Integrated Narrative
While I was at Hartnell College, I took a Spanish course my freshman year and I really enjoyed how she taught and that’s when I decided to major in Spanish. I hoped that one day I would become a great Spanish teacher just like her whether I taught at a high school or at a community college. I wanted to learn more about the different aspects of the Spanish Language, which include the linguistics area, history of the spanish speaking countries, and much more. I knew that by learning about the Spanish language and the cultures, I would be more prepared to teach a class in the future.
Being part of this major helped me comprehend better both the language and culture through all the courses I took at CSUMB. With the use of many different texts, discussions, lectures, and presentations, I was able to learn more in depth the different aspects that are part of the Spanish language and culture. Being a native Spanish speaker really motivated me to learn more about my native language especially if I wanted to be a Spanish teacher. However, after completing my sevice learning hours at local elementary schools in Salinas, I realized that my true passion is working with children, specifically Latino children. By working with Latino and Hispanic children I will be able to use my bilingual skills and help those children who struggle with their English and are only able to communicate through Spanish. Even though I am not going to teach spanish, I am still very glad I chose Spanish Language and Cultures as my major considering all the wonderful memories I made with my classmates and most importantly the knowledge I acquired from all the great courses I took as an undergraduate student. Once I obtain my teacher’s credential I want to teach a bilingual class where I will be able to incorporate both English and Spanish to keep enforcing both languages as they are essential in my life to communicate with many people.
Even though I did spend most of the time learning about the Spanish cultures, I had the opportunity to gain more knowledge of another culture besides Hispanic cultures. Through the course HCOM 346-African American Life & History, I was able to complete the requirements for MLO 4 and gain so much knowledge that I know will be in my memory for a very long time. I chose to take this course because I wanted to learn more about the history of African American from different aspects, especially being one of the minorities in this country. Throughout my education, I didn't really have the opportunity to learn more about this ethnic group until this semester. It was very interesting to see how African Americans have come so far, but are still struggling to have the same treatment as anglo-saxons. It's very unfortunate to see that African Americans are still badly discriminated against and are the group of people who have the most people incarcerated. With the use of certain books, we were able to comprehend more how the Jim Crow was created, the beginning of the Social Rights Movement, the Bus Boycotts, and so much more. Through this course I was able to fulfill the MLO 4 outcomes of Secondary Culture, in which we explore the concepts of the culture of African Americans while also comparing it to Hispanic cultures. I was able to distinguish the similarities between Hispanic cultures and African American culture, people from both cultures have been brutally attacked and discriminated against for many years due to their different beliefs and traditions. Both cultures have their own unique traditions, however both of these cultures have a negative history due to the amount of racial profiling they receive in this country. This class has helped me understand how even now, we continue to live in a country that still includes a new Jim Crow system that can continue to affect both of these cultures.
Overall, I’m proud of learning more about the Spanish linguistics and literature since I wasn’t very familiar with those aspects of the language. Learning about the different lingustic rules and memorizing them was probably the most difficult considering their familiarity with one another and the amount of rules as well. That’s the area where I had to put more effort to understand them to make sure I demonstrated my comprehension through the exams. Taking the required and necessary linguistics not only helped improve knowledge in linguistics, but it helped me complete the requirements for MLO 2, which emphasizes the students’ development within the linguistic aspect. I enjoyed reading different texts and books to learn about the different literary movements and the ideas and beliefs within those literary movements that made them unique. Although some texts were a bit harder to analyze and understand, at least for me, I truly enjoyed reading all different texts from various authors and analyzing their message or themes simply from reading them. All the literature and culture courses I took were essential to continue my development of my knowledge within Hispanic literature and culture, which are the outcomes of MLO 3.
Ultimately, for the completion of MLO 6 we were responsible for completing our eportfolio and our Capstone project. We were introduced to all the work we were expected to do for the rest of the two years left of our undergraduate education in the WLC Pro-seminar course. This eportfolio will demonstrate all the courses I’ve taken and all the work I’ve completed for my Spanish Language & Hispanic Cultures major.
