Review the top three blogs

                                                       Review the best interview

                I think the best interview wrote by Toure, Mohamed L (URL). The reason for me to choose his blog is great sentence and better grammar. Basically, I found the guy is good at in languages because he can speak around 5 languages when I met him last month.  From reviewing his blogs, you can see clearly text from beginning to end. He wrote this interview step by step so we can find any content that we need.(23 points)

 

 

                                                                Review the second best interview

                I think the second best interview came from Brittany Hofstater (URL).  I think the guy prepared lists of questions enough.  Also, he found lots of materials about country report such as geography, government, economy and race. From his transcript, I think he spent  much time on it because he wrote many words in. (21points)

 

 

                                                                Review the third best interview

                I also think Sengwiza, Loris (URL)did very well in his first interview, so I gave him 19 points. Among some guys who got 19 points, I think Sengwiza, Loris did the best. Mainly, he interviewed a Chinese guy who is also my friend. From his interview, I can imagine the conditions where they made interview because these materials are true. (19 points)

Review of interview 1

My scorecard

The first interview

                             Interview Preparation

       After I finished the second Accounting test, I begin to prepare my first interview which I never did before, I think it is also a challenging and experience for me in the United States. My first interviewee I will meet come from South Korea, he is also my friend’s roommate. On Thursday, we switched our own cell phone number and we made a reservation for a library meeting room where is one of the most important elements in the interview because I found most of interview happened in quiet places. For the first interview, I prepared 12 questions to ask him within 1 hour. My goal is to learn more knowledge about South Korea in culture, economy and lifestyle.

                              How did you approach people?

       For the three interviewees, I asked my friend to help me to find. Both of them have roommates come from South Korea and Germany. My friend gave his roommate’s cell phone number and I conducted with him on Thursday. Luckily, he agreed to help me to finish my first interview.

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

       I did the first interview around 5 pm at the meeting room in the Lawrence Hall. Before I went to Lawrence Hall, I bought two cups of coffee for us to relieve. When I arrived at my friend’s room, the Korean guy was sleeping, so I wait for him wake up for half an hour. I discussed some details about interview with my friend who is also takes English 191. After he wake up, we went to the meeting room to find a good spot. After a while, I introduced this assignment to him and he thought he was ready. I prepared around 12 questions for this interview, we followed these questions one by one for 45 minutes. 

                                Interview Report

       The first entire interview went very well. For this interview, I prepared 12 questions picked from lists on posts and other questions not related to this interview. Basically, the interviewee I interviewed who is a exchange student come from South Korea major in finance. The guy finished his three years’ study in University of Seoul while he chose to study in the United States for one year. During the interview, I found the guy is vey outgoing because he answered all the questions I answered and he did not care about some sensitive problems right now. He thought he could also achieve much knowledge from talking with me. 

       Anyway, when I finished my interview, I found out the main points I recorded during the interview and wrote the transcript as follows.

                             Whom did you Interview?

       I interviewed Young who comes from South Korea in the capital of Seoul. Young is 24 years old and he is an exchange student major in Accounting.

                                 Country Report

       “South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the middle Ages. Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.”(South Korea 2012) South Korea has a technically advanced transport network consisting of high-speed railways, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes that criss-cross the country. Korea Expressway Corporation operates the toll highways and service amenities en route. “Aerospace research, Robotics and Biotechnology are very famous in South Korea. Korean cuisine or hansik has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Korean cuisine is largely based on rice, noodles, tofu, vegetables, fish and meats. Traditional Korean meals are noted for the number of side dishes, banchan , which accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. Every meal is accompanied by numerous banchan. Kimchi, a fermented, usually spicy vegetable dish is commonly served at every meal and is one of the best known Korean dishes.” (South Korea 2012) “Football has traditionally been regarded as the most popular sport in Korea. Recent polling indicates that a majority, 40.6%, of South Korean sports fans continue to self-identify as football fans, with baseball ranked second at 25.3% of respondents. However, the polling did not indicate the extent to which respondents follow both sports. The national football team became the first team in the Asian Football Confederation to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan.” (South Korea 2012)

 

Transcript

Y=Yang (me)

S=Young

Y: Hi boy, my name is Yang Qu and I am your roommate’s friend. It is honor to interview you.

