My Third Interview (about 30-45 minutes in length)

Interview Preparation

       This is my third interview and I really care about this last interview. As my second interview, I started my third interview preparation earlier in order to have enough time to write a better report. So, I started my preparation on Friday afternoon and I contact my roommate FeliciaW. After I talked to her about my interview assignment, she said okay and she would be back at about 7 p.m. I double checked my interview stuff such as record, pens, some pieces of paper, etc. Then, I list some extra questions about elementary school and middle school that I want to ask. We started interview at 7:30 p.m. and it went on in our room. I changed the place this time because last time I did the interview in library coffee shop and it was a little bit noisy. I chose my roommate to be my interviewee because I thought we may have many things to talk since we live together.

       Anyway, I started my interview at 7:30 p.m. in my room and my interviewee was my roommate who comes from America.

      

Interview Report

       The entire interview went very well. This time, I interviewed FeliciaW who is my roommate. FeliciaW is from Minnesota and she lives in Saint Paul. She lives in Saint Cloud for college. As I did last two interviews, I interviewed an American student again in order to go deep into American culture. I think it is important for me to know more about the America because I am in America for college now and I need try my best to integration into American society.

We started our interview with introducing ourselves. As I did it before, we went over the eleven core questions and a list of my extra questions.

This time, we talked much about the American elementary school and middle school. Children usually required to go to the First Grade, commonly said the kindergarten at the age of 6. What I thought was amazing is when children were in elementary school, they had more activities instead of learn knowledge totally from books. Teachers tried to teach students something from interesting games instead of teaching them totally from books. I think it is really good for young age students. Contrary to my country, elementary school students in China learned knowledge totally from books. I remember when I was in elementary school; we had a lot of classes and a lot of homework to do. We had few activities a semester and I learned things from books entirely. Nothing really fun around us, all we had were homework and classes. So I think American teaching methods was really helpful to students. Since they were still young, they do not have to under a huge stress of study; they should have fun, and learn things from the interesting activities.

We went through every questions and questions that I list.

The record was clear and I could listen to every single sentence clearly when I worked on my transcription. Then, I post it on my blog.

Country Report

       American is the world’s third largest country located in North America with about 300 million populations. America possesses the top technology of the world, the highest reputation of education, and also the financial center of the world.

       This time, I learned something about elementary school and middle school.

       Children in America usually required to go to the First Grade at the age of six. Instead of learning things straight from the textbooks, they would play a lot of interesting games and learn things from that. They usually study subjects like Art, Math, English, etc. This teaching method is really good to children because they are still kids, they do not have to be under a lot of stress of study. Then, when they are in middle school, they would feel relatively stressful compared to elementary school. They would join some social activities instead of games in elementary school which is really practice their sociability. And that make sure they have a positive and optimistic view of life and the right values. In America, which school for children to go depends on the location mostly and it have not much about the test grade. In china, it depends on your final test grade; if you got a good grade, you could go to a better middle school or high school even though the school is far away from you. If you got a bad grade, then you may have few choices. 

       Students would not feel stressed out until they go to high school. Students in high school might feel much stressful because some of them want to go to some famous universities so they would work hard on SAT. A high school student usually has 5 classes a day and stays in school for about 7 hours. I am from China and I have never dream about that when I was that age. In China, we had a lot of homework to do so we really under a lot of stress of study since we were children. Until graduate from high schools and we went to college, we were just like the children in America who feel so relaxed about study. Contrary to China, American students feel stressed out when they go to college.

       Democracy is charged well by government in America. People can feel free to chase their dreams and they could say something against the President or government if they are not happy with the policies. People have more rights to do want they want to do. Freedom is the symbol of America. It is one of the most important reasons why America has so many elites.

The most popular transportation in America is car. Most people drive instead walk. But not everywhere is the same. For instance, people who live in big cities like New York, they might prefer to taking subway and buses or they just go somewhere on foot. On the contrary, people who live in small town drive more. It is quite similar to other countries of the world.

