Oral History --- The Game
This is not an essay; it's a game I invented several years ago in an effort to teach kids how to collect oral histories. I recently rediscovered it and still think it has potential. I've begun showing it to friends, who also think it's a neat idea. So here it is! Instructions on how to collect oral histories in a way that is fun and competitive, and yet effective! If you're a teacher or other adult working with kids, please feel free to print this out, make copies of it and distribute it to your kids, colleagues and all and sundry. Remember, to know where you're going, you have to know where you came from. This is a great way to find out.
Oral History
The Game
by Paul W. Marino
This game is about you. It’s about you, your family and your community. The object is find out about how different (or similar) life was for your elders when they were your age than it is for you today. You play by gathering information from someone in your family, your neighborhood or your community. You have to get as much information from this person as you possibly can. The more information you get, the more points you get. You can play against yourself, seeing how many points you can earn from partner to partner, or you can play against an opponent. Get the most points, and you win!
First, you need a partner. This has to be someone older than you; it can be one of your parents or grandparents, an aunt or an uncle or an adult neighbor that you’re friendly with. Once you’ve played the game with one of these, you’ll probably want to play it with others as well. And that’s good, because the more you play this game, the better you’ll get at it. The second person you’ll need is a judge; someone who will review what you’ve done and decide how many points you should get--- or lose---and total up your score.
Next, you need to prepare a list of questions to ask, such as:
1. Where are you from?
2. What was it like living in your house?
3. What was it like when you were my age?
4. Where did you go to school?
5. What did your parents do for a living?
You can use these questions or make up your own; but remember, you need to gather as much information as you possibly can. These questions are pretty general, which is good for a start, but not to get as much information as you want. So for each general question (or category), you need to come up with a list of specific questions, like these:
1. Where are you from?
a) Where were you born?
b) Where did you live when you were little?
c) Did you live anywhere else? (If yes, where?)
d) How did you come to live here?
2. What was it like living in your house?
a) Did you have any brothers or sisters?
b) Who took care of you?
c) What kind of chores did you have to do?
d) Did you get an allowance?
e) What were you parents like?
f) What kind of things did you do together as a family?
3. What was it like when you were my age?
a) What was your neighborhood like?
b) Were there lots of other kids for you to play with?
c) What sort of things did you do together?
d) What games did you play?
e) Can you teach me to play them?
f) What toys did you have?
4. Where did you go to school?
a) What did you have to study?
b) What was your favorite subject?
c) What was you least favorite?
d) Did you walk to school or ride a bus?
e) What were the teachers like?
f) How were you punished if you were bad?
5. What did your parents do for a living?
a) What did your father do?
b) Did he ever do anything else?
c) What did your mother do?
d) What do you do for a living?
e) Have you ever done anything else? (If yes, what?)
And so on. Some of these questions may sound silly to you, like Who took care of you? But how you are looked after now might be very different from how your elders were looked after when they were your age, and that is the whole point of the game. To find out how life was different for your elders than what it is for you. In the 1950’s, for example, in most households with two parents, the father worked and the mother stayed home and took care of the children.
But in some families, both parents worked. In those families, the children might have been looked after by a close relative such as an aunt or a grandmother, who lived close by or even with the family. In the 1970’s, things were very different. There were more single-parent families, and even in two-parent families, both parents worked. A lot more children needed someone to look after them in the daytime; many of those youngsters were tended in day care centers. So who looked after your partner when he or she was small? The only way to find out is by asking.
But you have to be careful when you ask your questions. If all you do is ask just the questions on your list, you won’t get enough information, and then you’ll lose points. It’s good to have an idea of what you’re going to ask next, but you shouldn’t think of your list as the only questions you can ask. You have to listen to what your partner says, and use that to decide what you’ll ask next. And keep in mind, sometimes your partner might answer a question before you can ask it!
For example, when you ask, Where did you live when you were little?, your partner might answer, Oh, we lived in a lot of places. My Dad was in the Army, so we moved around a lot. Let’s see now......I was born in Texas, and a year later we moved to Montana.....a few years after that we moved to Georgia. We lived in Germany for a while. When I was in college I lived in Boston, and afterward I moved to Pittsfield. Ten years later, I moved here.
