Syllabus changes, process, Core questions

 We saw in our video example with Mohammed that it makes sense to let the interviewee talk and re-direct only when things become too redundant or repetitive.

Next steps:
Next Thursday, Oct 7, we'll finish practice rounds interviewing each other. After that, you are free to start interviewing "for real". October 14 is fall break and you may use the time for the three interviews and reports. On October 21 and 28 there will be conferences with me in Lawrence Hall 116. Beginning at 5PM and ending at 8:30 each day. Please reserve your spot on the waiting list here:

Waiting list for review conferences

The Core questions we co-edited in class are:

a- Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your home?

b-How is the education in your home country compared to the United States?

c-Any difference in how a man and a woman may contact each other?

  Anything that is not considered "proper"?

d-What are weddings like? (Traditions of weddings)

e -What are some religious or cultural customs in your country?

f -Do you have different rules of eye contact and body language in 

   your country?

g -What do you have for your diet (breakfast, lunch, dinner)?

h - ask me a question

 

Core questions after the editing in class. Next step: select one per category.

en191f10s18- please be patient- many of us may be editing at the same time.

Questions for interviewees that need to appear in each interview recorded and transcribed by class members.

Category: Rawrz! Das ist sehr gut! :D:D :P

A. Personal and family questions
Why did you chose to come to St. Cloud State? How do you know St. Cloud State University?
-what are some of the roles that family members play?
-How many children do you usually have in one family?
-How do people raise their child?
- Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your home?
-Is there a caste system in your country? Where are you in it? (If okay to ask)
-In your culture, how are boys and girls treated differently?
-What’s your favorite sports?
-Do you like the weather in St. Cloud? What’s the difference between your country’s?
-What kinds of cultural shocks that you have experienced in America? How do you overcome them?
- Have you ever come across any special or tough experience in St. Cloud?
-What kind of clothes do you usually wear in your home country?
-What does your family structure look like?
-In your society how many children can one couple bear?
-Can you tell me something about the family importance?
- Where do you see yourself in fifteen years later?
-what are your plans after school?


B. Hometown and schooling
How’s your feeling that school in the USA? Is that different from your country?
- Why do not you study for this degree in your home country and why did you choose the United States of America?
- Is it common going study abroad in your country?
- What are the roles between teacher and student? Do they vary between teachers? How did it change throughout your schooling, from early childhood to graduation?
-What's the teaching style in your country?
-What’s the daily life like in school?
- What is your academic background? And what is your major?
- Could you tell me some difference between American education and your home education?
-How is the education in your home country compared to United States?

C. Relationships, friendships, marriages (L)
-How does dating work in your society?? :D
-Do you prefer have friendship with Americans or other international people? and why?
-How do you guys socialize every day?
- Do you have any relatives here or in the United States of America?
-What is the common age for dating ? marriage?
-Can you tell me at what age people usually get married?
- Do you usually go for blind-date?
- Do you have arrange-marriage in your country?
- What do you think of falling in love with foreigners?
-Will your parent against you if you love someone not from your country?
-Any difference between contacting with a man and a woman? How to make it more proper?
-How many types of marriage do you have in your society?



D. Festivities, weddings, funerals, holidays
-What does the New Year celebration mean in your culture?
-What are weddings like?
-What important festivals do you have in your country? How do you celebrate them?
- Any Special events for holidays?
- If i was a good friend of yours and I want to visit you one day, how would you treat me?
- Will you go home during Christmas holiday? Why?
- What’s your favorite holiday in U.S.A? Why?
- Are the funerals ceremony different than United States?
- Do you have any special events in your country?

E. Politics/Religion :P
-How does your religion affect you, such as your beliefs, your daily life, your preferences?
-How does religion work in your society?
-What is the main religion in your country? and do you believe in any religion?
- Are there any special events you have to do for your religion?
-How do you feel about American politics?
-How is the politics system in your home country?
- How do you elect leaders in political area?
-What is the fundamental belief in your religion?
- Do you a stable political situation in your country?

F. Cultural features
-What do people do on Friday nights to have fun?
-Any special custom in your culture? How to comply with it?
-Do you have different rules of eye contacts in your country?
-What kind of music do you like?
-How do you do your body language when you say some is crazy?
- What are you usually wear in your country? or there are any special clothes you should wear it?
G Every-day life, food, transportation,sports
-What’s kind of  food do you usually eat in  the USA?
-What’s the common food in your country?
-What do you have for your daily diet, breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
-What is staple food in your culture? (Rice, noodles, etc.)
-What is their favorite sport player?
- What kind of transportation people usually use? ( car/ motorcycle/bike/bus/subway/train?)
-How do you usually go to school?
-What  the favorites sport in your country? And what kind of sport you like ?
- Are the students in your country really into sports as in the States?
How do you usually spend your free time?

H. Interviewer: “Do you have any questions for me, now that I have had the pleasure of asking you about so many things.

The class edited version.

