Spread Sheet

		Prep	personal review	country report	interview	blog presentation	total
	en191f12s27	Prep	personal review	country report	interview	blog presentation	total
	max points	3	2	4	5	6	20
1	Akroman, Donald Kodjo G	3	2	4	3	5	17
2	Albers, Joseph R						0
3	Alhajri, Mohammed A	2	2	0	4	5	13
4	Alnasser, Eman R						0
5	Alsaffar, Dhurgham M	3	2	0	4	5	14
6	Athman, Clayton J	2	1	1	5	5	14
7	Dao, Thanh T	3	2	2	5	5	17
8	Finstad, Robert K	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Gerry, Jonathon M	3	2	4	4	6	19
10	Hasbay, Utku	3	2	2			7
11	Hyun, HanSole	3	2	4	5	5	19
12	Jamaa, Abdalle M	2	1	3	3	4	13
13	Katamara, Zayana	1	1	0	4	5	11
14	Louzolo-Nkindou, Chancelvie B	2	1	3	4	5	15
15	Madden, Jonathan	3	2	4	5	5	19
16	Mahmood, Md A	3	2	0	5	5	15
17	McAllister, Amber M	2	2	1	5	5	15
18	Miller, Benjamin W	0	2	1	5	5	13
19	Murray, Patrick H	3	2	2	5	5	17
20	Phung, Trang T	3	2	3	4	5	17
21	Rahman, Labib	3	2	4	4	5	18
22	Sun, YiHao	3	2	4	5	5	19
23	Takoudjou Tene, Gabin	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	Tolan, Curtis F	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Tran, Quyen H	3	2	3	4	5	17
26	Tran, Thanh Thanh	3	2	3	5	5	18
27	He, Xianping	3	2	4	4	5	18
	Gong, Hua	3	2	4	3	5	17
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Essay review

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O63WCwn1vb324qX54foEm6MYCr-yLU9ehDCCU-xYRLo/edit

Interview One

Preparpation for Interview
At first I had a very hard time finding an international student to interview.  I had trouble trying to go up to people and finding out where they were from, because I am a rather shy person.  I then contacted my friend Jackie, who had made many friends and also went to China to for studing abroad.  She then contacted a friend of her's name Chen Mo.  He then contacted me and we communcated via text message to meet at The Crossroads Mall at 3:30 p.m.  Before we met, I had typed out a list of all the questions that I was going to ask in the Interview.  I provided him with a copy for him to follow along with.

Transcript of Interview

Me:  How are you doing to doing today?

Mo: I’m good

Me:  Can you tell me your full name

Mo: My full name

Me: yes

Mo: Chen Mo. Chen is my last name and Mo is my first name.

Me: How did you come to be in Minnesota and how do you like it here?

Mo: I came here like three and a half years ago.  The reason I am here was to study in the U.S. and actually one of my friends graduated from here a long time ago.  She told me that it SCSU was a pretty good college and it’s very safe here.

Me: Yes it is.

Me: What are some things that you like to do on your free time, like any sports or hobbies

Mo: I like fishing

Me: Where do you like to go fishing at?

Mo: I go to the river.

Me: You go to the Mississippi river?

Mo: Yes I like to go to the river and sometimes to the lake; Clear Lake and I wish I could go to Millacs

Me: They have some nice fishing up there.

Me: What do you go fishing for?

Mo: Walleye and Pike

Me: What are some of the likes and dislikes about the United States so far?

Mo: So far I like everything so far.  I like the democracy here.

Me: You like the democracy here that’s good.

Mo: So the U.S. is like the first country, I think it’s the leader of democracy actually.

Me: I believe we are up there.

Mo: I can just feel the freedom everywhere.  It’s a pretty nice place.

Me: Everyone gets to be themselves.

Mo: Yeah kind of and for example: you can go to the White House and a couple of years ago you could say that George Bush is an idiot.  You can say this and you won’t have any problems.

Me: Yes freedom of speech is nice

Mo: I like freedom.  I think the true meaning of freedom is society and a person doesn’t have to be afraid of another person.  In china, it’s kind of different.  If you did the same thing in China, you could get into big trouble.

Me: OK, so where do you originally come from?

Mo: I’m from Shanghai, China

Me: That’s like one of the biggest cities in china right?

Mo: Yeah, it’s one of the biggest.  The population is 30 million. When you wake up in the morning, there is just people and more people walking the street everywhere.

Me: Can you describe it a little to me?

