Emily Patrick January 7, 2011
Interview With Mia Cho (A Korean Student at John Carroll)
Question: What is your full name?
Answer: My full name is Mia Cho.
Answer: My full name is Mia Cho.
Q: What is your first language?
A: My first language is Korean and my second is English.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I am from Korea.
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born on September 1, 1993.
Q: When did you being learning English? At what age?
A: I began learning English in Elementary school.
Q: What activities do u do here at John Carroll?
A: I am a cheerleader.
Q: Who taught you to speak English? Did you learn it in your school?
A: I learned English in school kind of like Spanish in the United States of America. You learn it as a class at a young age and keep taking it through your school years.
Q: Did you speak English in your home?
A: No we never spoke English at home. Our family just never did.
Q: Do your parents or other family members know English?
A: No, none of my family knew any English.
Q: Do most people in your country speak English?
A: No, no one really used English at that time. Some people knew a little but not as much as people know Spanish in the United States.
Q: How many other languages do you know?
A: I know English and Korean. I also know a little French because that is the language that I am taking at John Carroll.
Q: How long have you been here?
A: I have been in the United States for two and one half years.
Q: How did you find out about the opportunity to come to this country?
A: One of my mother’s friends suggested for me to go to Philadelphia. I could not find a good home so I came to Maryland. One of the problems at the school that I went to in Philadelphia was that there was too much studying and it was too hard for me. It might have also been because I had just come to the United States.
Q: Who are you visiting or staying with?
A: I am staying with a host family and my host mom came from Thailand. She has two children who are fifteen and eleven years old. They are both girls. They live here in Bel Air, Maryland.
Q: How long are you staying?
A: I am staying here for at least five more years. I would like to graduate here at John Carroll and go to college here in the United States.
Q: What challenges do you have being in the USA?
A: It is a big challenge just to read books in English. I usually have to have a translator dictionary with me when I am reading. It is still hard for me to understand some of the things that people say.
Q: Do you have difficulty reading English/doing your homework? Do you think it takes you longer than other students?
A: Homework is not really hard. The only thing for homework or schoolwork that is hard sometimes is just papers. It usually takes me as long as other people to complete my homework.
Q: Are you enjoying your stay?
A: Yes. Everything is different here. A lot of the difference is because of the culture. There are good and bad things about both Korea and the United States. I am still just getting used to being here.
Q: Do you think it would be more or less difficult for me to visit your county with English being my first language?
A: Yes it would be very hard because it is not your first language and even thought you know a little of it, it is still not enough to know everything, confused
Q: Would you come again for this visit knowing what you know now?
A: Yes to learn the language. It is fun to learn something new and to visit new places. It is like vacation just that you get to stay longer.
My Reflection:
While I was interviewing Mia Cho, I realized a few things that I thought were very surprising. I noticed how well she spoke English. It was almost like she has been here for most of her life because she spoke very clearly and knew what I was asking her and what she should respond. I was also surprised that the hardest this that she has to do in English is write papers. I hope that I have the opportunity to learn more about Mia and her journey from Korea to the United States.
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