Spanish 211: Intermediate Integrated Language and Culture 1

I took Spanish 211 with Dr. Barlow during my spring semester in 2019. In this Spanish course, I was still learning grammar and vocabulary, however, a greater emphasis was put on culture.

While I was learning grammar and vocabulary in this class, the work was not just memorization. For many of the assignments, I would practice at home with the homework and we would review the material during class. Instead of just listening to lectures and taking notes, a good portion of the class time was spend participating in partner or group discussions in Spanish. After these small group discussions, we would also have a whole class discussion. I enjoyed this class because I was able to have more practice with speaking and listening to Spanish rather than mainly reading and writing.

One of the assignments near the end of the semester in this course was the write a composition. We received the topic in class and had to write an essay answering the question. At first I was nervous for this assignment because it was the first time I had to write more than a few sentences in Spanish without being able to look up words or grammar concepts. However, I appreciated this assignment because it showed me that I knew more than I thought and was able to form sentences even if I did not necessarily know every grammatical concept or word I wanted to use. Attached below is my composition which focuses on sustainability and the protection of the environment in Costa Rica.