Lesson 2 Week 2

Conventions of Interview

 Interviews are conversations in which one person asks the other questions on a topic or
aspects of their life.
 Key considerations {PAFT}
 Purpose
 Why are you being interviewed and who by?
 Audience
 Who is listening to the radio show? Who is interviewing you?
 Format
 Interview
 Often radio interview
 Tone
 How formal or informal should your character be?
 Interview’s purpose
 The interview’s purpose will depend on the text, but it is often to inform and
sometimes to entertain.
 Some examples might be:
 A radio interview with a grandfather about going on a trip with his
granddaughter
 A TV interview with a jungle guide about her unusual job
 A radio interview with a local mayor about local issues
 Interview’s audience
 Read the question carefully –it always changes!
 If it is a radio show about history, the audience is probably older, more serious,
intelligent and academic. This will give you a more formal tone. If it is a TV interview
about an unusual job, the audience may be looking to be entertained more, and so
the tone could be more fun and less serious.
 Interview’s format You should write in script format.
 Sarah: This is a script (laughs).
Jeremy: It sure is.
 Interview’s tone … it depends! Which character have you been asked to write as? What type
of personality do they have? Who is the audience of their interview? Most often the tone is
formal or semi-formal.
 You can use filler words and thinking words such as:
○ Well, ○ I guess… ○ Huh, I hadn’t thought about that before…

Don’t do this too much or it will sound weird!

 Use a variety of punctuation to make your writing sound more spoken:

 Use ellipses … for a pause
 Use a dash – to show the speaker has changed the direction of their sentence
 Use an exclamation mark (!) to place emphasis or show excitement Again, don’t do
this too much or it’ll sound weird.

Don’t do this too much or it will sound weird!

Sample of Exams on the topic

What students must pay attention to in their writing tasks

Content = What you have to write about it.

Register= Who you have to write as. What style will be appropriate?

Audience= Who you need to write for?

Purpose= Why you are writing, e.g. to advise, persuade etc.

Form= Type of writing, e.g. feature article, speech, interview etc.

1 Julia, during her recovery, fully explained her experience to her parents. A reporter for a
newspaper interviews Julia’s parents and asks the following three questions only:

• What made you choose to visit the rainforest in Ecuador with your daughter, Julia?

• How did Julia’s accident happen, and what did she do to survive?

• What are your thoughts and feelings towards the Achuar people and their way of life? Write the
words of the interview, beginning with the first question. Base your interview on what you have read
in Passage A. Be careful to use your own words. Write between 1½ and 2 sides, allowing for the size
of your handwriting. Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 5 marks
for the quality of your writing.

(20 marks)

REGISTER= You need to write as both the reporter and as Julia’s parents. You need to write in an
appropriate style.

PURPOSE= The reason why you are writing. Here it is to explain the experience

CONTENT= The Answers to these three questions

FORM= This tells you the type of writing, i.e. an interview

AUDIENCE = This tells you that you are writing for newspaper readers, so should write in a formal
style.

This tells you how much you should write.

This means that you are mainly marked for reading. You must use details from the passage to show
you have read it. You must put these details into your own words.
Directed Writing- Examiner’s Advice:

• Candidates must change the language of the passages in response to Question 1 and Question 3 in
order to achieve a higher Reading and Writing mark.

• Answer all parts of the question, giving equal attention to each of the three sections.

• Answer in your own words and adapt material from the passage to the form and viewpoint of the
response.

• Use all the main ideas in the passage and use detail to support them.

• Develop and extend some of the ideas relevantly.

• Create a suitable voice, tone and style for the persona in the response.

Formal Writing

 Avoid language which is too ‘chatty’, like ‘like I said,’ or ‘anyway’.

 Use the full-range of punctuation, but never use more than one exclamation mark (unless you’re
doing so with intentional irony, but even then, be very careful. If in doubt, leave them out).

 Avoid vague (not specific) words like ‘nice’ or ‘good’, but aim for accurate descriptions: the food
was satisfying, the holiday was relaxing, the weather was luxurious, the man was interesting.