Mo: yeah, Shanghai is kind of the financial center of china, except Hong Kong.  I believe Shanghai is the second largest financial centers of china behind Hong Kong.  Hong Kong is kind of different though, because it was under foreign rule.

Me: British rule right?

Mo: Yeah, and the society isn’t communism.  It is capitalism.  So Hong Kong is pretty different than the rest of China, it is also the biggest financial cities.  If you go there it’s a really big city (metropolis).  One can purchase anything there if you want.

Me: Ok, is there anything that you miss about China?

Mo: My family and the food.  The real Chinese food.

Me: Yeah I bet it’s a lot different the American Chinese food.

Me: What is the value of family in china, are you really close knit

Mo: Yeah basically, but I think I’m the exception to the rule.  I’m not very close to my family, ever since I was little I usually spent time on my own.  I also lived in Japan for 7 years and 4 of those years I lived on my own.  Most the time Chinese people like to live by each other and have family talks.  For example, Chinese New Year follows the old Chinese calendar and its tradition for all the family members to come and sit together and have dinner.

Me: I was wondering why you lived in japan for four years?

Mo: My family moved there and so did I.

Me: I’ve been to japan too.

Mo: what city?

Me: Fukuoka, Japan

Mo: I believe that the city has a serious problem because of the nuclear plant meltdown. Oh no, I think that’s actually in Fukushima sorry about that.

Me: I was there back in 2010; it was a very nice place

Me: What is your family structure like, do both parents go out to work?

Mo: Yes both parents usually work. It also really depends on the family.  The city I’m from is very modern city and in different cities they may keep their very old traditions (old fashion).  They say Shanghai is like the window of china, but there is a lot of foreign influence.  You can really feel the American culture, McDonalds, KFC, and Subways.

Me: Yeah, there are a lot of American companies there.

Me: Do you have any siblings?

Mo: Yes, I have a younger brother.

Me: can you tell me a little more about him.

Mo: He just graduated from elementary school and is going into high school now.  My mother really pushes education on my brother and me.  He is in the top of his class.  In China, education is very important.

Me: Ok, how is U.S. culture different than China’s Culture?

Mo: It’s totally different, culture is everything.  For example, in America to friends start talking and the topic is different like sports like the football game, baseball game.  In China, it’s a bit different.

Me: Can you explain whys it’s different?

Mo: Cause we are not good at sports ha-ha.  We usually talk more about food.  Each region has their different traditions

Me:  This is sort of broad question but what are some of your highlight of your country?

Mo: Maybe Chen Zheng Ping, he’s been on the cover of the Times magazine. I believe it’s quite the honor to be on that and have a dedicated article on you.

Me: What are some things that will make people immediately think about China?

Mo: The President of china Hu Jintao. I believe he can represent Chinese culture.

Me: Can you tell me a little of China’s history.

Mo: That’s a long, long story

Me: What in your history makes you proud?

Mo: The Great Wall, perhaps. The Great was started in the first empire of China and kept adding to it.  It makes me proud because you can see it from space.

Me: What are some famous foods from China? Foods you like that you can’t get here?

Mo: There is so much food in China and there are five styles of food in China. I like spicy food

Me: How many meal do you have a day?

Mo: Three meals a day.  I try to have a big breakfast and smaller lunch and dinner.

Me: What is the education system like in China?

Mo: Your duty for attending school is only 9 years and in the U.S. its 12 years.

Me: Do a lot of people get to attend college?

Mo: Yes a lot because the population in china is very high population creates serious competition.  That’s why you see a lot of Chinese students always studying because they have to push themselves pretty hard.

Me: So you attended SCSU? What are your future plans?

Mo: I’m obtaining my masters in computer science and information insurance.  Try to get a job in the United States for possible a bank, making the information secure on online banking.

Me: What are the three social pastimes in your country? Any sports? Group Events?

Mo: In China, we like soccer.  There are a lot of teams that compete with each other just like the NBA for example.

Me: What are some holidays that are celebrated in China?

Mo: The biggest is Chinese New Year, it celebrates the spring beginning.

Me: Is it fair to say that religion is practiced often in China?

Mo: I don’t think that there is any true religion in China.  The first thing you have to do is to except the Chinese Government and your religion can go against the government. So I don’t really believe its true religion.  They do have all the religions that the U.S. has though Buddhism, Christianity, Islamic.

Me: How is China’s government?

Mo: The government is getting better and you are getting more freedoms.

Me: back to the Chinese New Year, how do you celebrate it?

