Conducting a Podcast Interview · General track (final two years of upper secondary, B1 to C1/C2)

Two podcasters recording at night — Illustration (generated image): two podcasters record an interview in a studio at night.

Session 1 · Session 2 · Session 3 · Session 4 · Session 5 · Session 6 · Final task

Session 1: Why listen to a voice?

Aim: Understand what makes an interview worth hearing and what a podcast host is for.

Recap check (marked, random students). Board task as they enter: write three things you would like to ask a person you admire. Two students drawn at random read theirs aloud.
Marking: 1 point per clear question, 1 point if at least one starts with How or Why. Marked out of 4 in the class register.

Lesson

A podcast interview is a conversation recorded for listeners who are not in the room. The host has one job: help the guest tell something the audience could not hear anywhere else. The host is a guide, not the star.

The guest brings the experience.
The host brings curiosity, preparation and listening.
The listener has only ears: no faces, no gestures, no slides. Every detail has to be spoken.

Example

Example. Our school chef, Mr Okafor, prepares 640 lunches a day. A boring interview lists facts about the kitchen. A memorable one makes us smell the onions at 7 a.m. and hear the story of the day the oven broke ten minutes before lunch.

Speaking in pairs. In pairs, Student A names a person in their life with a story (a neighbour, a bus driver, a cousin). Student B asks three questions to discover why that person would make a good guest. Swap after two minutes.

Picture activity.

Look at the illustration. Describe the scene in five sentences: where are the two people, what equipment do you see, what do the lights suggest, who might be the host and who the guest, what might they be talking about?

Homework (required). Write a short paragraph (80 to 100 words): Who would you interview for a school podcast, and why would listeners want to hear this person? Include one question you would ask.

Homework answer key

Model answer: I would interview my grandfather, who drove a delivery van across Scotland for thirty years. Listeners would enjoy his stories because he has seen every road in every season, and he remembers the people he met more than the places. He also changed jobs at fifty, which could inspire anyone who feels stuck. My first question would be: What was the strangest delivery you ever made? Check: a named guest, a reason linked to listeners, one open question, correct past and present tenses.

Session 2: Open doors and closed doors

Aim: Tell closed questions from open ones and rewrite closed questions so the guest can speak.

Recap check (marked, random students). Board task: give the three roles in a podcast interview and say what the listener cannot do. Two students drawn at random answer orally.
Marking: Host, guest, listener (3 points), listener cannot see (1 point). Out of 4.

Lesson

A closed question invites a one-word answer: yes, no, a number, a name. An open question invites a story, an explanation or an opinion.

Useful openers: How did..., Why do you think..., What happened when..., Talk us through..., What was going through your mind when..., In what way...

Closed questions are not forbidden: they are useful to check a fact (So you started in 2019?). They just should not carry the interview.

Example

Closed (door shuts)	Open (door opens)
Do you like cooking for the school?	What does a normal morning in the school kitchen look like?
Was your apprenticeship hard?	Which skill took you the longest to learn in the garage, and how did you finally get it?
Did you win the league?	How did the team change between the first match and the last one?

Speaking in pairs. Door game: Student A reads a closed question from the board, Student B must turn it into an open one in less than ten seconds. Then B answers A's open question for thirty seconds. Five rounds each.

Picture activity.

Imagine who used this microphone. Write four open questions you could ask that person, using a different opener each time, and two closed questions you would only use to check facts.

Homework (required). Rewrite these five closed questions as open questions: 1. Are you happy with your job? 2. Did you grow up here? 3. Is training difficult? 4. Did the storm damage the farm? 5. Do you miss your old school?

Homework answer key

Possible answers: 1. What makes a good day at work for you? 2. What do you remember about the place where you grew up? 3. What is the hardest part of a training session, and how do you push through it? 4. What happened on the farm the night of the storm? 5. What do you miss about your old school, and what don't you miss? Any version starting with How, What, Why, Tell us or Talk us through and leading to a full answer gets the point (1 point each, out of 5).

Session 3: The second question

Aim: Use follow-up questions to dig deeper into an answer.

Recap check (marked, random students). Board task: turn 'Did you enjoy the trip?' into two different open questions. Two students drawn at random.
Marking: 2 points per correct open question. Out of 4.

Lesson

The best material often comes after the first answer. A follow-up shows the guest you are listening and pushes the story further. Listen for a change, a surprise, a feeling, a number, a name, then pick it up.

Follow-up tools: You said..., what did you mean? / Give us an example. / And then? / How did that feel at the time? / What would you do differently now?

Example

Example with a grandparent.
Host: What do you remember about the winter of 1963 on the farm?
Guest: Oh, the snow. We were cut off for days.
Host (follow-up): Cut off how? What did you eat?
Guest: My father walked four miles to the village with a sledge to bring back bread and paraffin...
The first answer was a headline. The follow-up gave us the sledge.

