The Interview Beyond the Camera
B2 reading: For a class project, students at North Street College recorded interviews with older residents about changes in the town. Includes vocabulary, six comprehension questions, discussion prompts and full-sentence answers.
What’s in the worksheet?
- 4 vocabulary explanations
- Six comprehension questions and two discussion prompts
- Separate full-sentence answer key and teaching notes
Explore the difference between agreeing to an interview and understanding how it will be publicly edited and shown. Nora's project raises questions about dramatic storytelling, named accusations and the limits of personal memory.
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Page 3 of 3 · Answer key · A4 printable PDF
A simple way to teach it
Before the lesson
Use the reading and questions with the key reserved. Clarify interviewee, accusation, conceal and settled. No actual recording or publication is required.
- Read for why the group values Mr Ellis's account and why Nora hesitates. Distinguish permission to record from permission for the proposed public use.
- Answer the six questions, identifying the requested cuts and the explanatory note. Explain why editing need not mean pretending the original remarks were never made.
- Compare evidence-based answers, then discuss review of edited interviews and ways to signal uncertainty in a film.
Support and extension
Support by separating record, edit and publish decisions. Extend with an imagined consent conversation; avoid treating the story as giving interviewees unlimited control over every editorial choice.
Suggested approach. Adjust the pace and number of questions to suit your class.
