# data[].attributes.body
Hogg, Ryan. “Architecture Town”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 12 Apr. 2018. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/architecture-town-travel-water-3271049/}

“Palace Castle.” Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 16 Dec. 2016. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/palace-castle-charles-v-granada-1910258/}

Walsh, Oliver. “Monument”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 19 Apr. 2017. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/monument-mask-spain-madrid-statue-2242819/}

Redfern, Lisa. “Sweets”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 17 Aug. 2015. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/sweets-bakery-shop-window-887722/}

B, Alex. “Spain Ceramic”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 21 May. 2017. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/spain-ceramic-decoration-design-2326793/a]

Irene. “Grapes Wine”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 11 Jan. 2014. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/grapes-wine-spain-242044/}

“Alava Spain”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 8 Mar. 2013. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/alava-spain-building-house-home-91199/}

“Paella Rice”. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 22 Jul. 2014. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/paella-rice-scampi-lemons-spain-398968/}

OHLMANN, Pascal. Photo. 𝘗𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘺 25 Feb. 2016. 12 Aug. 2018 {https://pixabay.com/en/stamps-stamp-collection-philately-1218502/}

# data[].attributes.headline
Write an essay in Spanish describing your experience in Spain

# data[].attributes.subject
Write an essay in Spanish describing your experience in Spain

# data[].attributes.body
Cuando yo estaba en España yo no pensaba que hubiera tenido as mucha diversión aunque estoy muy feliz que tuve mucha diversión. Conocí amigos que se que siempre van a hacer mis amigos. Comi comidas que siempre voy a tener ganas de comer. Aprendí cosas que si yo no fuera ir a españa nunca las hubiera aprendido. Y finalmente estoy muy agradecida de tener la oportunidad de estudiar en un país tan hermoso. Ya que llegue de regreso de España es tiempo de hablar de las cosas que aprendí aya.

Primeramente, las escuelas aya son muy diferentes. Tenemos las clases similares como el Inglés, matemáticas, ciencia, química, coro, banda, y muchas más. En el salón de la escuela tenemos cosas similares también como el escritorio, la pizarra, carteles, lapices, y mas. Algo que es diferente de las escuelas en España es la sistema de educación, aquí en los estados unidos la primaria empieza cuando tienes cuatro años hasta que tengas once. Pero en españa la primaria es cuando tienes seis años hasta que tienes doce. Después de la primaria sigue la secundaria, en españa empiezas cuando tienes doce años y terminas cuando tienes dieciséis años. Finalmente sigue el último año de tu escuela, a causa que no vas al colegio, empiezas el bachillerato cuando tienes dieciséis y terminas cuando tienes dieciocho años. Las escuelas en españa empiezan en septiembre y se terminan en el junio, como los estados unidos si tienen vacaciones. Muchas escuelas tienen los horarios de 9 de la mañana hasta las cuatro, durante el mediodía muchos estudiantes van a su casa por una siesta. Tambien es comun que los estudiantes en españa usan uniformes, para las niñas y niños es típicamente una camisa negra, pero por las niñas es una falda kaki y para los niños es pantalones de color kaki.

Ya que viví en un piso en españa ya se como es, los primero días era extraño pero era confortable. Los pisos en españa son muy amplios pero son adecuados por una familia de cuatro personas. No vivía en un piso lujoso, nada más era normal no era muy chiquito pero tambien no era muy enorme. En nuestro vecindario había muchas cosas alrededor como el metro, el centro, restaurantes, el parque, y el hospital. Aunque regresa de regreso a mi casa en los estados unidos y me gusta mi cama mucho, extraño el piso que viví por dos meses en españa.

Mi familia anfitriona de españa eran muy diferentes que mi familia de los estados unidos. Primero sus nombres no eran como nada que a escuchado nunca, eran nombres como Martina, Lucia, Sofia, y Hugo.También cuando llegue del aeropuerto de los estados unidos era tiempo de comer cena pero eran las nueve de la noche y terminamos de comer después de veinte minutos pero nos quedamos en la mesa de la cena hasta las once. El siguiente día empezaba las clases de la escuela y estaba tan emocionada que no podía dormir, el siguiente dia estaba tan cansada que estaba durmiendome en mis clases. Gracias a dios había algo que se llamaba siestas, es donde regreso a mi casa para dormir por unas tres horas.

Cuando yo no estaba haciendo tarea o pasando un rato con mi familia anfitriona, me gustaba estar en el centro donde estaba toda la cultura de españa. Había muchas artesanías que venden recuerdos como abanicos, pañuelos, tarjetas, cerámicas, y muchas más cosas. También había muchas personas que bailaban y aveces todos las personas bailaban, aunque yo no bailaba muy bien a veces me gustaba bailar con mis amigas. Si no estaba en el centro cultural, estaba en las tiendas comprando ropa. Siempre había gangas en el centro cultural entonces siempre cargaba efectivo.