 Be clear and straight to the point. Formal writing does not include necessary details or personal
information.

 Use complex sentences to express detailed information e.g. “The lead researcher on the project,
Dr Andrew Hemmings of the Royal Agricultural University, has expressed his delight at recent
findings”

 Use connectives to link your ideas such as: In addition, nevertheless, on the other hand, by/in
contrast, although, alternatively.
Tips for writing the perfect interview:
1. You need to make sure your interview is chatty and conversational.
2. If your parties interviewing are unknown or formal acquaintances, then the writing needs to
be formal or semi-formal, accordingly.
3. Your interview can have a direct address, such as 'you', 'your', 'yours', etc
4. Your interview has a dash of daily spoken English words.
5. Your interview should not appear like a spoken transcript.
6. Your interview should not appear like a descriptive or narrative writing piece.
7. You can use feelings and emotive words if your question has them as keywords.
8. Don't give an overly descriptive or narrative tone, make it as candid as possible.
9. Play around with your sentence structures.
10. Remember that it’s not a written article or letter, it’s an interview.
11. Keep involving the interviewer.
12. Use filler words like 'Well', and one-word phrases like:' you know', 'perfectly splendid', 'I am
sure', etc
13. Interviews are not equal conversations, the person responding speaks more than the person
questioning.
14. Use colons (:) after the names of the parties in the interview.
15. Do not use speech marks or speech quotes (“...”)
16. Write from the point of view of the characters in the insert.
17. Take loads of content points from the insert and develop them with the above interview
techniques, e.g.: Question Tags, such as 'You have not been to Italy, have you?'
18. Put yourself into the shoes of the persons in the interview.
19. Enact the person or characters in the interview.
20. You could use hypophora, i.e. rhetorical questions that are answered.

The model answer below has been taken from Specimen Paper 1 Reading for examination from 2020
(0500/01) Question 3:
Also, the content points for this question for A1, A2 and A3 can be found in the mark scheme on the
official Cambridge International website.

Interviewer: What exactly did you see and feel during your journeys through the city
that night? Welcome!
Grandfather: Thanks for having me here! Ah! That memorable night! It was my granddaughter’s
16th birthday. I couldn’t get her a present, so I decided to give her an experience instead. We strolled
late at night across the city’s once-bustling promenade, along lifeless streets, guided by the misty
moonlight. Pitch black! Eerie! As quiet as a cat! Sadly, War had ravaged our city, devastated the
homeless, leaving them lying on the roads, starving! Oh, that was a heartbreaking sight! Hope our
government supports them. It was shocking to see such a bustling city turn into a graveyard. But I
had another wish for Natalia. Far off, in a blurry sight, we spotted the rock-grey elephant. Slowly but
steadily, stomping its way forward, lured by the food in the soldier’s hand. It was enchanting to
watch!
Interviewer: What do you remember of your granddaughter’s behaviour and
reactions that night?
Grandfather: Oh Nat? Sleepyhead! You know teens, they have got such a chip on their shoulders.
Well, she trod behind me calmly and observed my moves at first but later, found it hard to keep up.
With frustration, she curiously shrieked, ‘Are you taking me to my surprise party?’’ Rubbing her eyes,
she tried hard to escape her deep slumber. Poor Nat! Teen nagging, you see! I had to be a bit strict
there. She was clueless about where she was taken. And Voila, when she laid eyes on the elephant,
she gaped in awe. Gazing at the majestic mammoth in its full glory, she wished to spill the beans to
her friends, can you believe it?
Interviewer: What were your reasons for taking your granddaughter out that
night and what do you think she gained from the experience
Grandfather: I would say, it was a one-time extravaganza, an adventure spree for Nat’s birthday.
Seeing an uncaged and untamed creature was spectacular. And I thought Nat would respect wildlife
more after that incident. Animals are brutally commercialized under human influence. I would want
her to grow up as a responsible citizen one day. I am sure she cherished that journey. We all need
positivity in these war-strung times, don’t we? She even wrote a diary entry after coming back
home.

Interviewer: That seems true! Thanks a million for being here!