Greeting in American is really simple. People just say ‘hi’, ‘hello’, ‘what’s up’ etc. to each other when they meet. Sometimes they may shake hands. I think most people in other countries use that way as well. Food in America is really convenient and simple compared to other countries like France, China. These countries usually make food better than America. Fast food is popular in America like hot dog, burger, but they are not healthy which contain too much calories and fats. America is good at sports. The most famous sport in America is football. Other sports like basketball, baseball are also popular among people.

All in all, my three interviewees’ descriptions of America are almost the same.

Sources: The country report is totally based on my interviews. Additional information may be found at:
1. http://www.usa.gov/
2. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
3. http://www.wikipedia.org/

 

Transcript

W=Wenting
F=FeliciaW

W: Hi, Felicia, how was your day?

F: Hi, umm….That was great, how about yours?

W: That was great, too. Thanks for helping me with my assignment.

F: Yeah, no problem.

W: So, where are you from?

F: I am from United States, I live in Saint Paul and I came here for college.

W: Do you like your country?

F: Yes, I do. I love America.

W: Yeah. So, here is the last question. What could SCSU do to make your stay on campus better?

F: I think they could have more variety of food in Garvey.

W: What kind of food?

F: I don’t know just more food.

W: I think so.

F: Yeah, and I think live on campus is really expensive and it would be better if the residential fees would be cheap.

W: Yeah, that’s true.

F: Yeah.

W: Okay, So which country’s food do you like the most?

F: Italian food. I like a kind of Italian food like pasta.

W: I like it, too. What else?

F: French food.

W: So, what are the similarities and differences between it and your own country?

F: I think the Italian food is healthier than American food.

W: Okay, so, do you like American food?

F: Yes, I like some of them, but I eat it occasionally because it is not very healthy, it contains too much calories.

W: Yes, I agree. So, can I ask what kind of American food do you like?

F: I like burgers, hot dog.

W: Okay, I like burgers, too.

F: Yeah, it tastes good unless you are not afraid of fats:

W: Yeah, have you ever tried the Chinese food?

F: Yeah, it’s good. Chinese food is really good.

W: I have been to England, so, I like British food very much, especially the dessert.

F: Really? That’s cool.

W: Okay. What different modes of transportation are used in your country?

F: Umm, I think most people drive. I mean auto. Sometimes people would go somewhere by bike or by bus.

W: What about some other transportation? Like train.

F: People usually drive to somewhere instead of trains.

W: Cool, train is one of the popular transportations in my country. So, what about the transportations in big city?

F: People usually take buses and subway. Sometimes they just drive if the traffic is not that bad. I think.

W: So, Could you tell me a secret about yourself that very few people here know about and that shows us well?

F: Umm…I just say I could play an instrument.

W: what is that?

F: Piano.

W: That is really cool.

F: Thank you.

W: At what age do you start school?

F: I start school at six.

W: Are you under a lot of stress of study?

F: As you get older, and classes that you take become harder, there is more stress. So, of course when you are in high school you will feel more stressful than you were in kindergarten.

W: How many classes did you take when you were in elementary school?

F: About 4 or 5.

W: Then how was you life in elementary school?

F: I think it was really fun. I was really happy when I was in elementary school.

W: Did your teachers give you a lot of homework?

F: Not at all.

W: How were your teachers teaching method?

F: Umm… Instead of teaching us straightly from the textbooks, we had a lot of activities, and we learned things from what we actually played.

W: Wow, it is really amazing.

F: Really?

W: Yeah. So what subjects did you study?

F: Umm….like Math, English, Art.

W: Wow. So how was your middle school?

F: That was happy, too.

W: What exactly was that?

F: Umm…. We do not have much homework. We would join more social activities instead of playing games in elementary school. I think it helped me a lot.

W: Yeah, that was really great.

F: Yeah.

W: Okay, how was your high school life?

F: I liked high school, I had a lot of friends.

W: How long would you stay in high school daily?

F: About 7 hours.

W: Did you have a long break during that time?

F: The longest break would be lunch break. And we only have 3 minutes between classes.

W: What about the teachers in your high school?

F: The teachers in high school were really nice. They were helpful. I always went to them when I had questions about what I learned.

