Find out more about your family

 We are all going to learn a little bit more about ourselves and our heritage by interviewing an older family member.  When I was your age, I interviewed my grandmother and I learned a lot. She was the oldest person I knew in the family.  Many elderly people have a ton to say, but wont unless you ask.  Brainstorm at least 3 people you think would know a lot about your family.

 Grandparents.  Great grandparents?  Great uncle/aunt  Anyone who knows a lot about the history of your family really. Someone may have already done research.  You may also want to do more formal research on the internet, library etc.  What does you family name mean?  (Griffin is Irish meaning great warrior)

 Contact the person you want to interview.  Explain what you are doing for the class.  Ask them if they would be willing to be interviewed about family history.  Arrange a time and place for the interview  Set aside about 2 hours for your interview.  Ask interviewer if you can record the interview.  If you can not interview your first choice, go on to the next choice on your list.

 Take at least 15 questions to ask, making sure they are open ended and not just “yes” or “no” questions.  Example- you could ask “What is your earliest childhood memory? Yes is not a good answer, this question would get your interviewee talking.  Now let’s brainstorm a few questions together. Everyone take ten minutes to write down ten good questions.

 Always start with an easy question to warm up your interviewee. Ask them something that will be easy for them to answer and talk about.  Don’t ask anything they might get offended by. Many older people may feel like some things are “out of bounds”

 Don’t cut them off if they get off topic. Let them talk it out and then just edit it later if it isn’t what you want to report on.  Keep in mind follow up questions.  If they say something and you want to know more about it, ask, don’t feel like you can only ask the questions you prepared.

 Don’t ask leading or bias questions.  Example: Don’t you feel like texting and driving should be banned?  A better way to ask is “What is your opinion on texting while driving?”  Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification on an answer if you don’t understand what they mean.

 This unit is to learn about your heritage!  Most questions should be about family/family traditions/family history!!!

 This is NOT recommended. But sometimes are necessary.  Many people will not want to answer long questions via , so you may not get the best answers, also, phone interviews are hard because it is difficult to record, manually or with a recorder.  However, sometimes you may have a relative that has a great story to tell and you want to interview and share, please talk to me if you are planning a distance interview.

 Make sure you thank the interviewee after you speak with them and offer them the chance to review your presentation before you give it to class!

 Write down the names of three people you would like to interview.  Contact one and set up a time and date for the interview. (write it down)  Write down at least 12 questions you plan on asking them. (make sure they are open ended questions)  Turn in a copy of this information to me.

 Presentations will begin on Monday, everyone must be ready and I will call names at random. If you are not ready you lose 50%  The last of the presentations will be done on Tuesday.  Between now and Monday we will focus some more on grammar.