(Sample Script)
Irish Potato Famine
By Miss Carolina
Characters:
Miss Carolina: Interviewer
Miss Rita: Host citizen
Miss Ann: Immigrant
Where and time: US – 1741
(The interviewer is sitting on a chair. Cameras start rolling)
M. Carolina: Good evening! Today I am interviewing a famous immigrant called
Ann Acosta. She comes from Ireland and migrated to N.Y. because of the terrible
potato famine. We also have with us Mr. Rita Valencia. She is going to give us the
point of view of a person receiving immigrants here in the US. She was born here
and lives with her family. (Introduction of the event)
Welcome both of you and Thank you for coming! (shakes hands with them)
M. Carolina: Ann, you migrated because of the Irish Potato Famine. What caused
it?
M. Ann: Good evening and thank you for inviting me! The Irish potato famine
started last year. It seems that a fungi came from South America and when the
farmers planted the potato seed in Ireland it infected all the crops and destroyed
our land. (Explanation of the event that produced migration)
Ms. Carolina: How did it affect your life?
M. Ann: We had borrowed money from the bank to pay for our land and now we
couldn’t pay for it so the bank took it away and now we have nothing. More than
one million people have died so far because of starvation. We were lucky because
no one in my family died or got sick. That is when we decided to come to
America. (Push factor)
M. Carolina: Why did you choose America?
M. Ann: For many reasons. First, because we had relatives here who migrated a
long time ago looking for land of their own. We also came here because in the
letters they sent us they told us this was the land of opportunities. (Pull factors)
M. Carolina to M. Rita: Rita, you have been living comfortable here in N.Y.
Suddenly all these people start coming in. What did you think when you saw all
those people arriving at Ellis Island?
M. Rita: In the beginning I wasn’t happy because there were a lot of people
coming and I thought they were going to take our jobs. But after some time I
have gotten to know them and they have taught us a lot from their culture. They
have opened new businesses and have offered jobs to all kinds of people. There
is always a positive and a negative side to all migration. (perspective/points of
view)
This is only an extract of a script…