The Famous Faces of Yesteryear – Interviewer Skills Video

Teach Your Students How to Interview Someone

Susie Sunshine, the brand-new host of the television program ‘The Famous Faces of Yesteryear,’ may be bubbly and enthusiastic, but her interview skills leave a lot to be desired! Susie asks closed questions, fails to ask any follow-up questions and doesn’t give any indication that she is actively listening.

Thankfully, Susie learns how to become a more effective interviewer, thanks to some great tips from the show’s producer. Susie learns that in order to draw out quality responses from her interviewee (Sir Edmund Hillary), she needs to:

• Ask open-ended questions (as a means of gaining detailed information) 
• Ask follow-up questions (as a means of clarifying prior responses) 
• Demonstrate active listening via her facial expressions, eye contact and subtle verbal affirmations

Running at around 6 minutes long, this child-friendly video will teach your students the skills required to conduct a great interview. It makes the perfect preparation for any activity or project that requires students to write interview questions and/or conduct an interview of their own. 

Put Your Students’ Interviewer Skills to the Test! 

Once your students have a strong understanding of the interviewer skills contained in this video, you’ll want them to put these newfound skills to the test! After learning how to conduct an interview, students can engage in a variety of activities related to biography writing to deepen their understanding of the subject and hone their interviewing skills. Here are some suggested activities:

1. Interview a Classmate – Pair students up and have them take turns interviewing each other about their lives. Encourage them to ask open-ended questions (accompanied by relevant follow-up questions) and take notes during the interview.
2. Interview a Family Member or Friend – Assign students the task of interviewing a family member or friend about their life experiences. This could be a parent, grandparent, sibling or family friend. Encourage students to prepare thoughtful, open-ended questions in advance and to demonstrate active listening skills throughout the interview.
3. Research and Interview a Historical Figure – Have students select a historical figure they are interested in learning more about, then research their life and accomplishments. Then, encourage students to create a list of interview questions, then write the answers by taking on the persona of their chosen figure. Students could work with a partner to perform the interviews in front of the class.

Make the Most of This Interviewer Skills Video

This resource is available to watch again and again with your Teach Starter subscription, so you can share it with multiple classes.

Teach Starter has a great selection of resources to assist you in teaching biography writing to your students. Check out these great suggestions!

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