Skill Focus
Planning an Interview
The school holiday has begun. Many students try to forget school completely during their school holidays. That is not a bad idea. Instead, why not spend a little time in thinking about yourself – and what you are going to do when you leave school?
Why not interview someone you know who has the kind of job that you be interested in doing, and write an article for the school magazine?
Think carefully about whom you think would be most rewarding to interview. Some people are more co-operative than others!
You should approach the person in advance. Be very polite, and explain the purpose of the interview. Ask if he or she would be prepared to give you say half a hour interview. Arrange an appointment for later on and prepare a list of questions you would like to ask. You will find that writing down a list of questions in advance will help you to interview the person much more effectively. Your questions might include:
- What skills and abilities do you need to do this kind of job?
- What qualifications, if any, do you need?
- What is a good way of obtaining relevant experience?
- Where might you obtain relevant training?
- What subjects do you need to do at school to get a place on the course?
A teacher at your school might be able to help with some of these questions. Your research will give you some good material for an article in the school magazine. It will also give you food for thought!
Television
Television programmes are more complicated than radio programmes. A television producer may have a brilliant idea for a programme, but he will have to convince his boss that it is worth a slot on TV.
Three people speak in the extract from the programme:
The Presenter -This is the person who introduces the programme
The Interviewer – This is the person who interviews different people to find out what their opinions are
The Interviewee – This is the person who answers the questions. In this case, his name is Mr Ali
Suppose the programme is a documentary or a current affairs programme. Even a short programme needs quite a large team including:
- A presenter
- One or more interviewers
- Camera men. (We are also beginning to get camera women too, these days!)
- Designers. Designers may have to design the studio set, as well as graphics – clear pictures or diagrams to accompany the programme.
- Editors. Using video tape recorders, an editor has to piece together a programme, and often needs to shorten it, as usually there is too much material to fit into the time allowed for the programme.
On your own
These days many people spend more time listening to the radio, or watching TV, than they do reading. Of cours TV and radio can be very educational, and you should certainly make a point of listening to and watching good programmes.
In particular, you should listen to the good radio programmes produced by the educationa service of Radio Nigeria another private stations such as Raypower. The BBC world Service and the Voice of America also produce excellent programmes.
It is also important to listen to the news. Your teacher will ask you questions about the main points of the news from time to time. Be prepared for such exercises: they will earn class marks, as well as being of great educational value!
One last point: Please try to avoid becoming so addicted to the radio or TV that you never read! It is very important to build up and maintain the reading habit – it will make your future studies much easier, and it is also very enjoyable.
A Newspaper Project
Why not make up your own class newspaper? You don′t have to make multiple copies – one copy will do, provided that everyone uses their best handwriting.
Here is one way to go about it:
- Elect an Editor – the person in charge of the newspaper. This person is also in charge of the editorial column.
- Divide into 10 groups, with four or five students in each group.
- Each group should choose a group leader, called a sub-leader.
- Each group chooses ONE of these areas to write about:
– Overseas news
– Sport news
– Home news
– Advertisements
– Local news
– ‘Small ads’
– Editorial column (stating opinions)
– Entertainment page
– Feature articles on subjects of general interes
– Cartoons, jokes, puzzles. - Each person in the group writed at least one contribution. Write a rough draft first! The sub-editor has to decide if it is suitable, and if and how it should be re-written. Your teacher and/or the editor will also check some of the contributions
- Final drafts should be written on strips of paper of the same width, so that they can be pasted up into the newspaper. Coloured felt pens or crayons can be used to write the headlines.
- Paste up the copy onto clean newsprint, if available, or large sheets of paper or cardboard.
- Clip or stitch it all together, and hang it on the wall for all to admire!
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