No se donde empezar en que tan rica la comida en españa era. La comida siempre tenía muchos ingredientes que estaba la comida siempre sabrosa. ¡Aprendí de muchas comidas nuevas! En ejemplo, el chile relleno, la yerba mate, la milanesa, medialunas, paella, mole, y arroz con pollo. Toda la comida era tan único, ya que regrese a los estados unidos ya estoy cansada de la misma comida americana. También cuando estaba en españa aprendí que el desayuno es la comida mas chiquita del dia, el almuerzo se come aproximadamente a las dos y es la comida más grande del dia, y la cena se come entre las 9 de la noche hasta las once de la noche.

Mi mamá anfitriona siempre iba al mercado para comprar lo que necesitaba para hacernos comida. Cuando ella no podía ir al mercado ella me mandaba que irá al mercado por ella. Ella me hacía una lista lo que tenía que comprar y yo regresaba con las cosas exactas. Siempre empezaba en la carnicería para comprar jamón o pollo, luego iba a la frutería para comprar muchas frutas como uvas, fresas, melocotón, coco, sandia, y más. Finalmente, llegaba al mercado de aire libre para comprar vegetales como lima, cebolla, aguacate, zanahorias, maíz, judías, y más. Cuando los vegetales no eran frescos regresaba a la tienda para comprar verduras de lata o vegetales congelados. Siempre que regresaba a la casa con algo, que mi mamá anfitriona no me específicamente dijo a comprar se enojaba. ¡No era mi culpa que tu no podías ir!

# data[].attributes.headline
What things did your teacher do to help you with your learning?  Was there anything that your teacher didn't do that would have helped you?

# data[].attributes.subject
What things did your teacher do to help you with your learning?  Was there anything that your teacher didn't do that would have helped you?

# data[].attributes.body
Something my teacher helped me with my learning in this online course is several things she kept me motivated, reminded me of due assignments, complimented me for my hard work, helped not only me but others with her daily announcements, and she would always return my calls and text messages even if her day was busy or not. Something that my teacher could’ve done is maybe checked up on each student individually to see if everything was fine, I know that this summer I had lots of personal things going on and I couldn’t always complete my assignments by the original due date but throughout everything that was happening in my life she was there helping me and making sure I was keeping up with my assignments and sending reminders often which is something teachers don’t tend to do these days. I also really enjoyed how my teacher gave shoutouts to multiple students because they were doing really great with their work, I thought that this gave kids more motivation. Overall, I think my online school experience was great and my teacher just made it a little easier.

# data[].attributes.headline
What things did you do that helped you learn Spanish in this course?  What things can you do to improve your own Spanish learning in the future?

# data[].attributes.subject
What things did you do that helped you learn Spanish in this course?  What things can you do to improve your own Spanish learning in the future?

# data[].attributes.body
Something I did that helped my Spanish in this course is practice the Spanish I learned from that day and incorporated it in my vocabulary as I went throughout my day, this helps because it’s a real world example that then you’re more likely to use the word in the future. Personally I learn from memorizing something by repeating it over and over so I would often find myself creating quizlets for the new vocabulary we had just learned and I would practice it 1-2 times and quiz myself. Once again I feel like the culture part of this class also helped me learn Spanish better because it made it more interesting and enjoyable. A way I don’t learn is with lectures from a teacher and especially online, it was really hard for me to focus so I would often find myself replaying the lecture over and over again to really understand what the teacher was really trying to tell me. In the future something that could help me if I can’t understand a specific teacher giving a lecture is just finding out the overall topic the teacher is talking about and finding another video that could be perhaps more interesting to me.

# data[].attributes.headline
What differences have you seen between the Spanish language and your native language?

# data[].attributes.subject
What differences have you seen between the Spanish language and your native language?

# data[].attributes.body
There’s many differences in between my language and spanish language for example;   I see that in spanish there is an informal vs formal which is something the English language doesn’t do, in spanish the verb comes at the end of the sentence rather than in english the verb comes before the subject, the subject pronouns in spanish are la, lo, las and in english they are he, she, I, we, you, etc. There are 26 letters in both the spanish and english alphabet but the spanish alphabet may include some exceptions to letters such as Ñ. Another major thing that’s different between these two languages is the pronunciation of i, j, and e. In english we would pronounce the “i” like “eye” but in spanish it’s pronounced like “eeee”. Accents are also used a lot more in the spanish language than they are in english because spanish words have a lot of stress in them. Another difference I’ve seen is the way words are called such as nouns are called sustantivos or words such as where (¿Donde?) are called “los interrogatives” in spanish which is translated to interrogatives in English but really are just questions. Conjugations are a big part in spanish too, without them you really couldn’t say much in spanish. One thing I learned in this spanish course is how in spanish you don’t own your own body parts, you use reflexive verbs in spanish when you need to say that a person is doing something to or for themselves. Pronouns are important as well, without the pronouns you do not do anything to yourself. In English you would say, “you have fun” and in Spanish WITHOUT the pronoun it’d only be, “Él divierte”. However including the pronoun it would be, “Él SE divierte”. One other important thing that I learned in spanish 2 that is imperative to be remembered if I want to continue to other spanish classes is -er and -ir verbs, these verbs have many modifications to them and are at the endings of many words. In English verbs are used for present or past tense or to describe something or what’s happening. Overall, English and Spanish are both astonishingly different but they’re both very interesting languages.

