Interview Project: Pat Bennett 4/2013

The following helps students organize the information from their interviews into a speech of 5 7 minutes. This is a complex task, and many are not prepared for it. At Grossmont College, there is a recommended preparation to be taking concurrently or have taken the first essay-writing class, and students are learning to organize information there.

How to prepare your speech after interviewing: 1. Finish interviews. 2. Read all interview forms. Read one question at a time for all interviewees. For example, read the first question for all, the second for all, etc. 3. Take notes on a separate paper on the answers to each question. 4. Study the answers. Ask yourself the following questions about them: a. b. c. d. e. What was interesting? What did I NOT expect to hear? How were the answers different from each other? How were they similar to each other? What did I learn from this process that was new to me?

5. Make an outline of what you will present in your speech. You will not have time to include every answer, and it is boring for you to read each answer. You need to summarize the answers based on the questions above in number 4. 6. Write and introduction, body, and conclusion. a. In your introduction, you may include an overview of why you chose this topic, how it may be different in your country, etc. b. In your body, divide the topic by logical groups of ideas, similar to writing an essay, with 3 or 4 body paragraphs. c. In your conclusion, you may include one or some of these ideas: 1.) What surprised you. 2.) What you learned. 3.) How the results might help you or the class to understand Americans. 4.) How the results show a difference from your country. 5.) Give your opinion about what would be helpful to American culture in this area: what is good, what you like, what you think should be changed, either here or by contrast, in your culture. You could also make a prediction in this section. 7. After you finish writing, read the speech while timing yourself. You will lose points if your speech is shorter than 4.5 minutes or longer than 6.5 minutes. You may use a power point, charts, handouts or visual aids to explain or summarize the information from your speeches, but be sure you include time to refer to them when you practice your speech.