Scorecard

Here is MY SCORECARD

First Interview:

1. Preparations:

Preparations for the interview

For my interview, I first came up with a list of 12 questions. I knew as the interview went on, I would develop more, but I wanted to have a solid 10 to start out with. I also developed a list of objectives that I wanted to achieve by the end of this interview.  I wanted to learn about Mali, learn how we differ in things such as school and politics. I wanted to know the experience about coming to America. And about their culture as a whole. I first started out by doing a little research about Mali, just to gain some idea on what to expect.

How Did You Approach People?

To find 3 people from Mali to interview, I first went straight to one of my best friends for help. He is a Malian student and I know he could help. I asked him if I could interview him for my paper and he agreed. He also gave me the list of some of his friends that I could email and come in contact with. From there I set up times and places to meet for my interviews.

When, Where, and How did you Conduct the Interview?

I conducted my first interview with Mohamed C. We met at Caribou in Atwood on Monday evening and started the interview from there. I arrived 10 minutes early to make sure everything was perfect. I got a good spot at a table, and I bought us both a coffee, to ease the interview.  Caribou was perfect, it was quiet enough for the interview, but just enough people around to now make things super awkward.

Whom did you Interview?

I interviewed Mohamed C, who is a first year student here at SCSU. He is 21 years old and is from Mali.

2. Interview Report:

Describe the Interview

 I thought the interview went very well. He spoke very well English and was quite easy to understand. We didn’t have any awkward pauses and the conversation flowed very nicely. He wasn’t super quiet either, which made things go smoothly. You could tell he liked to talk about his country as well. He got really excited and smiled often when talking to me about his country and back home.

It surprised me how different and yet how similar we are in cultures. When he was talking to me, I found several similarities between the two I did not expect. I also found it surprising how open to talk to me he was and how well he responded to my questions. It was effortless for him.

3. Country Report:

            Mali is located in Western Africa. It is quite a large country, about the size of California and Texas combined. Mali’s capital is Bamako, but it also has several other large cities, such as, Segou, Mopti, Gao, and Timbuktu.  Mali has quiet a large population; it inhabits over fourteen million people. Most of these people belonging to the ethnic group called Bambara, Fulani, Saracole, Manka, Songhai, Tuareg, and Maur. But Bambara is the largest, having fifty-two percent of the Malian population.  The main religion of Mali is Islam, having ninety percent of the population, but some people identify themselves as Christians, or have indigenous beliefs. French is the “official” language in Mali. But Bambara is spoken by over eighty percent of the people.

            The government in Mali is considered Republic.  They have there three branches, executive, consisting of the president (head of state) and a prime minister (head of government). The second branch is legislative. The National Assembly is the only legislative arm of government. And it currently has 147 members. The third branch is the judiciary. It has the Supreme Court and the administrative powers. Mali is a multiparty democracy. Sixteen political parties are represented in the National Assembly, but there are others that are active in local government. Mali received their independence on September 22, 1960.

            The economy is not the greatest in Mali. It is extremely poor. The annual income per person is only $691, and for a skilled worker is $1,560.  Mali has many natural resources though, such as, gold, phosphate, salt, and limestone. They do a lot of agriculture work in Mali as well.

            The people of Mali consists of a diverse sub-Saharan ethnic groups, all having similar historic, cultural and religious traditions. Some exceptions to these would be the desert nomads.  Each ethnic group speaks a different language, but most can communicate with each other through Bambara.

Resource
Paraphrased from:1. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2828.htm , October 8, 2012  and October 22, 2012

4. Transcribe the interview:

Interview with Mohamed

Me: Hello, first off thank you for meeting me here this evening; I am just going to start with asking you a few questions.

Mohamed: Ok

Me: Could you tell me about yourself? What is your name and where are you from?

Mohamed: My name is Mohamed C and I am from Africa.

Me: Where in Africa are you from?

Mohamed: I am from Bamako, which is the capital of Mali.

Me: Why did you choose St. Cloud State University?

Mohamed: I chose to come here because my family. My brother and sister go to school here and they told me it is big and a good place to study.

Me: What are you studying?

Mohamed: Now I am learning English classes, but when I start university I will study accounting and finance.

Me: Would you like to tell me about your country, before I start asking specific questions?

Mohamed: People love white people, they like the white people. They are lovely people in my country. They take care of people, and will take care of the tourists that come.

Me: Can you tell me about activities that young people like to do in your country?

Mohamed: They like to play football (soccer), basketball, they like to party, some like to study, hang out with friends, traveling, same as here right?

Me: It seems like we all do the same things

Me: What are major holidays in your country?

Mohamed: Um…. The major one would have to be Ramadan and Tabaski (feast of sacrifice). But we also celebrate Independence Day (September 22) and the New Year

Me: What is your traditional food?

