In my Advanced Spanish Grammar class this semester, we’ve had an ongoing assignment throughout the semester called “Libretas de Campo” or Field Notebooks. With these “Libretas”, students are tasked in finding examples of Spanish being used in the real world around them through advertisements, articles, social media, and more. These examples have to tie to the grammatical concepts we are discussing in class. Attached is a portion of my first every Field Notebook I completed in this course, where we had to find several examples of Spanish being used in terms of Morphology in Spanish vocabulary and “Spanglish”. I found numerous examples of interesting uses of Spanish in the real world through newspapers, photos, Twitter and Facebook.
These assignments have been EXTREMELY helpful with my Spanish comprehension and knowledge. It has opened my eyes to how natives utilize their beloved lanaguge in new ways I never learned in the classroom the past 7 years. Every single Spanish-speaking nation- from Colombia to Honduras to Spain- all have their own form of the language with unique words, phrases, and conjugations, and my exposure to numerous different paths of the language will enhance my ability to communicate and utilize Spanish with natives across the globe. My “Libretas” have also changed my perception on Spanish grammar and syntax, as many natives have found new ways to communicate- sometimes without using “correct” grammar to do so. These experiences now make me more confident in my Spanish-speaking skills, as not only now do I know some tips and tricks for certain words and phrases in the Spanish-speaking world, but also I now know I don’t need to have perfect, flawless grammar in Spanish in order to use the language fluently and effectively, allowing me to be okay with making mistakes as I speak. It’s a learning process, and my “Libretas de Campo” have surely shown me that.