Speaking in pairs. Chain of three: Student A asks an open question about B's weekend. A must then ask two follow-ups that use B's own words. Swap. The listener in a group of three counts how many follow-ups really reused the guest's words.

Picture activity.

The woman has just answered a question. Invent her answer (two sentences), then write three follow-up questions the man could ask, each reusing one of her words.

Homework (required). Read the answer and write three follow-up questions: 'I started the apprenticeship at sixteen. The first week I nearly quit, because nobody talked to me, but then the boss gave me an old engine to rebuild.'

Homework answer key

Possible answers: Why did nobody talk to you that first week? What made you stay instead of quitting? What did you feel when the old engine finally ran? Each question must reuse a detail from the answer (1 point each) and be grammatically correct (1 point each). Out of 6.

C1/C2 extension. Listen to a professional interview podcast episode of your choice for ten minutes. Note three follow-ups the host used and classify them: clarifying, deepening, challenging. Then write a challenging but respectful follow-up for your own guest (for example: Some people would say school food should be cheaper rather than better. What would you answer them?).

Session 4: Making a guest feel at home

Aim: Prepare the guest, ask for consent and create a relaxed atmosphere.

Recap check (marked, random students). Board task: write one follow-up question to the answer 'We moved to Leeds when I was nine.' Two students drawn at random.
Marking: Uses a detail from the answer (1), open form (1), correct grammar (1). Out of 3.

Lesson

People speak better when they feel safe. Before recording:

Say who you are and what the podcast is for.
Ask for permission to record and explain where the audio will be played (class only, school website...). Get a clear yes, and note it.
Tell the guest they can stop, skip a question or ask for a part to be removed.
Start with an easy, warm question.

During the interview, silence is a tool. Count to three in your head before you speak: the guest often adds the best sentence after a pause.

Example

Example script. 'Hi Coach Patel, thanks for giving us twenty minutes. We are recording for our English class podcast, which only our class and teacher will hear. Is that OK with you? If any question feels too personal, just say pass. To start, how did you end up coaching on this pitch every Saturday?'

Speaking in pairs. Role play: Student A is a nervous guest (the school librarian, a new teaching assistant, an older relative). Student B welcomes them, asks for consent and asks one warm opening question. A gives a score from 1 to 5 for how relaxed they felt and explains why.

Picture activity.

Look at the two people laughing. List four details that show the guest is relaxed. Then write what the host may have said in the first minute to create this atmosphere.

Homework (required). Write the opening of your own interview (70 to 90 words): greeting, purpose, consent question, the right to skip, first warm question.

Homework answer key

Model answer: Good afternoon Mrs Brennan, and thank you for coming. My partner and I are making a short podcast for our English class about people who changed careers. The recording will only be played in class. Do we have your permission to record? Of course you can skip any question or ask us to cut something. Let's start with something easy: what was the very first job you ever had? Grid: greeting (1), purpose (1), consent (2), right to skip (1), open opening question (1). Out of 6.

Session 5: Sounding good

Aim: Prepare a recording space and plan the sound of the episode.

Recap check (marked, random students). Board task: name three things you must say to a guest before recording. Two students drawn at random.
Marking: Purpose, consent, right to skip or stop: 1 point each. Out of 3.

Lesson

Listeners forgive a simple microphone, not noise. Checklist:

Choose a small, soft room: curtains, cushions and coats absorb echo. Empty classrooms are worse than a cupboard full of coats.
Phone on aeroplane mode, notifications off.
Microphone or phone a hand's width from the mouth, slightly to the side.
Record ten seconds of test, listen with headphones, adjust.
Record a line of room silence: it helps when editing.
Back up the file the same day.

Example

Example. Two students recorded their interview with the canteen staff during lunch: plates and chairs covered half the answers. They recorded again at 4 p.m. in the staff room, with the fridge unplugged for five minutes (with permission). The second version was clear.

Speaking in pairs. Sound detectives: in pairs, record the same sentence in three places in the school (corridor, classroom, small room). Listen and rank the recordings, giving two reasons for each rank.

Picture activity.

This microphone sits on a desk in a room full of lights. List four sound problems a room like this might cause (echo, hum, voices outside...) and suggest a solution for each.

Homework (required). Write a 'sound plan' for your final interview: where, when, which device, three risks and how you will avoid them (60 to 80 words).

Homework answer key

Model answer: We will record on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the music practice room, which has carpet and curtains. We will use Sam's phone with a clip microphone. Risk one: the bell, so we start after it rings. Risk two: notifications, so the phone will be on aeroplane mode. Risk three: losing the file, so we will send it to the class drive straight after. Grid: place and time (2), device (1), three risks with solutions (3). Out of 6.

Session 6: A strong ending and a strong edit

Aim: Close an interview well and choose the best minutes.

Recap check (marked, random students). Board task: give two solutions to echo in a recording room. Two students drawn at random.
Marking: 1 point per valid solution, 1 point for correct vocabulary. Out of 4.