If you get an answer like this, you have to be careful what you ask next. If you ask Have you ever lived anywhere else? just because it’s the next question on your list, you’ll lose points. Why? Because it’s already been answered. He/she’s lived in Texas, Montana, Georgia, Germany, Boston and Pittsfield. There are lots of better questions you can ask that are not on your list: What was it like moving around so much? Where did you live in Germany? How was Germany different from the United States? What made you move to Pittsfield? And so on.
TO PLAY:
First, prepare your list of general and specific questions. Then choose a partner and ask him/her to play with you. Make sure your partner understands what you want to do and that you’ll be recording your conversation. If your partner doesn’t want to be recorded, you’ll need to get another partner. You need the recording; partly so you can get your points totaled, and partly to have a record of the information you’ve collected. You can put your partner at ease by showing him/her the questions you plan to ask.
Figure on spending at least an hour with your partner. This means you’ll need a cassette recorder and a couple of cassettes that record a half an hour on each side. Find someplace quiet to sit and talk. The TV will have to be off and the radio too; there shouldn’t be any children or pets making noise either, if you can arrange that. The kitchen is usually a good place. Sit down on opposite sides of the table with the tape recorder in between you. Make sure it’s plugged in, or has fresh batteries in it.
Label your tapes. Put your name on them, the name of the person you’re interviewing and the date. Put the tape in the recorder and start it recording. As your partner to say his/her name. Then start asking your questions.
Take your time. It’s not a race to get through your questions as fast as you can; it’s a search for information. So just relax and enjoy the conversation. Use your list of questions as a guide for leading the conversation rather than as a strict schedule.
Listen to your partner! If you hear something especially interesting, ask about it. Even if it’s not on your list. If you hear something you don’t understand or can’t relate to, ask about it. It’s very important that you understand what you are told.
If the tape runs out before you finish, turn it over and pick up where you left off. If you use more than one tape, number them too. And if you run out of talk before you run out of tape, that’s just fine. Be sure to thank your partner for helping you.
TO SCORE:
You are scored by the questions you ask (and don’t ask), so when you report to your judge, you need to bring the list of questions you used, as well as the tapes you recorded of the conversation. For each tape not properly labeled, you lose 5 points, so be sure you label them! For each general question you asked, you get 3 points. For each specific question, you get 5 points.
So using the list of questions on page 1 as an example, ask all five general questions, and you get 15 points. Then, for each general question, you ask five specific questions. At 5 points each, that’s 125 points. Add the 15 points for the general questions and your total is 140. Subtracting 5 for an improperly labeled tape brings you down to 135.
For each question you ask that’s not on your list, you get 5 extra points. But remember, you can lose points by not listening. If you ask a redundant question---one that’s been answered before you can ask it--- you lose 3 points. If you ask a question just because it’s on your list, you’re not paying attention, and you lose points. You can also lose points by not asking a question you should have asked. If your partner says something you ought to ask about and you don’t, you lose 5 points.
For example, let’s say your partner says he/she grew up in a house without indoor plumbing. It’s not likely that you’ll know what this means, so if your partner doesn’t explain it, you have to ask about it. Why? Because having to live without indoor plumbing is vastly different from the way you live today! It affected how people prepared food, washed the dishes, did the laundry, took baths and how they went to the bathroom. If you talk with someone who lived in a house without indoor plumbing, you’re going to hear words like out-house, privy and chamber-pot. What do these words mean? It’s your job to find out.
There’s one more way that you can lose points: Say you have a question like Have you ever done anything else? (If yes, what?). If the way you ask this question is “Have you ever done anything else, and if yes, what?”, you lose a point. Why? It has to do with listening and being respectful of your partner. Throwing the what into your question is like saying you don’t trust your partner to answer the question on his/her own. If all you get is a yes, then ask for more information.
Decisions of the judge are final. Whoever ends up with the most points wins. But the great thing about this game is that, in the long run, everybody wins. When you play this game---alone or against other players---you’re collecting history from people who lived it; in their own words and in their own voices. By recording it, you’re preserving a record of it.
