Research Interview on Daily Life (Intermediate-Advanced)

Practice on Your Own

Imagine you are doing a research project in a country where the language is spoken. As part of the project, you are interviewing people from the local community, asking them questions about their work and social activities. You are about to do your first interview, where you will be asking a woman some questions about her work and social life. Plan for the interview.

• Make a list of the questions you will ask the woman, starting with her name, where she lives, her work and what it entails, her daily schedule/routine and her social activities. These questions should be written in the language you are learning.
• Review the grammar you will need to talk about routine activities in the present.
• Also review vocabulary for different work and social activities.

Practice in Conversation Session

• Be prepared to tell your conversation partner and fellow students about the type of research that you intend to carry out in the language you are learning. Your conversation partner and fellow students may follow up with questions, asking you why you chose this type of research.
• Be prepared to role play the interview situation with your partner. You will be the one doing the interview and your partner will play the role of the woman being interviewed. In your interaction, greet the woman in a culturally appropriate way and let her welcome you. State the purpose of your visit. In your interview, ask questions such as her name, where she lives, what she does for work, her daily schedule and her social activities. Find out whether she enjoys her work and the reason why. If she does not, let her give the reason and identify an alternative occupation that she would enjoy.
• Follow‐up conversation with your conversation partner and fellow students. In the language you are learning, let each person talk about the work they are doing, the work they like and work that they don’t like. Each person should give reasons to support what they say. Also let each person talk about their social activities.