Interviewing Assignment:
SPH 1090.
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 2
QUESTION AGENDA
- Please, introduce yourself: what is your name, age, marital status, job.
- How many children do you have? How old are they?
- It means that you gave a birth to your child at 17, didn’t you? Was this a planned child?
- What did you feel when realized that you were pregnant? Whom first did you say?
- How was people’s reaction? The father ‘s of a child? Your parents’? What were their advices for you?
- You went to school at that time, didn’t you? What was the reaction of your teachers?
- Where did you live with a small baby? Did anybody help you?
- How did you feel to be a young mother? Was it embarrassing for you or you were happy and proud?
- Who maintained you and your child? Were you in need that time?
- How do you feel now to be a young mother?
- Would you like your son to become a father at a young age?
- What will be your advice for girls who got into the same situation as you did years ago?
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 3
For me it was a great experience. The task was very interesting but not easy to make. I didn’t know whom to invite to an interview and was a real problem. Then I decided to remember whom of the people I know I respect and admire. And I remembered Ms. Brown. She is so good-looking young lady, always smiling. She is always ready to help and I have never heard anybody to tell anything bad about her. Her elder son looks like her brother. I remember how I was surprised when one day saw them together in a pub chatting like good friends. I decided that she will be a perfect interviewee.
She agreed to meet in a park after her work. I was nervous as it was my first time to take an interview. I wasn’t sure if my questions were polite; I didn’t’ want to confuse Ms. Brown or make her angry. I prepared 12 questions for her which I considered to be the most suitable. But during our conversation I have asked some additional questions in order to clarify some points. In general, the interview was running easy and relaxed. I felt like talking with my old friend.
I would like to identify some important points to get a good interview:
- Begin conversation with compliments to your interviewee;
- Led a talk with a smile and a pleasant voice;
- A place for a conversation should be quiet and attractive;
- A time for a conversation should be suitable for an interviewee;
- An interview shouldn’t be very long, 1-2 hours will be enough;
- Don’t interrupt an interviewee, let him sound off;
- All the questions should be correct, if an interviewee doesn’t want to answer to any, don’t insist;
- Thank an interviewee at the end of a talk.
Implementing this points helped me not only to full fill my task, but also to enjoy the interview. I pondered about a destiny. Different people face with different problems. Some
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 4
people give up and ruin their lives and lives of their relatives. Others – overcome all the troubles and become only stronger. Such people with a strong will walk through life with a smile and brighten other’s lives. Undoubtfully , Ms. Brown is one of such people. After talking with her I had an idea to collect life stories of people with interesting and difficult fate. Such collection could help other people to cope with their problems.
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 5
Good afternoon, nice to meet you. My name is Jenifer Brown and I am here to tell you my life story. I am 34 years old, I am married. I am a dental assistant in the biggest stomatology in your city.
I have two children: a boy and a girl. The boy’s name is Deny and he is 17 now. My younger daughter is 5 and her name is Julia.
It is not difficult to count that I gave a birth to my sun at the age of 17. My boy wasn’t a planned child. I have been dating with his father only for three months. We were a young and careless couple in love, whom nobody have explained about the contraception.
When I realized that I was pregnant I was shocked. I felt sick and unusual for me but didn’t pay any serious attention and said nobody about this. Once my cousin ,who were elder than me, saw when I felt sick because of the smells in the kitchen. She laughed and told for fun that I behaved like a pregnant woman. Next day I asked my neighbor to buy a pregnancy test, because I felt embarrassing to buy it myself. I told that it was for my mum. And it was positive. Next week I did those tests every day and all the time they were positive. Then I told my mum. We went to a doctor and she said that I was in the second month of pregnancy. I thought my mum would kill me.
My mum was and is a very wise woman. Of course she wasn’t very pleased with this situation but she realized, that the best thing she could do was to support me. She told my father and all our family. She asked everybody not to blame me but to help. In that time I found out that the most important for every person is to have a caring and loving family, as I do. I want to thank each member of my family one more time because without them i couldn’t have coped. And nobody advised me to make an abortion. My mum said that every child is given by God and
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 6
it is beyond our power to decide will he be born or will not. What concerns my boyfriend, he didn’t feel much responsibility about his future child. He was too young to become a father. He just entered a college and didn’t plan to acquire a family. We decided, frankly speaking he decided and I just agreed, that it would be better to get marriage few years later when we would have good jobs, a house and so on. Of course we have never married. He graduated from a college and then moved to another country. My son and I haven’t seen him for 10 years.
