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Historical, Cultural, and Global Awareness
i. Communicate in a Second Language at the Introductory College Level
Personal Narrative
From as early as the eighth grade, the eminence of knowing a second language has been drilled into my head. This assignment gives a vague background on Spanish culture along with why I chose this course. During my high school years, I worked my way from entry level Spanish 1 to upper level Spanish 4 by the time I was a senior. Seton Hill required me to take at least one year of a language so I chose to take Spanish again to further my understanding of the language and remind myself of verb tenses and vocabulary I had forgotten or not learned yet. By taking my Spanish class my freshman year of college, I have replaced much of my previous knowledge with more current knowledge that relates to my major. No longer having my same skills for Spanish, I feel as though I am at a disadvantage to someone who is bilingual. The United States is the “melting pot” for a reason; English is not the only language in this country and for that matter on this planet. Being ignorant to other languages makes one less marketable in the professional world. People who can speak more than one language have been found to think quicker and are generally more intelligent, proving understanding of a second language is crucial.
My Nota Cultural assignment I am using evidence from is from Spanish I. Spanish I was a course that I took the fall semester of my freshman year. Viewing this assignment you can see the strides I have taken in my work between then and not. For this assignment, it is quite short and not as well thought out as it should be; along with small errors like an improper header. I have been able to, since then, approve upon my writing skills.
My second assignment is a Spanish Family Tree. The family tree was a great way to learn different terms in Spanish while also keeping the course fun. students were allowed to pick anyone to be their family member. This was interesting to me because I was able to make some famous people who i admire related to me. This helped because the whole assignment was in Spanish and you could see how much students are applying from the course work.
Historical, Cultural, and Global Awareness
ii. Assess Privilege & Oppression From The Perspective Of Culture, Race, Class, & Gender
Personal Narrative
Since the beginning of time, a minority group has always existed and has been treated lesser than the majority. Slavery and subjugation of African Americans is something that comes immediately to mind when assessing race and culture. The world is filled with cruel, inhumane people who feel as though they are privileged over other groups, whether it be because of their skin color or social class or gender. Women have had to fight for the same rights as men and continue to fight to this day to be treated, paid, and viewed equally. The rich have spit on the poor and watched them suffer, feeling no remorse. It seems as the years go on, the world becomes more punishing, constantly judging its people on appearance, wealth, gender, sexuality, and origin.
In Western Cultures II most of the coursework revolved around the industrial revolution. For my Baronet assignment I was able to reflect on the different types of lives people lived in this time a day. along with, the types of jobs that people were able to have based on their class as well. I found it interesting that during the Industrial Revolution, big debates at the time included child labor, minimum rage, and civil rights; which, are all still very relevant in todays world.
"A Civil Action" is a film about a high end lawyer who takes on a case that is much different than what he is used to. The main character, Jan Schlittman, is representing multiple different families whose children have passed away from an illness following the result of a big cooperation terminating the water. This was a very interesting assignment to me because I was able to learn more about how big companies have the power to assert their dominance on smaller communities. But also, there are lawyers who are willing to stand their ground for these families and fight the cooperations for justice.