Sept 30, 2010 Finishing grammar presentations, selecting core questions, and a few training interviews.

After our training interviews today, and having selected seven to eight core questions that every interview must contain, we will enter into phase two of the semester: conducting three interviews, transcribing at least two, and writing country and process reports. A few samples can be found in the right margin of this blog.
Sept 7, 21, 28, Oct 4, 11 - these meetings will keep us busy with interviews and posting them. Between Oct 17 and the end of the semester, we will focus on your final paper.
Editable document for core questions:
Questions for interviewees that need to appear in each interview recorded and transcribed by class members.

Category:

A. Personal and family questions
B. Hometown and schooling
C. Relationships, friendships, marriages
D. Festivities, weddings, funerals, holidays
E. Politics/Religion
F. Cultural features
G Every-day life, food, transportation
H. Interviewer: “Do you have any questions for me, now that I have had the pleasure of asking you about so many things.”

Objectives and questions for the interviews

When writing your questions, please be sure
• not to lead (manipulating the questions; "And how do you like it here in the great US of A", or "You must certainly think..."
• to allow the interviewee to ask questions of you
• to wind down the conversation slowly (you could ask whether your interviewee would like to add thoughts and ideas that you did not ask for, you could invite them to ask you questions, etc.)
• to thank your interviewee for the time and effort invested on your behalf
...
How many interviews with international students do I have to conduct and record?  
Answer: 3
Do I have to transcribe all three?  
Answer: You may deselect the weakest one and only transcribe the two best interviews.
What do I post if I de-selct one interview?  
Answer: You post the country report, the description of the preparation process, your objectives, and the explanation why you chose not to transcribe this interview. Then you post all of that minus the transcript.

Sept 23

We will enjoy several presentations about bibliographies, Comma Rules, and common causes for sentence fragments next week.

We did talk about "Writing with a specific purpose" for which I gave you a handout taken from The Writer's Harbrace Handbook, brief, Wadsworth Boston, 3rd edition, 2008 p. 2-5. Groups reported on different purposes and "voices - or diction" of texts, depending on the writer's interest or writing purpose.
I am interested in your opinion of our impending tasks of interviewing, transcribing, and reporting about different topics relating to international students at SCSU. How could we define the purpose, and how can we best describe the style needed for successful results on your blogs?
- exigence
- specific purpose
expressive writing
expository writing
argumentative writing
____ ?

Lastly, I want you to spend time today to read each student's 20 steps and goals for the interview process. Who are the top three blogs about that topic? Read and select your favorites from the pool of class posts from your peers. Be prepared to explain why you chose them, if asked. Which criteria did you apply?
Homework for next week: Your own interview questions (min 12 max 16)
Be sure to have your questions reflect your outlined purposes for the interview. Ask questions that answer information interests you really have.

What you need to post for Thursday, 9-23 at noon

The operationalized process list and the objectives are due tomorrow. And grammar groups 5-7 will take the floor. Lastly, we will talk about matters of persuasion. And how diction relates to that.

Operationalizing the interview process

... imagine the entire process and describe steps that lead to the end result: your completed interview.

1. Go to Lawrence Hall
2. Speak to students
3. Explain what I need to do to them
4. Ask them to help me
5. Make an appointment
6. Get a recorder and fresh batteries and a tape
7. Finalize my interview objectives so tha I know what I am doing
8. Decide on core questions so that I know what to ask
9. Reserve a meeting room in MC
10. ...

20. Post the interview transcript and country report on my blog.
etc.

Ganz toll, verstehe nichts aber freue mich, dass ihr Referenzen benutzt.

The use of Google translator.
... and why the translation is wrong at the beginning. "Toll" means both "great" and "mad". Go figger.

Homework for 9-23

We will talk today about the different purposes and applications of writing. How do you choose your diction when you send in a job application? How do you write to your pastor? How do you relate to a friend on-line, and how do you get people to understand and grant you what you want? So we will be looking into matters of persuasion, when it works, and when it does not.

Homework for next week 9/23:
You will soon begin to interview foreign students at SCSU. Write a statement of objectives.
For example:

Interview Objectives
I would like to learn
-about their cultural traditions
learning about events in the course of a year
learning about special events like weddings, child birth, and funerals
-how they live their daily lives
are week-ends off?
do people work Monday to Friday
what do they do for leisure time
-how they communicate or interact with people
in their community
foreigners and visitors or tourists
-how they date/marry
-how their elderly people are treated
- how they raise children
-what the family structure is like

Try not to be concerned with how they like or perceive America. Try to catch a glimpse of their world view. How could you prepare that?





2. Then Write a list of precise descriptions of how how anticipate the interview will unfold, for example:

• find an interviewee in Lawrence Hall or in a student club
• make an appointment to chat and explain you class assignment
• write the list of questions I want to ask and make sure I have the core class questions in it ( we will do that in class next week)
etc.
Think of at least 20 steps. Put it on the blog. Start looking for 3-4 interviewees who all come from one country or region. Start researching that region.

