Ask people these 226 immigration questions for storytelling.
I have interviewed hundreds of people about their Immigration and heritage. Based on the answers I received in those interviews, I have put together a list of writing prompts and questions about Immigration to ask people when writing narratives. In addition, the immigration series includes two categories that explore individual Immigration and heritage. Use these prompts and questions to help you.
- Identify events and memories you can write about
- Organize and write your narrative and story
- Develop questions to ask other people about their life’s
- Organize, research and write stories about others
- Know what type of information to include in narratives and stories
- Identify memorabilia, artifacts, photos, documents to include in stories
- Develop ideas for journaling, story starters, poetry, memoirs, and more
Writing Prompts and Questions to Ask People
The “Immigration” writing prompts and questions to ask people are part of the 28 articles, 108 category series entitled “7,500-plus Questions About Life to Ask People When Writing Narratives.” The prompts and questions are provided to help you look at Immigration from as many angles as possible when writing narratives about yourself, your family, and others. The categories and types of topics covered include:
- Individual Immigration. Find 90 questions and prompts. Use these prompts and questions to gather and organize information to help you write narratives about yourself, your family, and others. These questions cover reasons for Immigration, homeland, immigration story, family, including your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
- Heritage and Immigration. Find 136 questions and prompts. Use these prompts and questions to gather and organize information to help you write narratives about yourself, your family, and others. These questions cover reasons for Immigration, homeland, immigration story, family, including your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
Approach each topic from the point of view of the person/lives you are writing about. You don’t have to ask every question. Instead, review the questions and determine which ones are most appropriate to ask. I would encourage you to modify and add questions as you desire.
I have prepared a couple of other resources that will provide value in interviewing for and writing individual, personal, and family narratives: “Complete Guide for Conducting Oral History Interviews” and “Complete Guide to Writing A Personal Narrative.”
Individual Immigration Questions
Writing Prompts and Questions about Immigration
“Individual Immigration” is part of the series for writing prompts and questions about Immigration. Use these questions to ask, gather, and organize information to help you write narratives about yourself, your family, and others. If you are writing about a deceased person, think of the questions as if you were the person answering the questions.
- What prompted you to immigrate and leave your homeland?
• In what country did you live?
• Where did you live in that country?
• How old were you when you immigrated?
• What led up to you wanting to immigrate?
• Why did you finally immigrate? - What was your home like in your homeland?
• What were your home and community like?
• What was your family like?
• Describe your mother, father, siblings and grandparents?
• Who were your friends, and what were they like?
• What did you or your family do for work?
• Did you feel like your family was financially ok?
• What was it like to live in your homeland? Food, culture, religion, politics, work, and more. - Can you share your individual and family immigration story?
• Why did you want to come to his country?
• What were your plans for Immigration? Such as education, better life, work.
• Did you come by yourself or with your family?
• If you came by yourself, did your family come later? If yes, how?
• Did you leave anyone special behind? Who and were you later reunited?
• How did you prepare for Immigration? What was the decision process?
• Can you remember the day or experience when you decided to leave your home country? Share the memory.
• Did you share that decision with others? Who? What were their thoughts and feelings about your decision?
What did you have to do to get permission to come to the new country?
• How long did the process take? How did you feel when you found out that you could immigrate?
• If you did not get permission to come to the new country? How did your family, friends, and community respond to your news?
• How much did it cost to immigrate? How did you earn money?
• Discuss the process of preparation up until the day you left your home country?
• How did you travel to the new country?
• Share your experiences while traveling?
• What happened when you came to the new country?
• Did anyone help or assist you when immigrating?
- What was your desired destination, and why?
• Did any of your plans change? If yes, how?
• Why did you want to go there?
• Did relatives already live in that area?
• Did you know anyone in the area?
• What was it like to find your first place to live?
• Describe your first home in the new country.
• What was the address? - Describe your first year in the new country as an individual.
• What were the first days and weeks like for you, an individual?
• What were your plans for the first days and weeks?
