1. Interviewing
“The younger generation should know how our grandparents suffered, and what they did for us despite their lack of resources. Knowing this they will double their effort and productivity, to build on this inheritance.”

2. What is the difference between a conversation and an interview?
In a conversation, two or more people participate and share equally in the process.
In an interview, two or more people participate but one person’s main goal is to get information from the other(s) and to record that information in some way.

3. First step Before you begin to plan your interview you need to:
Decide who you are going to interview.
Choose someone you can contact easily, such as a nearby family member or neighbour.
Decide why you want to interview him / her (your purpose).
Decide what type of information you want – this will help you to form good questions.

4. The art of asking questions
We need to ask questions to get good quality information.
good

5. Did you have a hard life when you were young?
Closed questions
Did you have a hard life when you were young?
Often get you a yes / no or very short answer response.
They get you facts.
They are easy to answer.
They are quick to answer.
Yes.

6. Closed questions can be useful because:
they can make the person you are interviewing feel more relaxed – especially at the beginning of an interview. This is because they are easy to answer.
they can lead on to open questions – questions that get you more detailed information.

7. What was the most difficult thing about working away from home?
Open questions
Well, sometimes I was away for six months at a time and I worried about your grandmother because I knew….
Open questions
ask the interviewee to think and reflect.
help you to find out more about a person - their wants, needs, feelings and opinions.
get you more interesting information.
What was the most difficult thing about working away from home?

8. Click on the image to watch the video.
Watch and listen
Click on the image to watch the video.
What was the problem with this interview?
How did the interviewer ‘fix’ the problem?

9. Open vs. closed questions
You are going to see two questions on the following slides.
Think about the answers you might get if you asked somebody these questions.
Which question would give you a better quality answer? Why?

10. Closed question
Were you at Union House when Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Rashid and our other leaders signed the charter that gave us the UAE?

11. Open question
What can you remember about 2nd December, 1971?

12. What questions would you ask…?
Imagine you are interviewing an old person. Use these pictures as prompts. What questions would you ask these people to get good quality answers?

13. So…….
Let’s begin!

14. Brainstorm Make a list of questions you would like to ask.
Write down more questions than you need.
Do not worry about your grammar (yet).
Do not worry about the order of your questions.
Think only about the information you want to get.
Have you got both closed and open questions?

15. Now reorganise your questions
You probably have too many questions.
Cross out ‘poor’ questions.
Decide when to use closed questions and when to use open questions.
Reorder your questions – put them in logical order.
Check your grammar.

16. Get organised!
Have a good list of questions that will allow you to get the information you need for your essay.
Decide how you are going to record your interview – e.g. write notes, video, or use an App like SmartRecordLite.
Set up an interview schedule.

17. When interviewing: Make sure that the person you are
interviewing is comfortable.
Be polite, interested and be an
‘active’ listener.
You may need to
ask your questions
in Arabic.

18. and Listen
You miss great opportunities for follow-up questions if you do not do this.
Ask follow-up questions that will get you extra, interesting information - even if these questions are not on your ‘list’ .

19. Follow-up Questions:
One way that can help you get specific information and a longer answer is to ask a closed-ended question followed up with "Why?" or "How?" or “Tell me more about….”

20. Be sensitive
The person you are interviewing is talking about his / her life experiences. He / she might feel:
Give the person time – strong emotion usually means
you will get a good ‘story’. Ask questions that might get an ‘emotional’ response towards the end of your interview.