La Rutina Diaria en España (Tercer Objetivo)

Conversation Question: What is the daily life a person living in Spain like?


Pre-Conversation:

•  What will be your topic of conversation be?

I will try to find out what a typical day in the life of a person living in Spain is like. I will inquire about what time people usually go to work, eat lunch and dinner. I also want to know what people do on their weekends. I have been hearing on the news lately that Spain is facing a huge economic crisis. I also want to find out about how this is affecting people in Spain.

•  What are 5 questions related to your conversation goal that you can think of ahead of time to ask your partner?

1. What time you wake up and you go to bed?

2. What time do you eat lunch?

3. When do you have work?

4. Do you go to church on Sundays?

5. What do you do for fun on the weekends?

6. How are the current economic problems affecting people you know?

•  What are you looking forward to about this conversation?

I am looking forward to having a long, sustained conversation because I have so many questions to get answered. I am also looking to share things about the United States, especially Philadelphia, with the person I talk to.

•  What are you nervous about?

I have gotten so used to sharedtalk that I am not nervous about anything. I am only feeling excited to get the conversation started because I have an interesting conversation question that I can't wait to get answered.

Post-Conversation:

Reflection:

• Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?

I spoke to Luna Riverio and I chose her because she was the same age as me (17 years old). I wanted to get the views of a young, relatable person. Luna also lived in Madrid, which is a city similar in size to Philadelphia and I wanted compare my daily routine with her's.

• What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

I learned that Luna is a 17 year old living in Madrid. On the weekends, Luna likes to go to the movies or the theater, visit the park, sing and play the guitar. Sundays are spent with the family. Luna is a ballerina and she practices for 3 hours everyday after school. Luna said that her family does not have financial problems but life is bad for other people. Because of the poor economic situation people do not go on vacations, to the movies or go out to eat. I learned that people in Spain often go to work at 8 in the morning and eat lunch at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. One thing that I thought was interesting is that people in Spain typically eat dinner at 9-10 PM and a meal often consists of tapas. This is a huge contrast to the United States because most families usually eat dinner at 6-7 PM. The most common form of transit in Spain is the metro/subway.

• How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

My personal goal is to learn about the life, politics and culture of foreign countries while at the same time learning new Spanish vocabulary and using my current vocabulary to effectively communicate. I this conversation, I was able to fulfill all of the above goals since I learned a lot of new vocabulary words and I got to use my existing vocabulary to talk to Luna. I also got a glimpse into the daily life of people in Spain.

• What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

I was able to get all of my questions answered and even after this, I still kept the conversation going. I also responded to Luna's questions about my life in the United States. I did not just keep on asking questions after questions. I not only gain valuable knowledge about Spain but I also got the opportunity to tell Luna about my daily routine and what I do on the weekends and after school.

• What specifically do you need to improve on?

For this conversation, I had to use word reference a few times in order for me to ask Luna some of my questions. I decided to use word reference because I really wanted to get my questions answered because I worked so hard preparing them. I have not used any translation help for my two previous blogs so I felt a little bad using it now. However, this will push me harder to try to use my current Spanish vocabulary to get my point across without using word reference.


Travel Guide to Madrid: http://www.madrid-tourist-guide.com/

​​Cine Ideal is the most common movie theater in Madrid.