Listening to interviews
Understand interviews: follow questions and answers, catch opinions and reasons, and notice when speakers avoid or change a topic.
In this lesson you will
- Follow the structure of an interview
- Identify opinions and supporting reasons
- Notice evasion and topic changes
Learn
Interviews follow question → answer → follow-up. Use the question to predict what kind of answer you’ll hear (a reason, an example, a number).
Opinions are often introduced by I think, personally, to be honest, what I’d say is…; reasons by because, the thing is, mainly.
Evasion: speakers sometimes avoid answering: That’s a good question… What I’d really like to focus on is… I don’t think that’s the real issue.
Spoken features: hesitation (erm, well), self-correction (it was 2010 — no, 2011). Always take the corrected version.
Examples
- Self-correction: “about 300 — sorry, 350 people”.
- Evasion: “What I’d really like to focus on is…”
- Reason: “The thing is, we didn’t have the funding.”
Vocabulary
evade
avoid answering
follow-up question
a question that asks for more detail
self-correction
fixing your own mistake while speaking
founder
a person who starts an organisation
funding
money for a project
Practice
If a speaker says “in 2010 — no, 2011”, the answer is…
Listening: An interview with a café founder
Audio isn’t available in this browser — read the transcript instead.
Interviewer: You opened your first café in 2015. Why coffee?
Leila: Well, honestly, it wasn’t coffee at first. I wanted a place where people could work quietly. The coffee came later.
Interviewer: You now have six cafés — sorry, seven?
Leila: Seven since last month, yes.
Interviewer: Some people say your prices are too high. How do you respond?
Leila: That’s a fair question. What I’d really like to focus on is quality — we pay farmers properly, and that costs more.
Interviewer: What’s been the hardest part?
Leila: The thing is, finding good staff. We train everyone for a month before they serve a customer.
Interviewer: Any plans to go abroad?
Leila: Not yet. I’d rather do seven cafés well than twenty badly.
1.What was Leila’s original idea?
2.How many cafés does she have now?
3.How does she respond to the question about prices?
4.What has been hardest?
5.How long is staff training?
6.She plans to open cafés abroad soon.
Speaking
Role-play an interview with a successful person you admire: write five questions, then answer them in their voice, using at least one follow-up.
Writing
Write a short article (120–150 words) based on the interview with Leila, including one direct quote.
Lesson quiz
Evasion means…
Review
Key points
- Question → answer → follow-up.
- Opinion and reason signals.
- Notice evasion.
- Take the self-corrected version.
What you learned
- ✓ I can follow interviews.
- ✓ I catch opinions and reasons.
- ✓ I notice evasion.