Once your partners have taught you what they remember, you’ll remember it too. You’ll understand how other people have lived, and what your family, your neighborhood and community used to be like. And so will anyone who listens to your tapes later on.
The Game
by Paul W. Marino
This game is about you. It’s about you, your family and your community. The object is find out about how different (or similar) life was for your elders when they were your age than it is for you today. You play by gathering information from someone in your family, your neighborhood or your community. You have to get as much information from this person as you possibly can. The more information you get, the more points you get. You can play against yourself, seeing how many points you can earn from partner to partner, or you can play against an opponent. Get the most points, and you win!
First, you need a partner. This has to be someone older than you; it can be one of your parents or grandparents, an aunt or an uncle or an adult neighbor that you’re friendly with. Once you’ve played the game with one of these, you’ll probably want to play it with others as well. And that’s good, because the more you play this game, the better you’ll get at it. The second person you’ll need is a judge; someone who will review what you’ve done and decide how many points you should get--- or lose---and total up your score.
Next, you need to prepare a list of questions to ask, such as:
1. Where are you from?
2. What was it like living in your house?
3. What was it like when you were my age?
4. Where did you go to school?
5. What did your parents do for a living?
You can use these questions or make up your own; but remember, you need to gather as much information as you possibly can. These questions are pretty general, which is good for a start, but not to get as much information as you want. So for each general question (or category), you need to come up with a list of specific questions, like these:
1. Where are you from?
a) Where were you born?
b) Where did you live when you were little?
c) Did you live anywhere else? (If yes, where?)
d) How did you come to live here?
2. What was it like living in your house?
a) Did you have any brothers or sisters?
b) Who took care of you?
c) What kind of chores did you have to do?
d) Did you get an allowance?
e) What were you parents like?
f) What kind of things did you do together as a family?
3. What was it like when you were my age?
a) What was your neighborhood like?
b) Were there lots of other kids for you to play with?
c) What sort of things did you do together?
d) What games did you play?
e) Can you teach me to play them?
f) What toys did you have?
4. Where did you go to school?
a) What did you have to study?
b) What was your favorite subject?
c) What was you least favorite?
d) Did you walk to school or ride a bus?
e) What were the teachers like?
f) How were you punished if you were bad?
5. What did your parents do for a living?
a) What did your father do?
b) Did he ever do anything else?
c) What did your mother do?
d) What do you do for a living?
e) Have you ever done anything else? (If yes, what?)
And so on. Some of these questions may sound silly to you, like Who took care of you? But how you are looked after now might be very different from how your elders were looked after when they were your age, and that is the whole point of the game. To find out how life was different for your elders than what it is for you. In the 1950’s, for example, in most households with two parents, the father worked and the mother stayed home and took care of the children.
But in some families, both parents worked. In those families, the children might have been looked after by a close relative such as an aunt or a grandmother, who lived close by or even with the family. In the 1970’s, things were very different. There were more single-parent families, and even in two-parent families, both parents worked. A lot more children needed someone to look after them in the daytime; many of those youngsters were tended in day care centers. So who looked after your partner when he or she was small? The only way to find out is by asking.
But you have to be careful when you ask your questions. If all you do is ask just the questions on your list, you won’t get enough information, and then you’ll lose points. It’s good to have an idea of what you’re going to ask next, but you shouldn’t think of your list as the only questions you can ask. You have to listen to what your partner says, and use that to decide what you’ll ask next. And keep in mind, sometimes your partner might answer a question before you can ask it!
For example, when you ask, Where did you live when you were little?, your partner might answer, Oh, we lived in a lot of places. My Dad was in the Army, so we moved around a lot. Let’s see now......I was born in Texas, and a year later we moved to Montana.....a few years after that we moved to Georgia. We lived in Germany for a while. When I was in college I lived in Boston, and afterward I moved to Pittsfield. Ten years later, I moved here.