W: Would they get angry if you had a bad grade of your class?

F: They wouldn’t.

W: So, they are very kind.

F: They are.

W: Did they give you a lot of homework to do?

F: Some teachers just gave more than others.

W: How many classes did you take?

F: 5 classes a day.

W: Do you think American parents would force their children to do what they don’t want to do.

F: I think majority of them wouldn’t force their children to do things. Probably few of them would.

W: Can you tell me a typical day for a child in your country? You can take yourself as a example.

F: Umm….. For a child in United States, a typical day would be, getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, going to school for seven hours, then going home and doing homework, having dinner with family, if you still have homework then finish it, hanging out with family or watching TV, bed time.

W: Do you think American children have a lot of activities?

F: Yeah, there are a lot of activities.

W: What kind of activities?

F: There different sports for children, music, instruments.

W: Do you think American parents would force their children to do what they actually don’t want to do?

F: I think majority of them would not force their children to do things that they don’t want to do. But, there are probably few of them would.

W: Wow, I never dreamed about that when I was a kid, really. Because most Chinese parents sometimes would force their children to do things.

F: Really.

W: Yeah. So, how would you describe famous sports in your country?

F: The most famous sports in USA would be football. Also would be baseball, basketball.

W: Yeah, I know football is a big deal in America.

F: Yeah. It’s really big.

W: What is your favorite sport?

F: My favorite is football.

W: And what do you usually play?

F: Personally, I don’t really play any sports. Maybe badminton, it is fun.

W: Really, I like that, too. Badminton is one of the most famous sports in China.

F: That’s cool. Badminton is fun to play.

W: Do you like to watch games like football games on TV?

F: Yeah, I do. When I was home, I watched it with family. My family is really into foottball. Sometimes I would scream when I watch the games.

W: I like football, too.

F: Yeah.

W: Do you think American people like sports?

F: I will say, yes. Especially young people. Boys like playing basketball, football, baseball…….

W: Okay, let’s talk about religion. What religious holidays or other cultural events do you celebrate?

F: For me, I’m not religious. I celebrate Christmas. I celebrate some holidays like Thanksgiving and New Year.

W: What about your family?

F: They are Catholic. So I always go to church with my family. We usually have a good time together.

W: Wow, for me, I’m not religious.

F: Yeah, I think most people in America are religious, some of them probably not. Probably, it’s a good mix.

W: Okay, so how many friends of yours are religious?

F: Umm…..I don’t know, maybe most of them.

W: Okay. In China, most people are not religious, except old people.

F: Really?

W: Yeah. So, what kind of religions do most people believe?

F: I think most people are Christians, Catholic. There are a lot of religions in America, every one could choose what they want to believe.

W: So, do you have any daily rituals regards to your religious beliefs?

F: No, I don’t. I’m not religious.

W: Okay. So, I’m gonna move on to next question.

F: Sure.

W: what kind of government is in charge of your home country?

F: The government in charge is democracy, which means we get to vote for the President and political leaders.

W: Have you ever vote for someone?

F: No, not yet.

W: Do you care about the politics?

F: I’m not really into politics.

W: How did it affect your life?

F: For me, I have the freedom to say what I wanted to say.

W: Are you feeling free to chase your dream?

F: Yeah.

W: Do you think you have a lot of rights?

F: I do.

W: Can American people say something against the government?

F: Yeah.

W: Is there any bad consequences?

F: I don’t think so.

W: Wow, in my country, we cannot say something or do something against the government. There maybe some bad consequences.

F: Really?

W: Yeah.

F: America is freedom.

W: So, what are the typical greetings in your culture?

F: I think people just shake hands, say: “ hello, hi, what’s up, how are you, etc”, or sometimes give hugs. I usually say: “ Hi” when I meet my friends.

W: Okay.

F: yeah. I think so.

W: What about in some formal occasions?

F: You mean what kind of formal occasions?

W: Like meetings.

F: I think we just shake hands.

W: So, I think that’s it. We are done.

F: Finally.

W: Well, all right, we are done, thank you.

F: No problem.