Mo: Lots of fireworks, the whole house hold gets together and eats together?

Me: What American holidays do you like?

Mo: Probably Thanksgiving because everything gets cheaper.

Me: Do you have any questions for me?

Mo: What do you think about China?

Me: I think it’s one of the biggest countries in the world and it’s one of the top economic powers in the world too.  The reason why I choose China was interested in because we do a lot of business with China.

Mo: A lot of China’s output is cheap labor so I think that it will never be at the top as long it stays that way.

Me: I understand why you say that and I thank you for giving me this time.  This concludes my interview.







After Interview Thoughts
I thought the interview went well for being my first time giving an interview.  At first, I was really nervous about the interview, but after I got through the first couple of questions the feeling of nervousness went away.  I learned quite a bit from Mo, he was very easy to interview, because he was really open to all my questions.  He also game me plenty of examples on how U.S. culture is different than Chinese culture.  Also, I learned that we had many common interests and hobbies.  Mo and I both enjoyed the interview and meeting each other for the first time.


 

Challenges and benefits of interviewing an international student

Joseph Albers, Trang Phung

Challenges
1.  Finding international students to interview
2.  Possible language difficulties(language barrier).
3.  Finding ways to have make the interview go smoothly.
4.  Finding an appropriate setting for your interview.
5.  Using all the core questions and having enough content to make a interview last the required time.
6.  Over coming the anxiety of the interview.

Benefits
1.  Gain knowledge and insight their country and culture.
2.  Dispel any misconceptions about the country and people.
3.  Learn new some new words in a different language.
4.  Gain experience in the formal interviews.
5.  Improve your communication skills.
6.  Meet a new person and possibly gain friendship.

Interview Outline

4)      Research

a)      Country Report

b)      Questions Prepared

i)        Core questions

ii)      Own questions

5)      Interview

a)      Introduction to between the interviewer and interviewee

b)      Flow into main body of questions

c)      Be confident

d)     Avoid awkward questions

e)      Formal Attire

f)       Fill the required time

6)      Transcription

a)      Have Organized and Neat Format

b)      Fully Completed

c)      Fix any grammar and language issues

7)      Overview

a)      Fix any grammar and language issues

8)      Overview

 

Joseph Albers

 

Challenges and benefits of interviewing an international student

                Our assignment in class is to interview international students, with this there are many challenges and benefits that you encounter during your interviewing process.  For most of us fellow students this will be the first time that we ever interviewed a person, because of this we as students need learn on the fly to make this a successful interview.  In order to succeed in this the interview, I believe these three steps need to be done well in order to have a successful interview: research completed on the country, having an interview outline, and execution of the interview.

                Firstly, each student must complete a research paper on the country of the person that you are interviewing.  You are doing this to gain background information about that country so that you can have a basic understanding of the people that live in that country.  This will make help you to form questions that you want to have answered that will give you more insight into the culture and people that you would not be able to obtain without having the interview.

                Secondly, having and outline will help you to organize and maintain a direction for the interviewing process.  The outline will give you a structure for the interview making the interview flow from one question to another.  Also, this will ensure that you are fully prepared for the interview.  In the outline, you will need to have all the required core questions and your own questions written out and organized to give your interview enough content and flow to make the interview a successful one.  Outlines greatly helps in planning process and completion of the interview.

                Thirdly, the execution of the interview is imperative in the interviewing process.  The execution will also be one of the hardest objectives to accomplish.  Completing the objectives given before will greatly increase your overall preparedness of the interview.  Other ways to do well in the interview is being confident in your questions and the way you carry yourself.  Confidence is gained by practicing and going over your content for the interview and knowing how your interview is going to flow overall.  Another important thing in the execution is to make sure your interviewee is giving enough content for each question you ask.  Some ways to make sure that you receive enough content is by asking impromptu question such as why is it that way, and can you go into more detail etc.  Another way is to make sure that your interviewee is comfortable.  Some ways to ensure this is by interviewing in a public place, wear formal attire, and avoid too personal questions.  With proper planning, executing your interview will be a positive experience.

                In conclusion, there are many challenges and benefits of interviewing an international student. By completing these three objectives I believe you will have a successful interview: research completed on the country, having an interview outline, and the execution of the interview.  With completing the interview, we will gain valuable insight into the people and culture of your interviewee country broadening our own and classes knowledge base.  By understanding different cultures, we can dispel misconceptions and prejudges about a country or people that are false making the world a better place.