Informal interview via skype_1/2/2018

 

This lesson was an opportunity for the students to connect with a person living in another country, learn about life/studies/work in the UK which is an authentic, real life situation. It links to the thematic units of lifestyle, work, unemployment, education, culture. It has been students’ request to connect with people in other countries so this served as a motivation for students to learn.  What’s more, our school involvement in the “European Parliament Ambassador School Programme" (EPAS) inspired and urged me and my students to connect with people in other countries and learn about lifestyle and EU issues.

This lesson exemplified what I consider as one of the greatest uses of technology – that of connecting people from anywhere in the world.  In this case, skype was used for educational purposes where students applied their knowledge and skills to make an informal interview.

Specifically, the lesson offered students:

-a real audience

-an authentic task (real interview in real time)

-the experience of practising their listening and speaking skills in an interview

-developing cultural awareness by learning about culture in another country, the impact it has on people and comparing that culture with their own

-the chance to use social media (skype application) for educational purposes

I consider important to receive students’ feedback on lessons in general, especially when trying something new, for lesson evaluation and instruction planning.  This is why I got my students' feedback using voice recording. 

Lesson preparation: Frankly, the technical preparation for the skype session was little as it was limited to a laptop with a camera, speakers and internet access. That was what I had available for the day the skype session was arranged (1/2/2018), but we did it. Of course, this was adequate for the small group of students I had but for larger groups, a larger screen and headphones would be required. 


Overall, it was interesting to see my students' participating in the interview and being engaged throughout the lesson.  Interestingly, they adapted the questions when the interviewee gave information relating to questions they were planning to ask. They could retell the interviewee's answers and pinpointed key elements.  

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The draft of  questions the students' prepared were shared via messenger for quick access but also posted on the class wiki (only seen by users).