Lesson

Endings stay in the listener's ear. Good closing questions look back or forward:

If you could talk to yourself on your first day, what would you say?
What is one thing people never ask you about, but should?
What are you looking forward to next year?

Then thank the guest by name, remind listeners who they heard, and stop. After recording, listen once without stopping and note the times of the best moments: a laugh, a precise detail, a surprise, a sentence you could quote. Cut repetitions, keep the story.

Example

Example. At the end of a talk with an apprentice baker, the host asked: What smell will always remind you of this year? She answered: Burnt sugar at four in the morning. Six words that became the title of the episode.

Speaking in pairs. Ending swap: each student writes one closing question for three possible guests (chef, coach, grandparent). Partner answers in role. Vote for the ending that would make the best episode title.

Picture activity.

Imagine this laugh comes at the end of the episode. Write the closing question that caused it, the guest's final answer and the host's thank you.

Homework (required). Write the full plan of your final interview: guest, purpose, one warm opening question, five open questions, two planned follow-ups, one closing question and your thank you sentence.

Homework answer key

Corrected example: Guest: Mr Okafor, school chef. Purpose: show the hidden side of school lunches. Opening: How did you start cooking? Open questions: What happens in the kitchen between 6 and 8 a.m.? How do you plan a menu for 640 people? Tell us about a day when everything went wrong. Which dish do students ask for most, and why? What would you change in school food if you could? Follow-ups: You said the oven broke, what did you serve instead? How did the students react? Closing: What do you wish students knew about the people who feed them? Thank you: Thank you Mr Okafor, and thanks for listening to Lunch Behind the Scenes. Grid: all parts present (8), open forms (2). Out of 10.

Final task: record a three-minute podcast interview

In pairs (one host and one co-host, or one host and a classmate playing a real role), record a three-minute interview with a real guest from your life or school: a school chef, an apprentice, a grandparent about a past event, a local sports coach, a shopkeeper... Consent is recorded at the beginning (it is not counted in the three minutes).

Marking scheme (out of 20)

Criterion	Points
Opening: greeting, purpose, consent, warm first question	3
Open questions (at least five, varied openers)	4
Follow-ups that reuse the guest's words (at least two)	4
Closing question and thank you	2
Language: accuracy of questions, tenses, pronunciation, intonation	4
Sound quality and respect of the three minutes (plus or minus twenty seconds)	3

Student grid (self check before handing in)

I can tick it	Yes / Not yet
I said who I am and why I record.
I asked permission and heard a clear yes.
I asked at least five open questions.
I used the guest's words in two follow-ups.
I let silences happen.
I closed with a question and a thank you.
I listened to the file with headphones before handing it in.

Teacher grid

Criterion	Not yet	Partly	Achieved	Beyond
Opening (3)	0	1	2	3
Open questions (4)	1	2	3	4
Follow-ups (4)	1	2	3	4
Closing (2)	0	1	1.5	2
Language (4)	1	2	3	4
Sound and timing (3)	0	1	2	3

Corrected example (transcript extract and marks)

Host: Hello, I'm Lina and this is Fieldside, our class podcast. Today we are with Coach Patel, who has trained the under-fifteens for eleven years. Coach, we are recording for our English class only, is that all right? Coach: Absolutely. Host: Great. And you can pass on any question. So, how did you start coaching? Coach: My son's team had no coach, so I said I'd help for one month. Host: One month, and eleven years later you're still here. What kept you? Coach: The day a shy kid scored his first goal and ran to hug the goalkeeper of the other team... Host: Why do you think he did that? ... Host: Last question: what would you tell a teenager who thinks sport is not for them? Coach: Come once. Just once. Host: Thank you Coach Patel, and thanks for listening to Fieldside.

Marks: opening 3/3 (greeting, purpose, consent, right to pass, warm question). Open questions 3/4 (four open questions, one more needed). Follow-ups 4/4 ('One month... what kept you?' and 'Why do you think he did that?' reuse the guest's words). Closing 2/2. Language 3/4 (clear intonation, one error: 'how long you are coaching' corrected to 'how long have you been coaching'). Sound and timing 2/3 (wind noise for twenty seconds). Total: 17/20.

Teacher notes: GEREX and differentiated teaching

GEREX (management of mixed-ability groups in a single class): the recap check opens every session so that no minute is idle; tasks are written on the board before students enter; pairs are planned in advance (a confident speaker with a hesitant one, roles swapped each round); a group of three with an observer is used when the class size is uneven; each activity has a timer and a visible end product.

Differentiation: question openers on cards for students who need them; a sentence bank for consent and thank you; the adapted version keeps the same final task with fewer questions and a one-page plan; advanced students (C1/C2 track) handle the extension tasks. Assessment stays out of 20 for everyone; the adapted version changes the support, not the grade scale.