Students 'practise' interviews

By Vrinda Manocha

The Mylapore Time Journalism Course is well on its way into its third week. On Wednesday the 2nd of May, the first hour was conducted by Mr Sathya and Ms. Revathi.

After Mr. D'Souza lectured the students on Tuesday about the types of interviews and tips to plan interviews , they came prepared to conduct mock interviews in class on Wednesday.

Anita Srinivasan and Priyanka interviewing Anitha Ramachandran

Mr. Satya, who works with the publishing company New Horizon Media, first showed the students samples of interviews posted on blogs and websites on his laptop. He was keen to record the mock interviews on a gadget and load it on to the blog later.

The first mock interview was conducted by Rhea Banerjee who was interviewing Vrinda Manocha about the Youth Association formed in Valmiki Nagar. It was recorded by Mr Satya but their voices
were too low and could not be properly heard on playback. They also forgot to give an introduction. Mr. Sathya and Ms. Revathi gave them a few tips to improve themselves.

While Rhea and Vrinda rehearsed their interview, the next batch began theirs. Anita Srinivasan and Priyanka A. questioned Anitha Ramachandran about the Santhome neighbourhood. Their interview went off smoothly . Vrinda and Rhea did a better job on their second try.

Listen to Rhea interviewing Vrinda here : http://www.rogepost.com/n/1581408075

and Anita and Priyanka interviewing Anitha here: http://www.rogepost.com/n/5127060761

The second hour was conducted by Vincent D' Souza who had invited a guest to talk to the class. Abhinaya Mohan who had attended a similar workshop last year and now freelances for the 'Mylapore Times', shared her experiences with the class.

She talked about her difficulties with writing reports such as interviewing hesitant people and making mistakes with information. She gave several examples to illustrate her points and advised the students to manage their time well while writing reports and double check their information. Abhinaya shared tips on how to approach people for an interview.

Though she is going to Class 12 at P.S. Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, Abhinaya said that balancing school and journalism simultaneously had not been much of a problem for her. " Don't
compromise on the quality of school work or journalism, " she advised the students.