Interview Date & Time: March 13, 3:00 to 5:00 PM
Interview Location: Boat People SOS, Louisville, KY
Interviewee(s): Van Ly Tran, Civilian during the Vietnam War and Boat Person
Oral History Team:
Interviewer 1 – Thao Tran
Interviewer 2 – Quang Le
Recorder & Note Taker – Ha Phan
Photographer – Frank Bui
Videographer – NgocUyen Nguyen
Set up – Deanna Tran, Bryan Warren
Summary: This was our first sit down interview. But our interviewee William LaiQuyLe, a Vietnamese Veteran, cancelled at the last minute due to illness. So we made the quick decision to interview one of our own committee members, Van Tran, who is herself a refugee of the Vietnam War and part of the Boat People.
The interview took off on a rocky start as the interviewers and interviewee decided on the appropriate language to use with Van. We started with English. Stopped. We started again in Vietnamese because we wanted to test how these questions would sound since most of our interviewees prefer speaking in Vietnamese.
Most of the questions we prepared were asked and the interviewee answered with great detail on her life story, which gave us a very vivid picture of the hardships and struggles that the interviewee went through as a refugee. A few questions were omitted because the interviewee answered them without being asked. We also omitted a few questions on current life here once we realized the interview went on too long. We also added follow up questions to keep the conversation flowing as well as to get a fuller story.
A memorable part of the interview was when our interviewee teared up as she recalled life in the refugee camp. Quang, myself and Uyen also could not contain our tears as Van told us about the horrific ordeals she endured there. We had to stop the tape as everyone dried off their tears. I'm glad for whoever had the insight to bring tissues!
Overall, it was a good first interview and we learned a lot from it. It was good because the interviewee was very honest and open to all the questions asked. She gave a detailed description of her journey as a boat person, her hardships in the refugee camp and her struggles adapting to a new culture. The hardest part as an interviewer was knowing what to say as a follow up after the interviewee told us her story. Not acknowledging the interviewee's story and moving quickly on the next question did not seem very natural. We seem rushed to get all the questions answered instead of getting the story out. Another hard part was how to steer the interviewee's conversation from irrelevant topics to the topic at hand. I found it difficult to cut the interviewee off, as a result the last part of the interview did not stay on course as much.
This report was prepared by Thao Tran and Deanna Tran.
Interview Location: Boat People SOS, Louisville, KY
Interviewee(s): Van Ly Tran, Civilian during the Vietnam War and Boat Person
Oral History Team:
Interviewer 1 – Thao Tran
Interviewer 2 – Quang Le
Recorder & Note Taker – Ha Phan
Photographer – Frank Bui
Videographer – NgocUyen Nguyen
Set up – Deanna Tran, Bryan Warren
Summary: This was our first sit down interview. But our interviewee William LaiQuyLe, a Vietnamese Veteran, cancelled at the last minute due to illness. So we made the quick decision to interview one of our own committee members, Van Tran, who is herself a refugee of the Vietnam War and part of the Boat People.
The interview took off on a rocky start as the interviewers and interviewee decided on the appropriate language to use with Van. We started with English. Stopped. We started again in Vietnamese because we wanted to test how these questions would sound since most of our interviewees prefer speaking in Vietnamese.
Most of the questions we prepared were asked and the interviewee answered with great detail on her life story, which gave us a very vivid picture of the hardships and struggles that the interviewee went through as a refugee. A few questions were omitted because the interviewee answered them without being asked. We also omitted a few questions on current life here once we realized the interview went on too long. We also added follow up questions to keep the conversation flowing as well as to get a fuller story.
A memorable part of the interview was when our interviewee teared up as she recalled life in the refugee camp. Quang, myself and Uyen also could not contain our tears as Van told us about the horrific ordeals she endured there. We had to stop the tape as everyone dried off their tears. I'm glad for whoever had the insight to bring tissues!
Overall, it was a good first interview and we learned a lot from it. It was good because the interviewee was very honest and open to all the questions asked. She gave a detailed description of her journey as a boat person, her hardships in the refugee camp and her struggles adapting to a new culture. The hardest part as an interviewer was knowing what to say as a follow up after the interviewee told us her story. Not acknowledging the interviewee's story and moving quickly on the next question did not seem very natural. We seem rushed to get all the questions answered instead of getting the story out. Another hard part was how to steer the interviewee's conversation from irrelevant topics to the topic at hand. I found it difficult to cut the interviewee off, as a result the last part of the interview did not stay on course as much.
This report was prepared by Thao Tran and Deanna Tran.
I love the new layout Dede...It looks a lot better, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good way to keep track of the project.
ReplyDeleteGreat team work!