While I was at Hartnell College, I took a Spanish course my freshman year and I really enjoyed how she taught and that’s when I decided to major in Spanish. I hoped that one day I would become a great Spanish teacher just like her whether I taught at a high school or at a community college. I wanted to learn more about the different aspects of the Spanish Language, which include the linguistics area, history of the spanish speaking countries, and much more. I knew that by learning about the Spanish language and the cultures, I would be more prepared to teach a class in the future.
Being part of this major helped me comprehend better both the language and culture through all the courses I took at CSUMB. With the use of many different texts, discussions, lectures, and presentations, I was able to learn more in depth the different aspects that are part of the Spanish language and culture. Being a native Spanish speaker really motivated me to learn more about my native language especially if I wanted to be a Spanish teacher. However, after completing my sevice learning hours at local elementary schools in Salinas, I realized that my true passion is working with children, specifically Latino children. By working with Latino and Hispanic children I will be able to use my bilingual skills and help those children who struggle with their English and are only able to communicate through Spanish. Even though I am not going to teach spanish, I am still very glad I chose Spanish Language and Cultures as my major considering all the wonderful memories I made with my classmates and most importantly the knowledge I acquired from all the great courses I took as an undergraduate student. Once I obtain my teacher’s credential I want to teach a bilingual class where I will be able to incorporate both English and Spanish to keep enforcing both languages as they are essential in my life to communicate with many people.
Even though I did spend most of the time learning about the Spanish cultures, I had the opportunity to gain more knowledge of another culture besides Hispanic cultures. Through the course HCOM 346-African American Life & History, I was able to complete the requirements for MLO 4 and gain so much knowledge that I know will be in my memory for a very long time. I chose to take this course because I wanted to learn more about the history of African American from different aspects, especially being one of the minorities in this country. Throughout my education, I didn't really have the opportunity to learn more about this ethnic group until this semester. It was very interesting to see how African Americans have come so far, but are still struggling to have the same treatment as anglo-saxons. It's very unfortunate to see that African Americans are still badly discriminated against and are the group of people who have the most people incarcerated. With the use of certain books, we were able to comprehend more how the Jim Crow was created, the beginning of the Social Rights Movement, the Bus Boycotts, and so much more. Through this course I was able to fulfill the MLO 4 outcomes of Secondary Culture, in which we explore the concepts of the culture of African Americans while also comparing it to Hispanic cultures. I was able to distinguish the similarities between Hispanic cultures and African American culture, people from both cultures have been brutally attacked and discriminated against for many years due to their different beliefs and traditions. Both cultures have their own unique traditions, however both of these cultures have a negative history due to the amount of racial profiling they receive in this country. This class has helped me understand how even now, we continue to live in a country that still includes a new Jim Crow system that can continue to affect both of these cultures.
Overall, I’m proud of learning more about the Spanish linguistics and literature since I wasn’t very familiar with those aspects of the language. Learning about the different lingustic rules and memorizing them was probably the most difficult considering their familiarity with one another and the amount of rules as well. That’s the area where I had to put more effort to understand them to make sure I demonstrated my comprehension through the exams. Taking the required and necessary linguistics not only helped improve knowledge in linguistics, but it helped me complete the requirements for MLO 2, which emphasizes the students’ development within the linguistic aspect. I enjoyed reading different texts and books to learn about the different literary movements and the ideas and beliefs within those literary movements that made them unique. Although some texts were a bit harder to analyze and understand, at least for me, I truly enjoyed reading all different texts from various authors and analyzing their message or themes simply from reading them. All the literature and culture courses I took were essential to continue my development of my knowledge within Hispanic literature and culture, which are the outcomes of MLO 3.
Ultimately, for the completion of MLO 6 we were responsible for completing our eportfolio and our Capstone project. We were introduced to all the work we were expected to do for the rest of the two years left of our undergraduate education in the WLC Pro-seminar course. This eportfolio will demonstrate all the courses I’ve taken and all the work I’ve completed for my Spanish Language & Hispanic Cultures major.