APPENDIX D: Finding interviewees in your home town

WHERE TO LOOK FOR INTERVIEWEES?

[1] Tourist offices, tourist sites and fairs offer good possibilities... if you are patient:

Your town may have a Tourist Information Office - even more than one, in train stations and large hotels - where you can wait for tourists to interview (after showing the letter from your teacher explaining the initiative). Alternatively, ask the Tourist Office: "Which sites (for example, which museums, which monuments...) do visitors from x visit most?" (x = the culture you are investigating)

Then go there to interview the tourists while they wait in the queue (they will probably enjoy the chance to talk). Phone the site ticket office first and ask when they expect a crowd.
The Tourist Office can also tell you if there are any international fairs or exhibitions in your town. You may need to buy a ticket to get in (unless the letter from your teacher works a miracle), but if there is a stand from the country that interests you, it's worth it.

Finally, embassies often have lists of the religious, commercial, educational and cultural institutions of their citizens in your town.

[2] News stands with foreign periodicals, Internet points, International phone centers:

These require patience and luck, too. Ask the proprietor when the busiest moments are.

[3] Youth Hostels and camp sites are good places to meet backpackers or young families:

The largest hostel association in Europe is the original one: Hostelling International (formerly called the International Youth Hostel Federation - IYHF): http://www.hihostels.com. There are many informal hostel networks, too.

Hostels always have a lounge area where backpackers exchange information: you can offer to give information about your town or region in exchange for an interview. But first ask for permission at the front desk after showing the letter from your teacher explaining the initiative. If there are too many of you, the hostel warden may ask you to do your interviewing on the sidewalk outside the hostel - so go in groups of no more than three.

[4] Airports are excellent places to find foreigners willing to be interviewed:

If you are studying Spanish, simply look on the Internet for the times of flights going to a Spanish-speaking country. If there are none, check the connecting flights. Then go to the airport and interview the Spanish-speaking people waiting in the queue to check in for that flight. Like people in the queue at museums, many will be bored and will welcome the chance to chat. Before you begin, ask permission at the desk and show the letter from your teacher.

[5] Language Schools, University Language Centres, Language Teachers' Associations:

An obvious spot to find native speakers of foreign languages in your home town are places where languages are taught, Associations of private language teachers, and the like. These can be found in the phone directory under "schools", through book stores that sell language learning materials (and which often have a public notice board) or in the classified ads of your local newspaper.

[6] The Internet, used to make acquaintance with young foreigners coming to your area:

Very young people can find "pen pals", with whom to chat in the foreign language they are studying, on special sites on the Internet. Site members locate each other through their description of an ideal pen pal. So write who you want and your town in your description. If you are lucky, you'll find someone! Typical sites are: http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/ and http://www.penpalworld.com/. (Your teacher can organize e-correspondence between your class and a class in a country of interest through sites like: http://www.epals.com/.)

[7] Local pubs or cafés that cater to international clients:

Two of the Dutch students on your CD visited an Irish pub in Amsterdam to look for Brits to interview. During the "happy hour", they found a lot -- but only because they were lucky and happened to choose the right pub. International crowds tend in fact to select only a few places in any city - the ones that they consider the most authentic or the most interesting - and then pass the name of the pub around by word of mouth. If the Dutch students had gone to any other of many Irish pubs in Amsterdam, they would have found mostly Dutch people, even during the "happy hour." So the trick is to do what your interviewees do to find the "right places" to be in.

How do you find, in your town, the favourite places of the people you are interested in meeting? Through guide books written for the young people of the nationality you are interested in. You can also look for the notice boards that backpackers use to pass along "Inside information" about your town - these are often found in tourist accommodation agencies.

When you do find an interviewee of the kind you are looking for, always ask him or her: "Where are the right places to go in this town?" "What did you do upon arriving here (or before coming here) to find the right places to go evenings or during the day?"

Alternatively, you can use - once again - a tourist chat site on the Internet. Indeed, if you want, you can join one of the sites and, for fun, pretend you are of the target culture and are looking for compatriots to hang out with in your town.

WHAT TO SAY TO BEGIN

1. Start with a smile!
   Your interviewee will probably be happy to talk with someone from your country and will find your interview interesting. So be optimistic and show it!
2. Look your interviewee in the eye!!
   If you look down because you are embarrassed, you may make your interviewee embarrassed to the point of not answering your questions!
3. Ask if your interviewee speaks the language of your questionnaire.
   "Excuse me. Do you speak English?" French, German, Italian, Spanish
   If s/he doesn't understand, just point and say: "English?" French, German, Italian, Spanish
   If the interviewee indicates "No", say:"Thanks anyway"; then nod to say good-bye.
4. Explain your purpose and ask your interviewee's cultural identity ("x").
   "I'm doing an interview for a school/university project."
   "Are you x?"
   If necessary, add: "Do most x people consider you x when speaking with you?"
   If your interviewee is not "x", say:
   "Sorry, I need to interview x people; thanks anyway"; then nod to say good-bye.
5. Get permission to ask questions and begin your interview.
   "May I ask you some questions about your life in your country?"
   "The first question is..."

LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION

Your teacher may want to give you a letter that explains the PICTURE project to your interviewees. Some of them may in fact desire assurance that the interview is really for a European educational initiative. (See Model LETTER OF INTRODUCTION 1- Interviewees.)

Your teacher may also want to give you a similar letter, this one written in your language, to show to possible facilitators (the people present wherever you conduct your interviews and who may accept to facilitate your task). (See Model LETTER OF INTRODUCTION 2-Facilitators.)

Take several copies of this letter with you, in case your interviewees want to keep a copy for the PICTURE web site address.

Take several copies of this letter with you, in case your interlocutors want to keep a copy for the PICTURE web site address.