What I Learned In Spanish Class

Decent Essays
I’m often caught up in impromptu debates with those around me. Perhaps I come off as pedantic, but most of my eagerness stems from my desire to share what I learn. I am still surprised by just how vast human knowledge is and even more surprised by just how lacking it is. New arguments and evidence are constantly being developed.

I know that this behavior leads to my characterization as a nerd, and in many ways, I do fit that stereotype. I enjoy attending school and learning about Mexican colloquialisms in Spanish class. I annotate the pages of my history textbook with my own thoughts, liberally punctuated with exclamation points and question marks.

However, I think fewer people understand why I feel and act so enthusiastically. My attention

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Erma Bombeck and Alexander’s works of literature produce thought on self-responsibility. They both present the reader with the idea that the key to knowledge is held by everyone; yet everyone must choose to use it. Even during high school we as people are presented choices. We decide whether we accept knowledge given to us or toss it aside and believe that it was “someone else’s problem”. People find that knowledge is hard to attain.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If students and teachers continue to host debates which pit students against each other, society will continue to foster ideals of arrogance and unhealthy competition. Furthermore, the idea of the “doubting game” that society unconsciously plays fosters the idea of cynicism. With agonism in education, everyone is a skeptic, which contributes to society's inability to adapt to new theories and ideas. By pushing for more discussion based arguments like Tannen suggests, society can progress with new ideas.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reading Comprehension Questions Part 1: Spanish Encounters How does Columbus portray the people he encounters in this letter? When Columbus reaches the Island of Juana, he states “I could not have speech because they all fled immediately” (pg. 35). This quote illustrates how the natives were scared to meet the Americans; perhaps the natives did not want to be taken as property so they ran away. In addition, since there was no interaction (because the Natives were timid and scared) , it was easy for Columbus to take over their land.…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Imagine an educational institution that promotes collaborative learning rather than debate. An academic curriculum that fosters the notion of considering all aspects of a discussion as part of a growing process rather than as a sign of weakness. This concept of collective intellectual growth is being utilized by some of the leading technological companies in the world. However, this is not the case in the academic arena, according to linguistics professor Deborah Tannen.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As technology becomes a more influential part of human society, questions are raised considering its impact on society. Clive Thompson’s article, Smarter than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better, addresses this issue by stating that technology has a positive effect on society. Jenna Wortham’s article, I Had a Nice Time with You Tonight. On the App., presents a similar argument, but takes a different approach, by making her argument more grounded in everyday life. Thompson’s analysis of how technology positively affects humanity can help shed light on Wortham’s observations about present day technology’s positive effects on communication.…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This mistake that I’m writing about took a rather long time to learn that it was a mistake. Ever since I was a child my parents always pushed for me to learn Spanish. Probably due to the fact that my family is Spanish and that half of my relatives speak Spanish only. I never got into learning Spanish, and well they couldn’t blame me, I only started speaking English when I was six. Before that I was using basic sign language which I have now forgotten.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    A tradition in my family on thanksgiving, new years and Christmas eve would be my dad cooking pork for the family to eat. The recipe was taught to him by my paternal grandfather. Being Hispanic is a topic that comes up everyday of my life. For example, in scholarship applications, college applications, AP exam days. The questions is always there, “Are you Hispanic/Latino?”…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Spanish Culture

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Spanish speaking countries have lots of cultural differences but music is a big key in cultural differences. There are twenty-one countries throughout the world that consider Spanish their official language. They include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. All of these countries have differences in the type of music they listen to and how it affects their cultures.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a kid I grew up around Spanish and English, being bilingual has helped a lot I life in communicating with family, friends and even strangers because being Hispanic most don’t know English or don’t like to speak English. English had become my first language then Spanish because of school. I grew up speaking Spanish at home but it was not fluent at first it was more English with a few Spanish words here and there, today that would be considered Spanglish but it wasn’t even that.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Argument as Conversation,” Stuart Greene attempts to convince readers that an argument is a conversation. When most people think of arguments, they tend to think of them as being a negative thing. Stuart Greene is trying to have people realise that arguing is used in conversations to move it along, keep it interesting and to also inform people. He tries to focus on how an argument is not to a way to dispute someone, but rather an ongoing conversation with that person.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When we think of the words nerd and geek, we think of a smart person with freckles and thick-framed glasses. They are usually bullied by the athletic people of a school and are at the lowest rung of the social ladder. But why do we also think about that same person being harmed and ridiculed? Why can’t we praise their intelligence and use it to improve our society?…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alexander The Great

    • 1422 Words
    • 6 Pages

    We live in a unique time in history. Our generation is embarking on a renaissance which the world couldn’t have imagined a few decades ago. With the invention of the printing press and the internet we have unprecedented access to knowledge and information. Few would disagree that we are living in a privileged time. But few recognize the responsibility we have to be stewards of the information at our finger tips.…

    • 1422 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The distribution of ideas within in a classroom challenges students’ prior assumptions or beliefs as a result of listening to other perspectives on the subject. Unfortunately many students grow up in environments where they are only exposed to a single opinion or distinct side of an issue therefore when they engage in a meaningful discussion with their peers, where all aspects of the issue are explored, they are then finally able to develop a well-rounded individual notion on the issue. According to Stephen D. Brookfield and Stephen Preskill, “students can serve as critical mirrors for each other, reflecting the assumptions they see in each other’s positions” (p. 20, ). Not only does this experience force students to reflect about their own opinions but it makes them realize how assumptions often heavily influence beliefs. Students coming to this realization will be more likely to understand the usefulness of trying to understand why another person contains a certain belief by analyzing their prior assumptions and biases.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Is Wikipedia a mass medium Wikipedia has become a major source of information for many individual. While there are mixed opinions about the credibility of Wikipedia as a source of reliable information, people do see the value in Wikipedia. Wikipedia has become a source of information for many individual at different capacities. In one example, Thelwall and Kayvan (2015) tell us that both academics and students make use of Wikipedia.…

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have been a student at St. Cloud Technical Community College for almost 2 semesters, and over the course of these semesters I have completed mostly English courses. My writing style and overall understanding of English has grown, and I have learned more than I thought possible. I had taken numerous English courses throughout my high school days and expected to know exactly what I was in for. Boy oh boy was I wrong about that! Going through these classes has taught me to expand my mind and discover my deep thoughts and ideas.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays