Spanish, I was never fully submersed in the language. I would speak Spanish when I was in class, with my parents, but the rest of my social interactions were in English. When I was thinking about how I wanted to go about completing MLO 5, I knew that I wanted to study abroad. Studying abroad in Madrid was where I utilized every single skill that I learned over the past year for more than 4 hours at a time. I didn’t realize it until later but even speaking and thinking in Spanish all day made my language skills stronger. On the academic side, I did struggle for a little only because the academic structure and expectations are so different than the American University systems. However, I started writing compositions at a faster pace and they felt more consise. I felt like my reading and writing skills excelled while I was abroad and my oral comprehension skills improved as well.
I also have to acknowledge the support and guidance of my teachers and advisors. They pushed me to better myself as a student and to make sure that I pushed myself beyond my limits. If I had a question or did not understand something completely, they would make sure that I knew what they wanted and how to go about it. Without my professors, the experience would have been completely different. I am grateful for what they have taught me.
Comparing the beginning of my sophomore year when I started taking my Spanish core classes to now, the end of the WLC 400 course, I found myself reading pages and pages of Spanish with little or no difficulty and I could write longer papers in Spanish without having to stop every once in a while and look up a word to translate on the internet. I speak more fluidly without having to stop about what I want to say first in English and translate to Spanish. I confidently say that the CSUMB Spanish Major has taught me everything that I need to learn in order to continue on the next step after graduation.