Homework for next Thursday, Sept. 16

Write the paper:

"What is global communication and how has it promoted the globilazation witnessed in the past ten years?"

- between 300 and 500 words
- introduction, thematic statement
- at least five paragraphs of body text
- a conclusion

Post this paper no later than noon next Thursday, Central time US.

Make an outline

What is global communication and how has it promoted the globalization witnessed in the past ten years?

1. brainstorm ideas, list them, prioritize, make the outline
2. Components: Introduction, thematic statement
3. The blueprint for the paper: What will the body text contain?
4. Conclusion, connecting to the thematic statement.

LEO topics by student

Please come forward and enter your topic behind your name. Have the originating url ready to hot-link your choice to the LEO site.

Student Name Clear sentences
7- Al Rashed, Mohammed H-Common Causes of Sentence Fragments
7- Alhajri, Mohammed -Medo-- Common Causes of Sentence Fragments
7- Aljulaigim, Mutaz T- parallelism
6- Alotaibi, Khalid- Apostrophe Rules
6- Brune, Laci L- Comma Rules
5- Crawford, Christopher T- Annotated Bibliography
2-Eder, Hailey L- Using Quotations
2-Jin, Xin- Plagiarism
3-Karki, Sanjina- Vocabulary
Le, Ha N- absent 9-9
1-Lee, Pa Kou- Developing an Introduction
Lin, Guanfeng- absent 9-9
2- Liu, Heqiu- Using Quotations
3-Mao, Chenlong- Strategies for Reducing Wordiness
4-Matti, Kyle W- General Strategies for Editing and Proofreading
4- Nemec, Gregg A-transition cues
Osby, Chris M- absent 9-9
8-Pun, Rashmi- definiton essay
1-Ren, Longfei- Developing an Introduction
5- Schleif, Emily A- Annotated Bibliography
Songnaba, Vanessa Pengdwende- absent 9-9
6- Schneider, Jordan J- Comma Rules
3-Wang, Nan- Subject and Verb Agreement
4-Wang, Qian- General Strategies for Editing and Proofreading
6- Wang, Zhe- Comma Rules
West, Rashad J-
Yann, Ashley S-

On-blog-Quiz

You have done the exercises on the Diane Hacker site. Please describe what you found there in a short 200 word description of this experience. Give me three examples of things you learned. Yes, you can use the examples from the Hacker site.
Post your description on the blog when it's done. You have 30 minutes for this task.

The Story-in-a-box winners

Thank you for reviewing and rating all Story-in-abox entries. I have tabulated the results and Laci Brune wins with 19 points. Emily is a close second with 18 points but one more nomination. I have decided to grant the bonus to both. Several students did not rate the stories. That means they did not complete the assigned homework and will get a failed grade for this task. See you in class. Be sure to bring your LEO topic and handouts.

If you are one of our students whose blog is not up-to-date, be sure to talk to me today.

Homework for Sept. 9

1. You picked a topic from LEO that you would like to address or review. Make 28 print outs of the pages and bring them to class. I will ask students to introduce their choice of topic, and we will work on the issues. For the next four weeks, six students will have a chance to address their choice of topics.
2. Study the handout I gave you on "Combining sentences..."
3. Go to the Diane Hacker site and do the exercises on Clear sentences.
4. Complete the reading of all Story-in-a-box entries. Rank them all according to your parameters. Bring the sheet of parameters used for all students to class; I may want to see it. Post the top three names of students and the titles on their paper in a new blog post. Write one paragraph about each paper: Why did it rank high? This is due in your blog by next Thursday at noon.

Evaluating peer writing

How to best evaluate a piece of writing? Work in groups of three and find five parameters you propose to use when evaluating the Story-in-a-box. The most important parameter gets five points, the next, somewhat less parameter gets four points, and so on.
Here is an example:
1. Great flow and easy to read ______ (MAX 5)
2. Intelligent plot ______ (MAX 4)
3. Logical flow of paragraphs, outline makes sense _____ (MAX3)
4. Play on words, word choice _____ (MAX2)
5. Complete inventory was used _____ (MAX1)
(editable doc on review parameters)

Post your evaluation criteria. Review five Stories-in-a-box from your peers and rank them using your criteria. "Whose story is best and why?" That will be my question to you. Who wrote the best story in class?
Submitted student texts by 2PM 9-2-10. (Deadline is noon on Thursdays, as announced)
Editable Google doc of Story-in-a-box

Free writing suggestions on the Diane Hacker site

To get to the page you must hit the cancel button when asked to sign in; we do not want to buy the service.

Which topic did you choose for today's work in class on the LEO web-site? My choice is "Combining sentences for variety and clarity".
The Story-in-a-box is due today. Be sure it's on your blog.