Tag Archives: Macnaughton

Workshop: Putting Skills Into Action!

Date: Tuesday 11th of June 2013

Location: Kilmodan Primary School

Workshop: Interviews: Putting Skills Into Action!

Walking Youth Theatre Team: Sadie Dixon-Spain and Alana Mathers

Guests: Mr. McNaughton and Mrs. McKay

The afternoon was split into two sessions. The first focused on recapping from last weeks workshop, and discussing the interviewing skills the pupils had identified and practiced. The class was then split into two groups, one to work with Sadie, and one to work with Alana. The groups were told they were each going to be interviewing a member of the community later in the afternoon, and had the session to prepare for the interview. Sadie’s group were going to interview Mr. John McNaughton, a Glendaruel farmer, who grew up in the Glen.  Alana’s group would be interviewing Mrs. McKay, who has lived in the Colintraive and Glendaruel area her whole life, and has many memories to share with the pupils.

In their groups, the pupils made a mind map of questions they would like to ask their interviewee, and the topics they would like to cover in the interview. With Mr. McNaughton, the pupils were interested to find out about farming in the Glen, and what makes Glendaruel an ideal location for farming. They were also interested in hearing about Mr. McNaughton’s childhood, as he too grew up in the Glen.

The group interviewing Mrs. McKay were interested in hearing about Glendaruel’s past, especially how the school has changed from when Mrs. McKay was their age. The pupils were also keen to hear about how the Glen has changed over the years, and what jobs have been available in the area over time.

The pupils also gained experience is using the recording equipment, and had time to practice recording themselves speaking, to ensure they used their strongest, clearest voices to interview.

As the second half of the session approached, the pupils were excited to meet with Mr. McNaughton and Mrs. McKay, and to put their interviewing and recording skills into action. The pupils did a fabulous job interviewing our guests, and both interviewees and interviewers had a great time engaging with Glendaruel’s past.

The interviews can be found on our website. Many thanks to Mr. McNaughton and Mrs. McKay for taking the time to come along to Kilmodan Primary School to work on the Glen of the Red River project.