Mohamed: We eat a lot of rice, most foods we eat with rice. Things like: Diabadji

Me: What is that?

Mohamed: It is meat in like ahhh an onion sauce

Me: Ok, what else do you like to eat?

Mohamed: Fakoye, which is lamb, Sauce d'Arachide, which is another kind of meat we eat with rice. We also eat things like Dégué  and Moni, which are like hot cereal or porridge. We eat couscous too.

Me: You might need to help me spell out those names.

Mohamed: No problem, I will write them down.

Me: How is the political system of your country structured?

Mohamed: We have things like president and prime minister.  We have many, many political parties and we vote.

Me: What are your country's major religions? 

Mohamed: Many people are Islam. But some people are Christian.

Me: Are they are people that still practice the traditional belief system?

Mohamed: Some do, not many. Some people also have no beliefs in god.

Me: What’s considered offensive in your country?

Mohamed: Ummm What do you mean?

Me: For example, if I walk down the street and use my middle finger people take offense.

Mohamed: Ahhh yea, we have that to. It means the same thing. But also cursing at people. People don’t like that. Also many girls cover themselves more.

Me: What do you perceive as differences between your culture and the American culture?

Mohamed: There is a lot of things that are different. The food is very very different. America doesn’t have as many markets as Mali. There are a lot of markets and boutiques on the street, people set up tables and sell goods on the street. Some of these are huge markets.

Me: What do you buy at the markets?

Mohamed: You can buy fruits and vegetables on the street. But the markets aren’t as clean as your grocery stores in America. You must have cash in markets, most people use cash versus cash.

Me: How is your transportation system?

Mohamed: We have more motorcycles versus cars. And most families do not have as many cars like here. But my family, my sister has a car, my dad, my other sister, me and my brother all have cars But in the villages they walk or use horses.

Me: I know this question is random, but I am curious, When I was in South Africa, no one wore shoes, is that common is Mali as well?

Mohamed: When I was young I never wore shoes, but when you get older you wear shoes, I remember being young and not wearing shoes and my mother and uncle would yell at me to wear shoes.

Me: How does your school system work like from preschool to university?

Mohamed: We have several schools in the capital that have dorms and so does the university. But the dorms are not as good. Most people don’t live in dorms unless you live far away or you live with your parents. My sister started school at the age of 5 and I started at the age of 6. But there is no specific start year. Not all people go to preschool, I did 3 years and my sister did 2 years. It all depends. After that you start grade 1,2,3,4,5 and at 6 you graduate. Then you go take 3 years again and then graduate, after that you take 3 more years, then after that you go to graduate and start university.  The school before grade 1 is all depending on how ready you are and how much you understand.

Me: Oh ok, so How are your houses?

Mohamed: In the cities there are big house and some small. Some houses are big, big, big but ugly, mine is very beautiful. In the villages they live in one-room huts or mom and dad live in one room and children have another and some have no electricity. But in the capital and in the city, all houses have electricity. You need need mosquito nets around the beds so the mosquitos don’t kill you.

Mohamed: But in my house, we don’t use nets; we have spray that kills them.

Me: Is there anything you would like to add before we end our interview? Or anything else you want me to know about Mali?

Mohamed: Yes there is still a few things.

Me: Ok talk to me, tell me anything

Mohamed: There is a lot of different languages. Only me I speak 4 languages in my country, I speak 2 very well, but I understand 4. But the main languages are French and Bambara.

Me: Wow, really. I wish I spoke more, I can only speak English

Mohamed: Also people in my country like the big trucks in my country, but we have small cars too.  You need big trucks in Mali though. Not all the roads are real roads so you need big trucks or you won’t make it through some roads. Sometimes you can’t even see behind you cause it is all dust. But I like it, its freedom.

Me: Anything else?

Mohamed: Yes one last thing, there is a war in my country now, the rebels are killing people, especially in Timbuktu. They are burning buildings. Timbuktu has a lot of gold.

Me: Oh really?

Mohamed: Yeah, some parts in my country are not safe, especially in the North; it is not safe to travel there right now.

Me: That is not good.

Mohamed: Nope

Me: Well, do you have any questions for me, now that I have had the pleasure of asking you about so many things?

Mohamed: Yeah, I have a question for you, why did you want to know about my country?

Me: I want to know about Mali because I think African countries have a unique history and I love to learn more about African countries. Any others?

Mohamed: What are you going to now, after this interview, what are you going to do with this information?

Me: After this interview, I am going to transcribe it and write everything down and write a report about it.

Mohamed: Why?