S: I am Young Jin Song. Nice to meet you.

Y: Nice to meet you too. OK, let we start.

S: I am ready.

Y: Could you tell me about yourself? (your name, home country)

S: I am Young Jin Song and I come from Seoul where the capital of South Korea is. I like play soccer on my free time. My major is management. I came here to study Accounting class. This is my junior year and I will go back when I graduate.

Y: What are you planning to do after school?

S: When I graduate?

Y: No, I mean when you finish class what you will to do?

S: I will play soccer with my friends. Sometimes, I play computer games and use Facebook

Y: Why did you choose to study at St. Cloud University?

S: Because St. Cloud University is nice. I realized the benefits when I came to here.

Y: Where you know this University?

S: I search the University Web Page.

Y: What are you studying now?

S: Basically, I take three accounting classes. They are ACCT 291, ACCT 292 and ACCT 381 and I need to pass all of them. Except those three classes I also take some ESL classes.\

Y: Oh, my God. You are so creasy, those three accounting classes are so difficult. Are you good at accounting?

S: Yes. My major is accounting when I studied in South Korea, so I need continue to take it.

Y: I also take Accounting 291, but I think it is a little bit difficult.

Y: What is the difference in educational systems between your country and North America?

S: In the Korea, students in college should focus on the lecture made by professor carefully and you cannot speak during the lecture. I can only do the notes. Compare to the US, I found students are free to do whatever if they want, they can participate in the class. How about your home country?

Y: Anyway, I did not take any major courses in China because I did enter into college in China and I just studied IELTS in Nanjing Normal University and passed it on May in 2011. I am a normal student in St. Cloud State University now.

S: I thought you are exchange student.

Y: Well, I hope so, I often miss my hometown.

Y: Would you like to tell me about your country?

S: South Korea locate in Asian and South Korea near the China and Japan. After 1950s, with the rapid development of economy, South Korea becomes the top 10 strong countries in the World. There are also some famous companies, such as Samsung and LG.

Y: Could you tell me about your country’s traditional process regarding marriage?

S: If a guy and a girl fall in love, they should get allowance from their own parents and then get married. Is it same in China?

Y: I think so because China and South Korea have same culture background.

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

S: In Korea, K-pop is very popular among the young people.

Y: Sorry, can you spell it?

S: It is fine. That is K-p-o-p.

Y: What are major holidays in your country?

S: In Korea, Thanksgiving day and New Year’s day is common. We call these two festivals in Korea language like chu-suk, Sul Nal.

Y: What you guys commonly to do in these festivals?

S: Basically, I often visit my grandpa and grandma’s house and do the food together.

Y: What is your traditional food?

S: In Korea, Kinchi is very famous that made of vegetables. And Bulgogi is also famous that made of meat.

Y: How to spell it?

S: That is B-u-l-g-o-g-i.

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

S: I think Korea’s government consists of Administration, president and law system. It a little bit difficult.

Y: Ok, Let us star the last question>

S: That is fine.

Y: What’s considered offensive in your country?

S: Oh, my God. That is difficult. Let me think about it for a while.

Y: Alright.

S: I think the most offensive problem in South Korea is North Korea.

Y: Why you do not like it?

S: Personally, I do not like North Korea’s government but I like their people. The leader named Kim Jong-un is a dictatorship. People in the North Korea live very hard.

Y: Ok, we have finished this interview and thank you for your corporation.

S: You are welcome.

Y: Have nice day.

S: You too.

Work Cited:

South Korea. October 17, 2012.