If you get an answer like this, you have to be careful what you ask next. If you ask Have you ever lived anywhere else? just because it’s the next question on your list, you’ll lose points. Why? Because it’s already been answered. He/she’s lived in Texas, Montana, Georgia, Germany, Boston and Pittsfield. There are lots of better questions you can ask that are not on your list: What was it like moving around so much? Where did you live in Germany? How was Germany different from the United States? What made you move to Pittsfield? And so on.
TO PLAY:
First, prepare your list of general and specific questions. Then choose a partner and ask him/her to play with you. Make sure your partner understands what you want to do and that you’ll be recording your conversation. If your partner doesn’t want to be recorded, you’ll need to get another partner. You need the recording; partly so you can get your points totaled, and partly to have a record of the information you’ve collected. You can put your partner at ease by showing him/her the questions you plan to ask.
Figure on spending at least an hour with your partner. This means you’ll need a cassette recorder and a couple of cassettes that record a half an hour on each side. Find someplace quiet to sit and talk. The TV will have to be off and the radio too; there shouldn’t be any children or pets making noise either, if you can arrange that. The kitchen is usually a good place. Sit down on opposite sides of the table with the tape recorder in between you. Make sure it’s plugged in, or has fresh batteries in it.
Label your tapes. Put your name on them, the name of the person you’re interviewing and the date. Put the tape in the recorder and start it recording. As your partner to say his/her name. Then start asking your questions.
Take your time. It’s not a race to get through your questions as fast as you can; it’s a search for information. So just relax and enjoy the conversation. Use your list of questions as a guide for leading the conversation rather than as a strict schedule.
Listen to your partner! If you hear something especially interesting, ask about it. Even if it’s not on your list. If you hear something you don’t understand or can’t relate to, ask about it. It’s very important that you understand what you are told.
If the tape runs out before you finish, turn it over and pick up where you left off. If you use more than one tape, number them too. And if you run out of talk before you run out of tape, that’s just fine. Be sure to thank your partner for helping you.
TO SCORE:
You are scored by the questions you ask (and don’t ask), so when you report to your judge, you need to bring the list of questions you used, as well as the tapes you recorded of the conversation. For each tape not properly labeled, you lose 5 points, so be sure you label them! For each general question you asked, you get 3 points. For each specific question, you get 5 points.
So using the list of questions on page 1 as an example, ask all five general questions, and you get 15 points. Then, for each general question, you ask five specific questions. At 5 points each, that’s 125 points. Add the 15 points for the general questions and your total is 140. Subtracting 5 for an improperly labeled tape brings you down to 135.
For each question you ask that’s not on your list, you get 5 extra points. But remember, you can lose points by not listening. If you ask a redundant question---one that’s been answered before you can ask it--- you lose 3 points. If you ask a question just because it’s on your list, you’re not paying attention, and you lose points. You can also lose points by not asking a question you should have asked. If your partner says something you ought to ask about and you don’t, you lose 5 points.
For example, let’s say your partner says he/she grew up in a house without indoor plumbing. It’s not likely that you’ll know what this means, so if your partner doesn’t explain it, you have to ask about it. Why? Because having to live without indoor plumbing is vastly different from the way you live today! It affected how people prepared food, washed the dishes, did the laundry, took baths and how they went to the bathroom. If you talk with someone who lived in a house without indoor plumbing, you’re going to hear words like out-house, privy and chamber-pot. What do these words mean? It’s your job to find out.
There’s one more way that you can lose points: Say you have a question like Have you ever done anything else? (If yes, what?). If the way you ask this question is “Have you ever done anything else, and if yes, what?”, you lose a point. Why? It has to do with listening and being respectful of your partner. Throwing the what into your question is like saying you don’t trust your partner to answer the question on his/her own. If all you get is a yes, then ask for more information.
Decisions of the judge are final. Whoever ends up with the most points wins. But the great thing about this game is that, in the long run, everybody wins. When you play this game---alone or against other players---you’re collecting history from people who lived it; in their own words and in their own voices. By recording it, you’re preserving a record of it.
Once your partners have taught you what they remember, you’ll remember it too. You’ll understand how other people have lived, and what your family, your neighborhood and community used to be like. And so will anyone who listens to your tapes later on.