Me: It is for my English 191 class

Mohamed: Oh ok

Me: Thank you so much for meeting with me today. It was a pleasure to talk to you

Mohamed: Your welcome

Google Document:

Strength and Weakness of the group and best essay
Comparrsion Document

Essay on Interviewing an International Student:

                Interviewing an international student can be a very rewarding experience. Although the interview might be rewarding, that doesn’t mean you won’t experience some obstacles along the way to the finish product. You should try to be ready for some challenges that you may experience. But don’t worry the benefits out way the challenges and in the end, it is worth it.

                First of all the challenges, some challenges you may encounter will be more difficult to handle than others. First off, starting the conversation may be difficult. If you are not around international students often, you may not know what to say or how to address the person. If you are not an international student, you could have difficulties even finding one if you don’t know many international students. This could pose a huge problem. Another major problem you might have is the language barrier. Every international student is at a different level of English speaking, which could make interviewing them difficult. Silence doesn’t mean a sign of disrespect or lack of know knowledge. The interviewee might need time to formulate his/hers answer into English or have some time to process the questions (1). Remember English isn’t their first language. The interviewee may not know some words, so be prepared to reword your questions if necessary. You may also have some mispronunciation or misuse of some words as well. They may experience trouble continuing their thought process. Another problem that may occur is some questions might be misunderstood, so your answer could be wrong or not make sense, so you might need to talk some time to clarify the answers. The interviewer should try their best not to do anything that could come off offensive. Body language, actions, questions, and some words may be offensive to the international student. Some improper topics to address could be: race, religion, ethnicity, and sexuality (2).  The last challenge you may encounter would be the time situation. Some cultures “on time” are different that your own idea of what “on time” really is.  Also you and your international student interviewee may have extremely conflicting schedules, so finding a time may be difficult.

                Secondly the benefits of interviewing an international student are quit rewarding. The interviewer gets to meet a new person who they might have not even thought about approaching before, a person from a different country with a different culture. The interviewer will gain a firsthand experience in talking to them face to face. They will learn new cultures, traditions, food, clothing, music, manners, what is offensive to them, art, educational systems, politics, and about their family. You will learn how the foreign exchange process works, and how they got the opportunity to come study here in the United States. Also the meeting between an international student and you will be more professional. You won’t have as much small talk because you two will lack common interests. That will help the interview process because you will stay on topic and not introduce small talk. You will also gain a perspective on their nonverbal communication. You will be able to see what topics make them uncomfortable and how they respond to certain subjects and questions.

                So in conclusion, I think interviewing an international student is quite difficult. But I feel that even though you may have more challenges than benefits, the benefits will out way the challenges and you will have a rewarding experience.

 Resources:

1.       http://www.relocation.com/library/career_guide/interview_challenges.html , October 16, 2012

2.       http://www.relocation.com/library/career_guide/interview_challenges.html, October 16, 2012

Interviewing an International Student:

Challenges and Benefits of interviewing an international student:

Challenges:

1.        Difficult to find an international student

2.        Language barrier

3.        International student may be shy to talk

4.        Might slip and say something offensive

5.        Not a high level English speaker

6.        International students might not know some words

7.        International students may have difficulty in expressing what they want to say

8.        Some actions could come off offensive on accident

9.        Some questions might scare/offend the interviewee

10.     Body language could be offensive

11.     Certain questions may be misunderstood

12.     International students may have troubles continuing a thought because it is not in their native language

13.     Mispronunciation on words

14.     Miss use of words

15.     Might have to stop the interview to ask a questions because might be unclear on the answer

16.     Starting the conversation

17.     Not on time (culture difference on what “on time” is)

18.     Trouble finding time on when to meet – conflicting schedules

 

Benefits:

1.        Firsthand experience with a country

2.        Meet a new person from a different country

3.        Learning about a new culture

4.        More professional – less small talk

5.        Arrange and execute a professional meeting

6.        Learn how/where/time they will want to meet

7.        Learn about new customs

8.        Learn new Traditions

9.        Learn how a different culture goes about a professional meeting

10.     Learn about clothing

11.     Learn about their food

12.     Learn about their educational background

13.     Learn about their family

14.     Won’t speak in local small talk – helps stay on subject

15.     Talk more professional due to a common interest

16.     Learning about nonverbal communication

17.     Learn about their manners

18.     Learn about the foreign exchange process

Interview Objectives and Core Questions

The country I chose that I will be interviewing people from is Mali. Now it is time to find 3 individuals that are from Mali and start interviewing. I have never formally interviewed anybody before so it is slightly nerve racking. But it will be OK. My objectives are:

• Learn more about Mali
• Learn how the difference in our educational systems
• Learn how their experience was coming to the United States
• Gain an experience on their life
• Get to know the culture of Mali

The twelve core questions that I will be using are:

1. Could you tell me about yourself? (your name, and home country)

2. Why did you chose St. Cloud State University?

3. What would you like to tell me about your country?
4. Can you tell me about activities that young people like to do in your country?
5. What are major holidays in your country?
6. What is your traditional food?
7. How is the political system of your country structured?
8. What are your country's major religions? 
9. What’s considered offensive in your country?
10. What do you perceive as differences between your culture and the American culture?
11. Is there anything you would like to add before we end our interview?
12. Do you have any questions for me, now that I have had the pleasure of asking you about so many things.