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea

The best paper

The document is Here

Challenges and benefits Ideas

Those challenges and benefits Ideas for our group: (Mostafa, Yang, and Hassan)

1. It is benefit for us to learn other countries’ culture.

2. We can learn them what they have experienced in their home country

3. Some topics are sensitive to them because of the different culture background.

4. We do not have to talk some racial issues.

5. We can get much information from the interview.

6. From the interview we can make more friends.

7. Some international students are shy.

8. It is not easy for us to do an interview with each country’s student.

9. Interview can improve our English.

10. It is hard for us to find some problems regarding this interview.

11. Difficult communication.

12. It can be enjoyable.

13. Language barrier.

14. It is hard to find an international student.

15. We will be interested in some places.

16. To know about many different holydays.

17. Interesting about new traditional food.

18. Improve your speech during the interview.

19. To be ready in the future for getting job.

20. The uniform about another country.

21. Learn the different between families.

22. Learn about the different lifestyles.

23. Know the different roles in the other country.

24. The sports the country interesting.

25. What’s the country export outside?

26. Other countries’ system.

27. The flag of country.

28. The population of the country.

29. The location of the country.

30. The different between the body language.

31. Which religion they follow.

32. We can learn how to prepare a professional interview.

33. Learn about a new heritage.

34. which types of education they learn.

35. the relashinship with other countries.

36. Sovereign rights.

Challenges and benefits of interviewing international students

                                Challenges and benefits of interviewing international students

Different people have different thoughts about something because they live in different places and conduct different culture, so if we do an interview with international students, we should pay more attention to some sensitive problems. Beside some challenges happened in interview, we can also learn much knowledge about their home countries that we cannot get in our home campus.

                To me, this is my first time to interview others in the other country.  I feel a little bit of nervous when I am doing an interview because I have some challenges to ask interviewees.  Sometimes it is difficult to find an international student who is suitable for you to interview. In addition, language barrier is also a main problem that we will face during interview. Some international students cannot speak fluent English so they probably cannot understand what we talk about. International students may be very shy to talk with you in a public area; these guys cannot be outgoing due to the different culture. On the other hand, some sensitive problems should be avoided, such as religions believe, racial issues and sovereign rights.

                When we do the interview, we can also achieve much benefits. When we meet an international student first time, we can become good friend immediately. In the following days, you can stay with him for a long time to communicate; you can learn a new culture from him. From the interview, we can learn their traditional food, custom and lifestyles. Except learning culture, we can learn their education.

                Overall, interviewing international students can let us face many challenges and benefits. I t is a great way learn more knowledge and make friends. 

               

12 questions

The main purpose of my first interview is to learn the differences in culture of the three countries between china that I will interview. China locate in the east of world where full of long civilizations all the time, which is different from other countries. Saudi Arabia is famous for its oil industry and it is a kingdom country. Germany is the most developed country in the Europe, it is famous for car industry and most car fans like drive BMW, Porsche and McLaren. Korea is a neighbor of China where Located on the Korean Peninsula.

Here are the 12 questions I picked from last posts:

1. Could you tell me about yourself? (Your name, home country)
2. What are you planning to do after school?
3. Why did you choose to study at St.cloud University?
4. What is the difference in educational systems between your country and North America?
5. Would you like to tell me about your country?
6. Could you tell me about your country's traditional process regarding marriage?
7. Can you tell me about activities that young people like to do in your country?
8. What are major holidays in your country?
9. What is your traditional food?
10. How is the political system of your country structured?
11. What are your country's major religions?
12. What’s considered offensive in your country?

Three favorite countries

                                                                                Three favorite countries

                I come from China and I study in the U.S by now where I learned a lot of foreign friends who come from other countries such as Korea, Germany and Saudi Arabia. The main causes to me that why I interested in those three countries is their culture, economy and geography.

                The first country that I will introduce is Korea. “Korea is an East Asian country that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and Russia to the Northeast. It is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan, and it is separated from Taiwan to the south by the East China Sea”. (“Korea” 2012)  Korea was an agricultural country in the past, people live in Korea like eating rice and vegetables as their main food by now. Nowadays, Korean still like eating kimchi in every meals during a day. Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish made of vegetables. It is Korea's national dish, and there are different kimchi made with a main vegetable ingredient such as napa cabbage, radish, scallion, or cucumber.

