201401496 Ji Eun Bok
<Title>
He sat nervously on the sofa as I looked over my list of questions and set the recorder application on the mobile phone for the interview. His initial reaction to my oral history assignment was rather funny. When I told him that I chose him as my interviewee, he seemed slightly embarrassed. He didn't know what I would interview him about, and the word "interview" must have burdened him. Despite his worries, he turned out to be the best interviewee.
My dad was born in Cheonyang, Chungcheongnam-do Province, South Korea. It was an underdeveloped area and the majority of the population were farmers. My grandfather was a farmer too, and my dad had to always help him out in the field after school. As a kid, my dad was interested in electronics. My dad studied hard to try and achieve his goal. Although growing up in the farming area meant less time to study, he always made time to study with his classmates even after class. Later, he got into an electronic technical high school. He studied electronics there and went through practical training.
"When I turned 17, my mother passed away. This was a big change, and I had to find other means to help support the family. I decided to get a job rather than to go to university and continue my studies." My dad had always wanted go to university, but circumstances changed and he was not left with much choice. At the end of his second year in high school, several companies had open recruitment and my dad applied for one company. Fortunately, he got accepted and he began his working career immediately after he graduated from high school.
The company was located in Suwon, so he had to leave his family, his hometown and move to Suwon. He got a small apartment and began living on his own. He said this was one of his most difficult times in his life.
"There was no one there to look after me. I was by myself, and I had to do everything for myself. My health got worse as I didn't eat properly. I was in a slump." He said this was the one and only time he wanted to quit working. There were hard times, but as the saying, time healed everything and he soon got back on the recovery track.
"What was your main motivation? What kept you going?" I asked my dad.
"I had a sense of responsibility. Responsibility for my wife and my daughters, responsibility for the society and responsibility for my colleagues. Everyone had to work hard for each other," he replied in a firm manner. I felt the strength in his words, and I realized this was what really kept him going all these years. He has worked in one and just one company his entire life for over 30 years. I always felt bad seeing him work so many hours in the office every day, and I was very touched by his response.
Of the 30 or so years of working, my dad has had experience working overseas. I wanted to know what opinions he had about this. I asked him how this experience has influenced his life.
"Personally, it was a great opportunity for me to become equipped with a global mind, dealing with foreign buyers and industries from all over the world. I learned to cooperate with them and I gained confidence. I could be thrown in any kind of situation dealing with foreigners, and I had nothing to be scared of anymore."
He also mentioned the effect it had on his family. "I was happy to provide my three daughters with a special experience, studying in international schools and learning English." What he said is very true indeed. I am always grateful for this fact, and I consider myself very lucky.
Prior to this interview, I thought I knew my dad very well. However, there were so many things I didn't know, and it was a very meaningful time getting to understand him better. As a final question, I asked him about his plans and goals for the future.
My dad is looking for a second job after his retirement. He has seen his senior colleagues leave the company and switch to other jobs, and he has many thoughts about the future as well. He says he is thinking of continuing in the same field, electronics. He has thought about starting a new business, but he believes this may be too risky. Regardless of what he chooses to do in the future, I am sure that he will succeed.
"The three traits I consider the most important are your abilities in that field, your attitude and health. One's abilities are of the utmost importance because that is what should follow when you are willing to do something. One's attitude is another important aspect, as cooperation is very important. You should be able to form healthy relationships with your coworkers by treating them appropriately. Lastly, all of this is impossible if your body cannot handle it. You cannot exhibit full strength if you don't have the energy." This is why my dad loves sports and works hard to keep in shape. With these last words, he went off to play tennis with his friends.
Writer’s Plan for Revising
ReplyDelete1. Conducting the interview was quite challenging because I have not had such experience in the past, but I had fun with it. The first difficulty came when I had to choose my interviewee. I had several people in mind, but in the end I chose my dad because it is the easiest to talk to him in person. I wanted the interview to be done face to face because I didn’t want to miss the body gestures or facial expressions. If I had a chance to do the interview over, I will narrow down the questions further so it has a clearer focus. I had expected my interview to take less than 30 minutes, but it actually took almost an hour. I think my questions could have been more specific.
2. When I heard my essay being read aloud in my own voice, the part I liked most was the direct quotations. I tried use direct quotations for parts that I thought were important of the things that my dad told me during the interview. Listening to it again reminded me of the way he said the exact words, and it drew a very vivid picture in my head once more. I think the use of direct quotations emphasizes the significance of what’s being said.
3. Since the interview lasted for about an hour, there are quite a lot of parts I didn’t include in my essay. When I revise my essay, I want to include parts like what my dad considers his greatest achievement and what he is most proud of. By including this, I believe it will help the essay to become more directional, focusing mainly on my dad’s career instead of his life in overall. I need to readjust the contents in my essay, maybe deleting some parts that may be less relevant and adding on parts that help the essay aim at the thesis statement.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello, this is peer response from Kim Tatiana.
ReplyDelete1. I liked the whole structure of essay and word choice. But my favorite part is when the interviewee told about his motivation.
2. At the opening paragraph, the author says that the interviewee was embarrassed. Was he ashamed? Or did he just feel awkward?
3. I think the main idea of this essay is that even sometimes it’s extremely hard you shouldn’t give up and keep going on, and life will give you what you deserve.
4. "I had a sense of responsibility. Responsibility for my wife and my daughters, responsibility for the society and responsibility for my colleagues. <…>”
5. There are enough quotations to express the interviewee’s point of view.
6. A suggestion is only about Suwon. The author could explain if it is a city, or a district, because for a foreigner it isn’t clear what Suwon is.