Part One:
You are going to interview a person about a tradition he or she celebrates - but first, you are going to need to design a few questions. In order to efficiently design questions, you're going to have to research some aspects of the culture or tradition.
If you are going to write about how a person from another culture celebrates his or her birthday, you might want to check out this website:
http://www.kidsparties.com/TraditionsInDifferentCountries.htm
Christmas is a tradition that is very popular among Christian cultures; however, it is not celebrated the same way every where. To learn more about the holiday and how other cultures celebrate it, check out http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm
Did you know that in Italy, wedding guests throw sugared almonds as "confetti?" For more wedding traditions, visit http://ourmarriage.com/html/around_the_world.html or http://www.worldweddingtraditions.com/.
Did you know that in Mexico, families picnic on the graves of the family members on Halloween. Halloween is also celebrated in other cultures. To learn more, visit http://www.jackolanterns.net/traditions.htm.
New Years has it's own set of traditions which vary from country to country. The Chinese celebrate New Years from January 21 to February 20 (it's based on a lunar calender). To learn more, visit http://www.fathertimes.net/chinesenewyear.htm.
It's always good to do more research on a particular subject than just the underlying subject. For example, research birthday traditions even if you are going to write about wedding traditions (some may overlap!).
If you have any traditions not listed that you would prefer to research, come ask me to help you get started!
Don't forget to take notes!
Part Two:
Now that you know a little more about the tradition, you can develop questions to use when you conduct your interview. To help you understand how the interview should go (and an example of what I would like to see after you conduct your interview) follow this link:
http://www.immigrantheritagetrail.org/files/pdfs/doukenie_bacos.pdf
Notice how the questions are open-ended, and the responses are detailed. The format is also easy to follow: Question, Interviewer's dialogue, Person's response.
Show your interview questions to me in class so that I may provide feedback. Your pre-interview questions will be a part of the final grade for this project.
Part Three:
Conduct your interview. If you ask for consent prior to the interview, you can record the interview. Otherwise, you must write down the persons responses. The best way to do this is to write one question on a piece a paper, and leave the rest of the paper for the response. Bring extra sheets of paper in case you think of other questions you want to ask (record them too!).
Part Four:
Now that you know about another person's tradition, it's time to compare it to one of your own. On one side of a sheet of paper, write a part of the tradition you just learned about and how the person you interviewed celebrates it; on the other side, write how you celebrate it. This will help you when you write your essay.
Part Five:
You will now start to write your essay. You will need to compare at least three aspects of the tradition you celebrate and of the tradition the person you interviewed celebrates. Try to be as detailed as possible (the more details, the better visualization of each tradition I will get). You conclusion should summarize how each tradition will be affected if they were blended.
