ELL Author Interview Project

I love this project because it includes all four skill areas (reading, speaking, listening, and writing), provides an opporturnity for cooperative learning, and encourages students from different grade and ability levels to be creative. Also, no student is left behind!

STEP 1: READ! Students choose an author from one of the reading selections they enjoyed in their text. They learn more about her/him by researching biographical information online and develop a list of questions they would like to ask the author. As they make their lists, the students should be thinking about the answers. (One of the reading strategies suggested by our text is to think of questions to ask the author about character motivation, voice, writing style, etc., then come up with an appropriate answer based on what you know about the author and time period, so this was a great way to practice the strategy!)

STEP 2: SPEAK! Students then find a partner who will ask them the prepared questions. The student answering pretends to be the author s/he has just researched. The interviewer is allowed to ask one or two follow-up questions not on the list. When students have practiced, the interviewer uses the Flip Camera to record the interview. If students use groups of three, the third person can record the interview using the Flip Camera. Next, the interviewer and interviewee trade places and repeat the process. Note: My students chose to leave the classroom and do their interviews at tables and between bookshelves in the library. I downloaded the interviews onto my computer so we could watch the interviews. We all had fun and I was amazed at how well every one of my students did.

STEP 3: LISTEN & WRITE! Students took turns using the Flip Cameras to listen to and transcribe their interviews. I told them to write down what they heard from the recording, mistakes and all. When everyone had finished this process, I allowed the partners to comment on each other's spoken English and suggest corrections to their written English as well. Sometimes I think students will actually listen with greater care to their peers' suggestions. Later, taking the comments into consideration, we revised and published the interviews.