• Did any of your plans change? If yes, what happened?
• What did you like and dislike?
• What were memorable experiences? Explain.
• Did you have any disappointments or frustrations? Explain.
• Describe your home and community where you first lived.
• How do you feel you adjusted to the new country?
• How did your plans change? What happened?
• Was there anyone who was especially helpful to you? Explain. - Describe your first year in the new country as a family.
• What were the first days and weeks like for your family?
• What were your plans for the first days and weeks?
• Did any of your plans change? If yes, what happened?
• What did you like and dislike?
• What were memorable experiences? Explain.
• Did you have any disappointments or frustrations? Explain.
• Describe your home and community where you first lived.
• How did your plans change? What happened?
• Was there anyone who was especially helpful to your family? Explain. - Were you able to find work?
• If in the USA, were you able to work legally? If yes, explain the process. If no, why?
• Describe the process of finding work?
• What was your first job?
• What did you like and dislike?
• What were memorable experiences? Explain.
• Did you have any disappointments or frustrations? Explain.
• Describe your co-workers?
• How much did you earn? Was it enough money to live off of? - Did you need to learn the language?
• Explain the experience.
• How long did it take for you to be able to carry on a conversation?
• Did you speak your native language much? With whom? - How did you feel about being part of the new culture?
• Did you feel like you were accepted in the new country? Explain. - What happened after your first year in the new country? Such as work, living conditions, home, school, family adjustment, income, religion, friends, community?
• What were your plans and goals?
• Did any of your plans/goals change? If yes, what happened?
• What did you like and dislike?
• What were memorable experiences? Explain.
• Did you have any disappointments or frustrations? Explain.
• Describe your home and community where you first lived.
• How did your plans change? What happened?
• Was there anyone who was especially helpful to you or your family? Explain. - Did you apply for citizenship? If yes, describe the process?
• Did you receive citizenship? If yes, how did you feel? - Did you ever go back or want to go back to your homeland? Explain.
• What do you miss about your homeland?
• What don’t you miss about your homeland? - If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
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Heritage and Immigration
Writing Prompts and Questions about Immigration
“Heritage and Immigration” is part of the series for writing prompts and questions about Immigration. Use these questions to ask, gather, and organize information to help you write narratives about yourself, your family, and others. If you are writing about a deceased person, think of the questions as if you were the person answering the questions.
- What do you know about your family heritage and ancestry?
• What nationalities are in your family background?
• From what country does your family come from? Such as your father and mother’s side of the family? - Who were the people who immigrated?
• How many people were in the family?
• What can you tell me about each person?
• What stories have been shared about the family or individuals?
• Have you been able to talk with these family members?
• What have they personally told you about their lives? - About when did your family immigrate?
• Why did the family immigrate?
• Who immigrated first? Why?
• Did the family come together? Why?
• How did they immigrate?
• What do you know about your family in the home country?
• Why did the family choose to come to this country versus others? - What caused your family to immigrate?
• What led up to your family deciding to immigrate?
• Did your family want a better life?
• If yes, describe what a better life meant?
• How did the family realize a better life?
• What did a better life mean for the children?
• Was your family persecuted in any way?
• If yes, describe the persecution.
• How did the persecution affect the family? - What did your family think about the country before they came?
• How did living in the country change or evolve what they thought about the country? - What belongings did your family bring with them?
• Have any of those belongings been passed on to later generations?
• What is the most critical belonging you seen or own that dates back to your immigrating family? - What languages did they speak?
• Does your family still speak the language?
• Was the language spoken in the home?
• Did the children of the immigrating family learn to speak the language?
• Do you speak the language?
• What were your families’ attitudes about learning the language of the new country? - Where did they first live after Immigration?
• Why did the family move to that city first?
• Did the family have other family or friends in the city?
• What can you share about the family from those early years?
• How did the family’s life in the new country evolve?
• Did your family live in a community where there were others of the same heritage?
• If yes, why was that important?
• Where did the family end up settling? Explain.
