MLO 3 Literary and Cultural Knowledge
Students develop a reasonable understanding of the ways of thinking (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), the behavioral practices (patterns of social interactions), and the cultural products – both tangible and intangible (for example, art, history, literature, music) — of Hispanic societies.
Reflective Narrative
Span. 307: History and Politics of Mexico, Span. 304: Intro to Hispanic Literature
There are two classes that I have taken that I feel help me fulfill the third MLO: Literary and Cultural Knowledge. They are Span. 307: History and Politics of Mexico and Span 304: Intro to Hispanic Literature.
I took Span 307: History and Politics of Mexico during spring of 2017 which was my first semester at CSUMB. Aside from the 8am start time I was super, duper excited to take this class. I LOVE Mexico, I love history, and following the last U.S. presidential election, I have become completely fascinated by politics. Professor Rafael Gomez taught the class and it was thoroughly engaging. The textbook he chose for the class followed the history of Mexico, from the ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations all the way up through present day, written from first hand account perspectives. In other words, it wasn’t a history book written by people who weren’t there to witness the actual history they had written about. Instead, it was a collection of letters, poems, and anecdotes written by people who were actually there to witness history in the making. I had never read a history book like that and I really appreciated reading the first had accounts of people’s experiences.
The second class that I took that fulfills this MLO is Span 304: Intro to Hispanic Literature. I took this class with Professor Christine Fernandez during the fall of 2017. This is one of the hardest classes that I have taken here at CSUMB. First, it was taught entirely in Spanish and being that literature is a difficult subject matter for me to begin with, being taught in Spanish made it exponentially more challenging. Initially, taking this class made me doubt my decision to become a Spanish major. Those first couple weeks of class were excruciating. I had a hard time keeping up with the reading and I only understood about 80% of what Professor Fernandez was saying. As the semester progressed, I found my groove and came to enjoy the narratives, poetry, and theater that we examined during the course. By the end of the class, I was able to understand 98% of class discussions (so my Spanish improved, too!) and I earned an A. This class gave me an appreciation for Hispanic culture by examining the literary works that have been produced by Hispanic authors since the Middle Ages. Now I’m not intimidated by the idea of picking up Bendígame Última and trying to read it.
I took Span 307: History and Politics of Mexico during spring of 2017 which was my first semester at CSUMB. Aside from the 8am start time I was super, duper excited to take this class. I LOVE Mexico, I love history, and following the last U.S. presidential election, I have become completely fascinated by politics. Professor Rafael Gomez taught the class and it was thoroughly engaging. The textbook he chose for the class followed the history of Mexico, from the ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations all the way up through present day, written from first hand account perspectives. In other words, it wasn’t a history book written by people who weren’t there to witness the actual history they had written about. Instead, it was a collection of letters, poems, and anecdotes written by people who were actually there to witness history in the making. I had never read a history book like that and I really appreciated reading the first had accounts of people’s experiences.
The second class that I took that fulfills this MLO is Span 304: Intro to Hispanic Literature. I took this class with Professor Christine Fernandez during the fall of 2017. This is one of the hardest classes that I have taken here at CSUMB. First, it was taught entirely in Spanish and being that literature is a difficult subject matter for me to begin with, being taught in Spanish made it exponentially more challenging. Initially, taking this class made me doubt my decision to become a Spanish major. Those first couple weeks of class were excruciating. I had a hard time keeping up with the reading and I only understood about 80% of what Professor Fernandez was saying. As the semester progressed, I found my groove and came to enjoy the narratives, poetry, and theater that we examined during the course. By the end of the class, I was able to understand 98% of class discussions (so my Spanish improved, too!) and I earned an A. This class gave me an appreciation for Hispanic culture by examining the literary works that have been produced by Hispanic authors since the Middle Ages. Now I’m not intimidated by the idea of picking up Bendígame Última and trying to read it.
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