Project Reflection
For the Periodismo Project, we were sorted into small groups. From there, each group member chose a news category, such as Pop Culture and Current Events. The following work was independent, as we had to research our news topic and write an article about it completely in Spanish. At the beginning of second semester, we met back up with our groups in order to assemble our final product, either a printed newspaper or a newscast video. For the newspaper option (which is the route my group took), group members each took responsibility for a visual aspect of the paper and a small, fun column.
I found it really easy to connect to this project as I’ve recently joined the staff of the Animas Quill. I definitely needed the practice with writing news articles, so it was easy for me to find the motivation to fully engage myself in the project. What I liked the most about this project was the combination of independent and group work. It gave us the opportunity to develop our personal Spanish skill set while being able to learn from our classmates. I’d have to say my best moment during the course of the project was in writing the Advice Column. After having some difficulty with the weather section, I approached this column with a lot of skepticism. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to create a piece of writing I’d be proud of.
This project was difficult for me because the writing portion of it involved a lot of past tense conjugations, an aspect of Spanish I had just learned. It was definitely a challenge to apply such new information to a full-blown project. The hardest part of the project was writing not only in another language, but in a professional tone as well. I had only ever written poems and short stories in Spanish, so writing a news article was definitely a new experience. A moment when I had to persevere through something difficult was when I used the word “results” excessively in one paragraph; it might have made an appearance every other word.
As a learner during this project, I found that I am more likely to succeed when I am interested in the material the project is on. Since I got to choose the topic I wrote my news article about, I was able to invest a lot more excitement into my writing. I looked forward to coming to class with an intriguing subject waiting for me, and I was able to overcome the difficulties of writing solely in Spanish when I actually cared about what I was saying.
Now that I have spent a month focusing on current events in Spanish speaking countries, I feel that this knowledge is a valuable part of the language learning experience because it gives insight into what’s culturally important. If a culture heavily emphasizes a certain topic in the discussion of its current events or pop culture, it indicates what should be studied to a further extent when learning a new language.
I found it really easy to connect to this project as I’ve recently joined the staff of the Animas Quill. I definitely needed the practice with writing news articles, so it was easy for me to find the motivation to fully engage myself in the project. What I liked the most about this project was the combination of independent and group work. It gave us the opportunity to develop our personal Spanish skill set while being able to learn from our classmates. I’d have to say my best moment during the course of the project was in writing the Advice Column. After having some difficulty with the weather section, I approached this column with a lot of skepticism. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to create a piece of writing I’d be proud of.
This project was difficult for me because the writing portion of it involved a lot of past tense conjugations, an aspect of Spanish I had just learned. It was definitely a challenge to apply such new information to a full-blown project. The hardest part of the project was writing not only in another language, but in a professional tone as well. I had only ever written poems and short stories in Spanish, so writing a news article was definitely a new experience. A moment when I had to persevere through something difficult was when I used the word “results” excessively in one paragraph; it might have made an appearance every other word.
As a learner during this project, I found that I am more likely to succeed when I am interested in the material the project is on. Since I got to choose the topic I wrote my news article about, I was able to invest a lot more excitement into my writing. I looked forward to coming to class with an intriguing subject waiting for me, and I was able to overcome the difficulties of writing solely in Spanish when I actually cared about what I was saying.
Now that I have spent a month focusing on current events in Spanish speaking countries, I feel that this knowledge is a valuable part of the language learning experience because it gives insight into what’s culturally important. If a culture heavily emphasizes a certain topic in the discussion of its current events or pop culture, it indicates what should be studied to a further extent when learning a new language.