Idioma 3-4 (English)

GROUP ORAL PRESENTATION ACTIVITY: Interview with an exchange student

Objective: In groups of three or four, prepare and carry out an interview with an exchange
student in Barcelona. Present the highlights of your interview to the class.

Time allotted: 8 min. Do not go over the time limit appropriate timing will be a part of
your final grade.

Calendar highlights:

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- Presentations in the seminars during Weeks 8 (May 30 ) and 9 (June 6 ).

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- By May 8 : On the wiki in the Moodle write down the name of the members of your
group and of the person you plan to interview. All group members must be from the
same seminar!

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- Shortly after May 8 , the calendar of presentations will be posted. Every presentation
will be randomly assigned to one of four main topics: Language, Expectations, Culture
and University.

Detailed Instructions:

Content:

The interview should include at least the sections mentioned below.

1. Personal background of the interviewee: Include personal information about your

exchange student: age, nationality, home university and studies, time in Barcelona
You can give their first name, but may want to avoid using their surname, to help
maintain privacy.

2. Main topic of the interview: See more details below.

3. Other: Include a couple of questions not covered in the instructions or by your

classmates' presentations.

4. Do you have any questions for us? Offer the student the opportunity to ask questions.

We recommend that you record your interview with a digital voice recorder, so that you can
easily access all the contents of the interview. If you think it's appropriate, you can optionally
show some excerpts in your oral presentation.

Main topic of the interview: As mentioned, each presentation will be devoted to one of the
four main topics listed in A-D below. The issues you should be sure to cover appear under each
topic:

A. Language: Include information about the students linguistic background.

a. What's your mother tongue? What's your native dialect? (Note that the student
may not be aware that s/he speaks in a dialect, but everyone does!).

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b. What do you know about your native language? How similar is it to Spanish or
Catalan? How many people speak it? Are other languages spoken in your
home country? What is the language situation like?

c. Is your dialect very different from the standard variety? If so, provide an
example.

d. Does the way you talk vary a lot depending on the register?

e. How good was your Spanish before coming here? Has it improved a lot? How
do you practice it? Did you know anything about Catalan before coming here?

B. Expectations: Include information about expectations the student had before coming to
Barcelona and the experiences s/he has been having here.

a. Why did you choose Barcelona for your stay abroad? What did you know about
Barcelona before your arrival?

b. What do people from your country think about Spanish people? Are there any
stereotypes? If so, have you found them to be accurate?

c. What do you think people from Spain think about people from your country?

d. What are some of the differences between your country and Spain?

e. Can you tell us about anything striking during your first weeks here? Did you
experience any cultural shock?

f. Can you tell us about something you like/don't like about Spain?

g. Have your attitudes and behaviors changed in any way since youve been here?

C. Culture: Include information about the local culture of the students place of origin.

a. What region/country do you come from? Where is it located? Are you from a big
city or a small town?

b. What is your hometown or region famous for in your country?

c. What is the economy like in general? Is it agricultural/industrial/service-

oriented? is it a rich or not so rich country? At what age do young people start
working?

d. Are there famous people (writers, artists, athletes, politicians, etc.) from your
hometown or region?

e. Can you tell us about your favorite local traditions? And about your favorite local
food?

f. What do you miss about your hometown?

D. University: Include a comparison between the students home university and UPF.

a. What are the main differences between your home university and UPF?

b. Are there any differences in the structure of a university degree in the two
countries? How many years does it usually take to get a university degree?

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c. How much does it cost to go to the university? Do students generally go to
universities close to home, so that they can continue to live with their parents?

d. What did you have to do to get into your home university? Did you have to take
an exam? Was the process difficult?

e. Mention one thing you like and one thing you don't like both about UPF and
your home university.

You are encouraged to add your own questions within your Topic.

Note also that the student may not be familiar with all the technical terms (dialect, register,
standard variety, etc). You need to make sure you ask the appropriate questions in a clear way.
In order to be able to do so, you may need to do some research about the area your student is
from.

Presentation: You should prepare a slide presentation and upload it to the Moodle on the day
of your presentation. Present your information in an organized way, making sure to cover the 3
points below:

1. Goals of your presentation and how you went about doing it: What was the focus of your
interview? What information were you most interested in when you set out? Who did
you interview? Where did the interview take place?

2. Results. Tell us about the most interesting parts of the interview, discussing your main
topic in detail. What main points do you want to highlight?

3. Conclusions/Further comments. Was there anything that defied your expectations?

Discuss the experience, and consider how it might influence your behavior or thinking
when you go abroad yourself.

ADVICE and TIPS for a successful presentation:

- Each person in the group should talk for about the same amount of time.

- Be ready to answer any questions related to your project.

- Dont put too much information onto the slides, but rather use them to help you present
the talk in an engaging and coherent way.

- Practice your talk at least 1 or 2 times with your group to make sure that the timing is
correct and that you are not trying to include too much information. Remember you
should speak for 8 minutes. Do not go overtime!

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- When you practice, focus on communicating effectively: dont speak too quickly, dont
mumble, dont stare at your slides or your notes, stand straight and firm, and make eye
contact (with everyone in the roomnot just the teacher!).

- Look up the pronunciation of any new or difficult words in the dictionary / on the internet
especially words that are important to your main point and might make it difficult to
understand you properly.

IMPORTANT: If you record the interview, you should begin with the interviewee reading
aloud their consent to be audio or video taped by you (PLEASE USE THE CONSENT
NOTICE BELOW). If you are not recording your interviewees, you should still ask for their
consent to use the interview to prepare your presentation in class. .

CONSENT NOTICE: Today is XX, XX, 2016. My name is FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME. I give
my consent to NAME OF INTERVIEWER/STUDENT to audiotape or videotape the conversation
we are about to engage in. I understand the interview will be used solely by the aforementioned
student as preparatory material to carry out an oral expression task in the classroom in an
undergraduate English language course at Universitat Pompeu Fabra during the current
academic term.