Deny doesn’t ever speak about his biological father. My husband, a father of my daughter, became a real father for him and they are very close. Sometimes I even envy my husband because my son prefer to share with him his secrets. ( laugh.. editor's note)
As I told my family have never criticized me what I can not say about the teachers. Most of them told me that I had made the greatest mistake in my life, that I had ruined the possibility to succeed in life. But I knew they were wrong and , thanks God, I was wright.
I finished school and few months later gave a birth to Deny. Of course I didn’t enter a college, as I had planned before, but I promised myself to continue my study later. My son and I lived in a house of my parents. We lived like a big and happy family. My parents worked and I took care of my baby. My father had to find one more job to maintain our family and we weren’t in need at all. Of course it wasn’t easy for all of us. My parents worked hard for making enough money. Sometimes I didn’t know what to do with little Deny ,especially when he was ill and cried all day long. Sometimes I wanted to be an ordinary teenage girl who could go out with friends, dance and travel. Sometimes I felt lonely because all my friends disappeared after this story. I had no fellows to talk. But all these became so unimportant when I looked into the eyes of Deny and felt that he was the real miracle in my life.
Thanks to Deny I grew up much earlier than my fellows. I had clear goals in my life. I knew that I would do my best for my son to be proud of me. When I studied for an dentist
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 7
assistant I was the best student and tried harder than my friends. I slept only for 3-4 hours because I had to take care of my son, had to do my homework. But I was full of energy as I knew I was on the right way.
Now I am absolutely happy to be a wife, a mother of two lovely children. Deny became a real man and I am so proud of him. He had some problems with drugs but , luckily, we coped with this problem because found out the reason of his addiction. At that time Julia was just born and Deny felt a lack of my attention. He thought that I wouldn’t love him anymore. It was a difficult task for me to impress upon him my love. But I succeedas I usually do ( proud smile.editor’s note).
My son wants to become a lawyer and now is preparing to enter a university. He has a girlfriend and she is a really lovely girl. I had a serious talk with my son two or three years ago about contraception. He knows everything that he needs to know. I don’t want my son to become a father at a young age. My life wasn’t very easy and I think it is normal for me to want my son to have a better life. But, if this happens, I will support my son as my parents did.
I want to advice for girls who are waiting for a baby not to be afraid of other people’s words. Each of us has its own life and it is up to us how we will live it. Happiness is a choice, not something that is given. It is important to be strong , of course. Tears will help neither you, not your child. Be open to people and they will help you. It is also important to study and develop. Read more, chat with smart people. And remember that it is depends on you whom will grow your future baby: a good person or not. Love, given for a child, is the best investment. Some years after, it will bring you numerous benefits.
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 8
SELF EVALUATION FORM
Interviewer’s Name_____________________________________
- How carefully did I listen during the interview?
Firstly I wasn’t very careful because I was thinking about next question.But then I realized that my interviewee is a good speaker and I imbued with her story.
- How well did I ask the questions from my question agenda?
This point I full fill at a high level.
- Did I avoid over talking during the interview?
As I told my interviewee was a good speaker and her story is so exiting that sometimes we talked more then I planed.
- Did I use pauses effectively? Was I afraid of the silence?
It was my first experience and I was afraid of the silence, so I tried to fill it.
- Did I have a good beginning and ending to the interview?
I had a good beginning as I started with a compliment and make the interviewee feel comfortable. At the end I thanked her. So I think there were a good beginning and ending.
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 9
- How did I develop a rapport with my interviewee?
At he beginning were both were shy and cautious to each other. But after a 20 minutes talk we felt like good friends.
- If I wanted to improve on my interviewing skills, what could I do better next time?
Next time I will be more relaxed and will chose a place where it will be possible to get a drink, because during our conversation we both were thirsty but in the park there were no possibility to buy any drinks.
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 10
INTERVIEWEE EVALUATION FORM
Interviewee’s Name_____________________________________
Interviewed by__________________________________________
Part of the objective of this assignment is to understand and execute the skills necessary to interview effectively. Please provide some feedback to the student who interviewed you. This does not affect the student’s grade, but does give them some valuable information on how he/she did on this particular interview.
The more descriptive you are the better.
- How carefully do you think the student listened?
He was very careful and looked into my eyes what pleased me very much.
- How well did the student ask the questions?
He had asked if I had any closed topic which I didn’t want to discuss. The questions had a good structure and were correct to me.
- Did he/she have a good beginning and ending to the interview?
He greeted me with a smile and a compliment and it was very kind of him. And he ended our talk with words of gratitude. So everything was polite.
INTERVIEWING ASSIGNMENT 11
- Did you feel comfortable throughout the interview?
I absolutely did.
- If you could suggest one thing he/she could do to improve on this skill, it would be:
- What specific thing did he/she do well during the interview?
Looking into my eyes and shaking his head.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this evaluation and for participating in this assignment.
