Locate a person who was not born in the United States and who lived a significant part of his or her life outside the U.S, then immigrated to the U.S. (A person who came to the United States as an infant will not meet the requirement for the assignment.) Ask the person’s permission to use his or her name and quotations in the paper, and ensure that their name is spelled correctly.

 

Use the questions in “Resource 1: Intercultural Communication Interview.” Review the questions ahead of time and think about how well your words and your accent will communicate with the person, depending on his or her facility with English. Find out about the person’s experience as an immigrant.

 

Write an essay of 500-750 words about the experience. Do not write it as a verbatim account of the interview. Use quotes as needed, but write the paper as an essay. Where did you meet the person? How long did you visit? What did you learn?

 

Reflect on how much this experience stretched your comfort zone and how this observation could affect your intercultural communication. If you were going to do this assignment over, what could you do that would make it more valuable to you and, perhaps, to the other person?