Honors Core III: U.S. and Them
Project #2

Description: Interview an international student on campus.

Due date: Tuesday, October 23

Assignment details:
UCA currently hosts students from more than fifty countries. With the help of the Office for International Programs, we have compiled a list of students from those foreign lands.

1. You will choose a first and second choice country from the sign-up sheet provided in class. No two students will choose the same countries -- there are plenty to go around.

2. Your instructor will provide you with a list of names and contact information (e-mail, phone, or both). Set up an interview with a student on the list. Some countries have only one or two representatives on campus, so if you cannot meet with a student from your first choice country, move on to your second choice.

3. Set aside at least an hour for the interview so that you don’t feel rushed, and make sure you meet at a time when both of you will be relaxed, ready to converse, and not getting ready to hurry off for class, meetings, or tests.

4. Take notes during the interview, or use a tape recorder to capture it and play it back later.

5. Prepare questions ahead of time around the following general themes. Note: your interview must touch on these issues, but you are also encouraged to ask questions you’ve come up with on your own. Write down a few specific questions under each theme to elicit a range of responses.
(a) How would people in your country who’ve never been to America describe it? (Sample ideas: ask for specific words they would use, or facets of American life that fascinate or repel them)
(b) How would you describe America? (same ideas as above)
(c) Is there anything about America that is surprising or unexpected to you? (Sample ideas: ask about the media, college life, leisure activities, temperment of Americans, interpersonal style of Americans, etc.)
(d) What do you think most Americans who’ve never visited your country think about it? (Sample ideas: specific descriptive words, impressions of the lifestyle, or do they think anything about it at all -- and why not?)
(e) What would you like Americans to know about your country? What would be surprising or unexpected to them? (same ideas as (c) above)

6. You may find that your interviewee doesn’t fit neatly into the categories assumed by these questions. For example, she may have been born in one country but lived part of her life in another, or she may have lived in the United States for some time. Be sure to find out as much about these individual circumstances as you can, and how they affect your interviewee’s views of her land(s) of origin and of America.

7. After the interview, take some time to look over your notes or listen to the tape. Then write a brief essay of 800 to 1500 words (two or more double-spaced pages) about what you’ve learned. Begin by introducing your readers to your interviewee. Report what your interviewee said in response to your questions, and what you think about those responses -- are they accurate, fair, surprising, expected? In conclusion, reflect on your views of the interviewee’s homeland -- where do they come from, and have they changed as a result of this experience?