                The Second Country that I like is Germany. “Germany is a federal parliamentary republic in west-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states, and its capital and largest city is Berlin. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state in the European Union. Germany is one of the major political and economic powers of the European continent and a historic leader in many theoretical and technical fields”.(“Germany” 2012) Basically, the reason that I like Germany is German car for example BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. German car is the best car in the world. To me, owning a car is my dream when I still young, especially a German car. Among three car brand, I like BMW 3 series very much cause it can provide me strong speed-up feelings when I driving it. My family owns a BMW 3 series; I drove it nearly every day.          

                The third Country that I like is Saudi Arabia. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab state in Western Asia by land area. Saudi Arabia is famous for oil industry. “Saudi Arabia's command economy is petroleum-based; roughly 75% of budget revenues and 90% of export earnings come from the oil industry”(“Saudi Arabia” 2012). I like Saudi Arabia because of their nice welfare and stable economy. I want go to Saudi Arabia in the future. In the Saudi Arabia, there are about 25 million people who are Muslim. “About 85–90% of Saudis are Sunni, while Shias represent around 10–15% of the Muslim population” (“Saudi Arabia” 2012).

                Overall, those three countries I introduced above are my favorite countries with different ideas.

Work Cited:

1.       Korea. (2012, September 26) Retrieved October 9, 2012 from Wikipedia:

                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea

2.       Germany. (2012, October 9) Retrieved October 9, 2012 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany

3.       Saudi Arabia. (2012, October 9) Retrieved October 9, 2012 from Wikipedia:           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi

Five blog posts from my classmates

 

1. My classmate Aljahdali, Almuhannad A chose the book titled “Slam” (1). This book is about the basketball and how sports can influence our health. On Page 15 of this book, I found the sentence “When he left, he didn’t say good-bye to anybody, just picked up his book bag and his horn and went”

 

2. My classmate Zeyu Chen selected book titled “Opium War” (2). This book mainly talks about the Opium War happened in Qing Dynasty. On Page 15 of this book, I found the first sentence “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”

 

3. My classmate Yanjun Li chose book titled “Last Shot” (3). The purpose of book “Last Shot” is to introduce many important things about basketball wrote by Feinstein john.

 

4. The book “Islam Without Fear” selected from my classmate Mohamed L Toure. (4). This book mainly describes religion of Islam and different kinds of things happened among Islam.

 

5. My fifth book titled “Admiral of the Pacific “ come from my classmate Enli Zhang. (5). The book mainly talked about a famous admiral named Yamamoto who lead a war in Second World War in pacific.

 

 

Works cited

(1)    Walter Dean Myers. Slam. Scholastic press a division of Scholastic Inc in the USA, 1920.

(2)    Fay, Peter Ward. Opium War. The university of North Carolina, 1975.

(3)    Feinstein John. Last Shot. New York, 2005.

(4)    Baker, Raymond William. Islam Without Fear. Boston and London, 2003

(5)    John Dwane Potter. Admiral of the Pacific. London, Melbourne, Toronto, Cape Town and Auckland, 1965.

Five blog posts from my classmates

Five blog posts from my classmates

1.       http://en191f12s28almuhannadalj.blogspot.com/

I think the main cause for him to choose this book is the interest because he sports are his hobbies and sports can bring him healthy. People can not be healthy without sports.

2.         http://nhriver.blogspot.com/

I found the main reason that he chose the book “Opium War” is that he likes history and this book is related to his home country.

3.   http://en191f12s28yanjunli.blogspot.com/

       The book “Last Shot” mainly talked about basketball and that is why he chose this book. I think he like basketball very much.

4.         http://en191fl12s28mohamedto.blogspot.com/

The book “Islam Without Fear” wrote by Baker, Raymond William mainly describe Islam region. I think he is a Muslim and he want to learn more about his belief.

5.   http://enlizhang191f12s28.blogspot.com/

      

       He chose this book “Admiral of the Pacific” wrote by John Dwane Potter mainly talked about a famous admiral during The Second World War. I think he like the history very much and he want to study more about information and details about The Second World War

Overall, I found all of them chose books to read according to their interests such history, sports, war and so on.