Integrative Narrative
As far as I can remember I have always lived the lifestyle of Hispanic/ Latino because both my parents come from Mexican backgrounds so by default they raised me in this environment. As I grew up I have always wanted to know more about where my family and ancestors come from plus I knew I had to improve my Spanish speaking abilities to make this dream come true. This is one of the main reasons as to why Spanish is my major at CSUMB. Even though I did not start my college experience as a Spanish major while I was a Biology major I came to an understanding that Biology was not for me. I wanted to do something that would make me happy and intrigue me to learn more everyday while at college. I knew that by switching to Spanish I could achieve this. I am so glad that I did because I have learned so much through my experience and I know that after I graduate all that I learned here can help me out in the future.
Throughout my time here at CSUMB I have completed and learned all kinds of materials through the MLOs of the major. I believe it is my duty as a Spanish speaker to better maintain and grow my language abilities so that each day they get better. I majored in Spanish, and I think that one of the most important steps to bettering one's language abilities is to use interpersonal, interpretative, and presentational styles of communication. I have been putting effort into achieving this MLO throughout my major in a variety of methods. I was able to converse and interact with my classmates and teachers at a level that I felt comfortable with and was able to speak, which helped me to develop my interpersonal skills. I was able to comprehend every subject we covered in my Spanish class in this way. In order to complete my MLO 2 students deepen their understanding of fundamental concepts in the fields of Hispanic and Applied Linguistics in order to write research articles and data-driven small-scale research investigations pertinent to current concerns in these domains.I can see how crucial linguistics is to the development of language when I study it. Linguistics gives us a window through which to observe how a language is spoken by dissecting the various sounds that words can produce and how the mouth can produce those sounds. In order to complete my MLO 3 students gain a fair comprehension of the mental models (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, and philosophies), behavioral patterns (patterns of social interactions), and cultural outputs (such as art, history, literature, and music) of Hispanic cultures. When looking over at the courses that I took there are four courses that embodied the spirit of cultural knowledge: SPAN 304 (Intro to Hispanic Literature), SPAN 316 (Spanish Culture and Civilization), SPAN 362 (Latin American Literature in Literature), and SPAN 301S (Service Learning in the Latino Community). These classes immersed us in literature while also educating us on the various cultural facets of some works of literature. For my MLO 4 I needed to complete a course that was not focused on Spanish but another culture to get a better understanding of other cultures besides Spanish. In a culture that is highly known for its culture diversity and linguistics it is important to be aware of other cultures as I was when I learned about the social and economic problems in Japan. I learned a lot when I completed JAPN 410(Quakes and Nukes: (Un)Natural Japanese Environments) and for me personally this is the first course I have taken that does not relate to the cultures of America and Latin countries. For MLO 5 it focused on the lives of the Hispanic community and the course that helped me a lot for this was completing my service learning hours at my service site. Through this MLO, I was able to immerse myself in real Spanish cultural and linguistic surroundings which allowed me to absorb the experiences and used it to get a new perspective on Hispanic culture as well as personal understanding of them. For the final MLO it focused on research and technology and to complete this I worked on a Capstone Project with my partner which is required for the major. While working on this Capstone project I learned a whole lot about the topic we picked and it was challenging to get done but with the help of my professors, advisors, and school tools I was able to work on it.
After completing the courses that are required for the major I have learned so much and I am really grateful for how far I have come. Before taking the courses my Spanish speaking efficiency was not the best but I feel that it has improved drastically since when I started. I learned how to properly pronounce certain words that I had trouble pronouncing plus I am now able to use the appropriate words in Spanish instead of using Spanglish or the improper words. My main goal when switching to becoming a Spanish major was to better improve my Spanish because Spanish is spoken very frequently in my family so by improving my language skills I can talk to my family with more confidence. I feel that this major has helped me to see improvements but I know that with more practice it can get even better. The area that I am most proud of is my proficiency in Spanish and how it has improved since the beginning. I know it has improved because whenever I speak to my dad or family in Spanish they tell me my spanish has gotten a lot better. Even though there has been improvement I wish to keep refining my skills to be even more confident.
Throughout my time here at CSUMB I have completed and learned all kinds of materials through the MLOs of the major. I believe it is my duty as a Spanish speaker to better maintain and grow my language abilities so that each day they get better. I majored in Spanish, and I think that one of the most important steps to bettering one's language abilities is to use interpersonal, interpretative, and presentational styles of communication. I have been putting effort into achieving this MLO throughout my major in a variety of methods. I was able to converse and interact with my classmates and teachers at a level that I felt comfortable with and was able to speak, which helped me to develop my interpersonal skills. I was able to comprehend every subject we covered in my Spanish class in this way. In order to complete my MLO 2 students deepen their understanding of fundamental concepts in the fields of Hispanic and Applied Linguistics in order to write research articles and data-driven small-scale research investigations pertinent to current concerns in these domains.I can see how crucial linguistics is to the development of language when I study it. Linguistics gives us a window through which to observe how a language is spoken by dissecting the various sounds that words can produce and how the mouth can produce those sounds. In order to complete my MLO 3 students gain a fair comprehension of the mental models (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, and philosophies), behavioral patterns (patterns of social interactions), and cultural outputs (such as art, history, literature, and music) of Hispanic cultures. When looking over at the courses that I took there are four courses that embodied the spirit of cultural knowledge: SPAN 304 (Intro to Hispanic Literature), SPAN 316 (Spanish Culture and Civilization), SPAN 362 (Latin American Literature in Literature), and SPAN 301S (Service Learning in the Latino Community). These classes immersed us in literature while also educating us on the various cultural facets of some works of literature. For my MLO 4 I needed to complete a course that was not focused on Spanish but another culture to get a better understanding of other cultures besides Spanish. In a culture that is highly known for its culture diversity and linguistics it is important to be aware of other cultures as I was when I learned about the social and economic problems in Japan. I learned a lot when I completed JAPN 410(Quakes and Nukes: (Un)Natural Japanese Environments) and for me personally this is the first course I have taken that does not relate to the cultures of America and Latin countries. For MLO 5 it focused on the lives of the Hispanic community and the course that helped me a lot for this was completing my service learning hours at my service site. Through this MLO, I was able to immerse myself in real Spanish cultural and linguistic surroundings which allowed me to absorb the experiences and used it to get a new perspective on Hispanic culture as well as personal understanding of them. For the final MLO it focused on research and technology and to complete this I worked on a Capstone Project with my partner which is required for the major. While working on this Capstone project I learned a whole lot about the topic we picked and it was challenging to get done but with the help of my professors, advisors, and school tools I was able to work on it.
After completing the courses that are required for the major I have learned so much and I am really grateful for how far I have come. Before taking the courses my Spanish speaking efficiency was not the best but I feel that it has improved drastically since when I started. I learned how to properly pronounce certain words that I had trouble pronouncing plus I am now able to use the appropriate words in Spanish instead of using Spanglish or the improper words. My main goal when switching to becoming a Spanish major was to better improve my Spanish because Spanish is spoken very frequently in my family so by improving my language skills I can talk to my family with more confidence. I feel that this major has helped me to see improvements but I know that with more practice it can get even better. The area that I am most proud of is my proficiency in Spanish and how it has improved since the beginning. I know it has improved because whenever I speak to my dad or family in Spanish they tell me my spanish has gotten a lot better. Even though there has been improvement I wish to keep refining my skills to be even more confident.