Those are my core 12 questions, but as I am interviewing I might add more, depending on how the interview goes.

Three Countries:

The three countries I chose to research are Mali, Nigeria, and Liberia. I chose these countries because I am very interested in Africa and this continent interests me a lot. I also have several African friends that would be able to help me out on the interview process.

Mali:

The first country in Africa I chose was Mali. Mali is located in West Africa. It is similar to the size of Texas and California combined and inhabits 14.1 million people. Most of its population is Islam and the official language is French, but nearly 80% of its people speak Bambara. Mali’s population is made up of sub-Saharan ethnic groups, sharing similar traditions, beliefs, and history. When reading up on Mali’s history, it seemed to really interesting to me and I would love to learn more about it and talk to someone from Mali to gain a greater perspective. (1)

Nigeria:

The second country I chose is Nigeria. Nigeria is also in West Africa, and is the size of California, Nevada, and Arizona combined. Nigeria has a huge population of nearly 160 million people.  Nigeria inhabits nearly 250 different ethnic groups, the largest being Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, and Kanuri, and the main religions are Muslim and Christian.  I found it extremely interesting that Nigeria accounts for over half of West Africa’s population. It is the most populous country in Africa.  (2)

Liberia:

Liberia is also in West Africa, and is slightly larger than Ohio. It inhabits a little under 4 million people and the main religion is Christian. English is their official language, but they have 16 indigenous languages. There are 16 ethnic groups that make up Liberia's indigenous population. The Kpelle in central and western Liberia is the largest ethnic group. Americo-Liberians who are descendants of freed slaves that arrived in Liberia after 1820 make up less than 5% of the population. (3)

I think that all the three West African countries I chose would be interesting to research. They are all different in the people they inhabit, the religions, the languages, and even their histories. But all are fascinating to me.

1. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2828.htm , October 8, 2012 

2.http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2836.htm, October 8, 2012  

3.http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6618.htm, October 8, 2012  

5 books from students

The first book I chose was, ZeYu Chen’s, and the title of the book is “The Opium War, 1840-1842”. The first sentence on page 15 read this “The south China city of canton lies in the latitude of Calcutta, Mecca, and Havana, on the left bank of the Canton River seventy-five miles from the sea.” (1) Just by reading this sentence, this book doesn’t seem very interesting to me.

“The Development of Nigerian Foreign Policy” was my second book I chose.

This book is about Nigeria's foreign policy. On page 15 it says: "But it would be wrong to assume that Nigerian political parties, at the beginning of the election campaign, had definitely formulated policies for the nation to follow in world affairs." (2) I do not know much about Nigeria and I find it somewhat interesting.

The third book I decided to choose was How to talk Minnesotan, which actually is really interesting for people to me because I am born and raised in Minnesota; it gave an overview of how people talk here. It read on page 15, ”Many cooks substitute pickled herring for the hamburger and use cream of mushroom soup instead of Cheese Whiz as a topping”. (3) I actually would read this book, it sounds comical.

"U.S. Economic Policy Toward Africa” is the fourth book I chose. "For instance, the foreign aid appropriations legislation for 1991 declared in part that the purpose of DFA was "to help the poor majority of men and women in sub-Saharan Africa to participate in a process of long-term development through economic growth that is equitable, participatory, environmentally sustainable, and self-reliant." (4) Is the quote that was on page 15.  I don't know anything about economic policy in Africa and I am slightly interested in it, but I would find a different book, this one doesn’t seem interesting to me.

My fifth and final book I read was “Horse Thief”. On page 15 I found: "Only merriment as they nipped and nuzzled one another." (5)This book also does not interest me, because the first sentence confuses me on what this book is actually about.

1.  Fay, Peter Ward. The opium war 1840-1842. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1975.

2.Cloud, S.P. (1964). The Development of Nigerian Foreign Policy, New York, USA: Northwestern University Press.

3.Mohr, Howard. (August 4th, 1987). How To Talk Minnesotan: A visitor's Guide. New York, USA: Penguin Group.

4.Herbst J. (1992). U.S. Economic Policy Toward Africa, New York, US: Council on foreign relations press New York.

5. Peck, R.N.. Horse Thief. New York, USA: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002.