1Hi Bobby, go ahead and sit down.
2Tell me about your research project.
3Well, I decided to research football,
4and keys for success on a football team.
5That sounds great.
6What are the guidelines for the test?
7Did the teacher talk to you about it in class?
8No, everything is on a handout that was passed out.
9It says that the first draft is due at the end of next week,
10and the second and third are due later on in the month.
11I don't understand why we have to keep revising and fixing it.
12Is this assignment really that important?
13Well, this project is a major requirement for passing 11th grade English and will go on your permanent record.
14Oh really?
15Does that mean it will affect what English level I am placed in next year?
16Well, not exactly.
17You need a good grade to move on, but it is your overall grade
18and teacher recommendation that determines what level of English you are placed in next year.
19Anyway, tell me about your topic choice.
20Do you play football?
21Well, actually it's because my father loves the sport.
22He watches it every weekend.
23Cool! It's a good idea to report on something you're interested in.
24I see you worked hard calling players and the head coach to talk,
25so let's see what information you got.
26Well, you have to listen carefully to the first call on the recording.
27It's really hard to hear because the background noise is louder than the person's voice.
28Yes, it is a bit tough to discern.
29I'm afraid the player's answer is too short as well.
30You will have to interview him again and try to get him to give a better answer.
31Okay.
32I thought that might happen.
33I will call him again tomorrow.
34Moving on, let's look back at this question.
35You asked, "Tell me about a time when you learned a major life lesson through playing football,
36and explain how that has shaped the person and player you have become now,
37and how you hope to pass on that lesson."
38It is a great idea for a question,
39but in an oral interview it is far too complex.
40I would advise you to break it up into multiple parts to get a better response.
41I guess you're right -
42I wouldn't want to have to provide an answer to a question like that.
43I will simplify it.
44I found that when I asked players this question, it took too much time
45because they were struggling to answer the question completely.
46In fact, this is the question Joe Billings was answering when the tape ran out.
47He did tend to ramble on all the questions, didn't he?
48He sure did.
49I would recommend that when you go back and interview players again
50that you use a more sophisticated recording device.
51This recording is spotty,
52which indicates that the equipment wasn't working consistently.
53Okay.
54I guess it probably wasn't the best idea to use the sound recorder on my phone.
55Hey, could you give me some feedback on the content of the report itself?
56Sure!
57Let's start by focusing on your topic.
58While I like that you chose to cover football,
59it seems inexplicit.
60The keys for success of a player and team is quite an interesting topic,
61but what is your thesis?
62That is to say, what conclusions can you draw from your research?
63I would suggest coming up with a strong thesis statement
64and then shaping your report based on that.
65Is it really too vague?
66I put a whole lot of facts into it.
67I list the top 10 goal-scorers in football history,
68and later on provide statistics for a few of the most famous coaches and their records as coaches.
69I think that's great that you included these facts,
70but I think you focused too much on the facts
71and not enough on connecting these facts to make your point.
72Ah, I see. Okay.
73So it looks like I have quite a bit of work to do before the deadline!