• What are your thoughts about how the family adapted to the new country?
• What did your family see as the pros and cons of the new country?
• When your family immigrated, how did the new country receive them?
- What was life like for your family during the time of their Immigration?
• What can you share about customs and life in general? - What goals and dreams did your family have when they immigrated?
• Were those goals and dreams realized? How? - Did your family ever become citizens of the new country? Explain.
- What type of work did your family do when they immigrated?
• Did their work change over time? Explain.
• What occupation or work did your family do before immigrating? - What was your family’s financial situation when they came?
• How did that change over time? - When the family immigrated, did they try to maintain their way of life? Explain.
- Describe what a family was like in the country/heritage?
• What was the role of the husband and wife?
• How were families/children raised?
• What were some of the most important social norms?
• What were the values that were taught?
• What traditions were passed on?
• What role did religion play? Explain.
• Describe the role of the family in the community? - Does your family have a strong sense of their ethnic heritage?
• How is that heritage/traditions remembered or carried on in your family? Such as food, holidays, celebrations, dress, language, religion.
• What do you like or dislike about your heritage?
• How do you show your pride in your heritage?
• How do you help your family remember your heritage? - Did your family have a strong sense of their ethnic background?
• What ethnic traditions did her family carry out? - Did you celebrate specific holidays, eat special foods, or dress in a particular way?
- Have you ever lived or returned to the family’s county of origin?
• If yes, describe your experience?
• Where did you go, and what did you see?
• Did you visit specific places where your family lived?
• What did you learn about your family?
• What were your memorable experiences?
• Did it change or support your beliefs about your heritage?
• Did you feel like you belonged in the country?
• How was your experience different or the same as what you expected?
• Did you visit any family in the country? Describe your experience? - What religion was your family?
• Are they the same religion today? Explain.
• What are religious traditions that your family has passed down?
• Do you belong to the same religion as your ancestors?
- What type of education did your family have before immigrating?
• Were they able to use that education in the new country?
• Did members of the family school in the new country? Explain.
• Where did they learn in the home or at school? - Have you ever met any of your family that immigrated?
• What can you tell me about each person?
• How are you like your immigration family?
• How are you different than your immigration family?
• What stories did they tell you about themselves, family, country, or culture?
• What are their physical features? What do they look like?
• Do you have any of those physical features?
• Were there a member of the family you have wanted to see but could not? Why?
• Who are your favorite and most minor favorite family members? Explain. - What type of health history did your family have?
• Did any of your family members have health issues?
• Tell me about the physical nature of your family? - Which members of your ancestry are essential to you?
• Who are the people?
• Why are they important to you?
• Are there any other relatives you want to write about?
• What do you want to write about? - Have you or anyone in your family done family history or genealogy research?
• What research has been done?
• Has there been researching that traces your family lines? Such as son to father to grandfather to great-grandfather?
• Which sides of the family does this research include?
• Is the research recorded on paper or electronic files?
• Who did the research?
• Does the research exist today? If yes, where? - What research on ancestral/family history has been conducted for your father’s side of the family?
• Who did the research?
• Is the research recorded on paper or electronic files?
• Are the files original records such as birth, marriage, and death records?
• Is the information entered into family history forms/trees or listed in some other type of record?
• Does the research exist today? If yes, where?
• How was the information gathered? Such as gathered from family records, family bible, research records, online databases, others.
• Are the information names and dates and other artifacts like photographs?
• Do you know how many generations the research covers?
• Have you seen these records?
• Do you have copies?
• Do you know if it is possible to have this information shared with me?
• From where was the information collected?
• Who gathered the information together? - Are there photographs and other memorabilia about the family?
• What do you know about these types of artifacts?
• How are the artifacts kept? Such as in an album, shoebox, storage box.
• Do you know where these artifacts are kept?
• Do you have any of these artifacts that you can share?
• Would you be willing to show me what you have and tell stories about the different artifacts? For example, show me photographs and tell me what memories you have about the persons and individuals in the photo?
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