# data[].attributes.headline
Record yourself speaking in Spanish (at least three paragraphs) about how your school, apartment, family, hobbies, food, shopping experiences in Spain compared to those in the United States. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Record yourself speaking in Spanish (at least three paragraphs) about how your school, apartment, family, hobbies, food, shopping experiences in Spain compared to those in the United States. 

# data[].attributes.headline
What things are you now able to express in Spanish that you have learned in Spanish II (concepts)?

# data[].attributes.subject
What things are you now able to express in Spanish that you have learned in Spanish II (concepts)?

# data[].attributes.body
When I took Spanish 1 I was struggling to say what I really wanted to say I oftenly had to find a way around what I was really trying to say and it was frustrating, I lacked sufficient vocabulary and I knew little to nothing about Spanish culture. Now after completing this Spanish 2 course I feel as if I can say what I need to do or what needs to be done by others, I also believe I can hold a sustainable conversation with someone who is fluent in Spanish and even though it may not be perfect they would be able to get the gist of what I was trying to say. I can now express myself in saying how I feel, what I need, if i'm hungry, what I need to do such as chores, cooking, getting ready, etc. Also I now know the majority of what places are named in spanish so now I will not have any excuse if I’m lost I can confidently ask someone for directions. Also I now know more nouns or otherwise known as sustantivos, which is helpful obviously in naming things. More specifically I can describe how someone’s personality is, describe the things around me such as what’s in a room, how to make a specific food, how something tastes, what clothes are made of or how they look like, and I can now conjugate better than ever.

# data[].attributes.headline
What do you hope to learn if you continue to study the Spanish language?

# data[].attributes.subject
What do you hope to learn if you continue to study the Spanish language?

# data[].attributes.body
As I’m continuing onto other spanish classes I hope to learn what it’s like to feel and live as an actual spaniard in Spain, I hope to become fluent and learn as much conjugations as I can. More specifically I want to continue to master all my conjugations and master the preterite and imperfect because I sort of struggled with that this year. When I took Spanish 1 i didn’t learn about anything culture related at all so to have that in this Spanish 2 class is actually really cool because I feel like I can connect on things I wouldn’t have been able to if I didn’t learn about anything culture related. Thus why I hope to learn more things about Spanish culture in Spanish 3.

# data[].attributes.headline
What did you find interesting and exciting about the Spanish culture?

# data[].attributes.subject
What did you find interesting and exciting about the Spanish culture?

# data[].attributes.body
Personally I thought everything about Spanish culture was just so interesting. To begin, it’s important to acknowledge a culture whose language you’re learning and I’m very grateful that we had a cultural section for every lecture in this class. I find that learning about the culture of the language I’m learning makes it easier to relate to the language and thus makes it easier to know the language. I find the music very interesting especially reggaeton, although I can’t really understand all the words I find it catchy and rhythmic. Another thing I found interesting that I learned from this class is how there’s so much more freedom, more openness, and how Spanish people are more family oriented unlike here in America where you’re encouraged to go independent. Other things I found interesting include all the different artists that I learned about in school but never knew where they were originally from, all the different types of foods and finding out that specifically food from Spain is rarely spicy, learning about the holidays people celebrate, learning about the different activities people do, and learning about what students in my age do or don’t do at school in comparison to me.

# data[].attributes.headline
What did you like about the course?  What did you not like and/or could be improved?

# data[].attributes.subject
What did you like about the course?  What did you not like and/or could be improved?

# data[].attributes.body
What I liked about the course is how you can work at your own pace, so if you wanna  work ahead you can or if you’re gonna complete the assignment you have a week from it’s original due date until points are deducted off so I thought that was pretty sweet. Something I did not like at all was the person behind making the quizzes, most of the questions that were asked were stuff that not everyone would know, they assumed that everyone would have the same knowledge on the cultural things of spain. Sometimes the speaker who spoke for the listening sections on quizzes were not understandable so I was left confused and hoping I would guess the right answer so I wouldn’t have to get points deducted. Something that could be improved is a better way of contacting the NCVPS people because when I had a question/problem I had to check my email at least 7 times and re-enter a code multiple times, whereas if there was a phone number for help I could’ve called and my question/problem would have been answered/fixed in minutes.