Teacher Note: The class was assigned to interview experts in occupations of interest
to the students: Below are sample reports turned in by them after they arranged and
conducted the interviews of these professionals.
Sample Interview One-former NICE Student
Expert Interview
Dr. Robert Gibson, S.L.S, UHM
BXXXX CXXXXX
Questions that I asked
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Is there any research or work using computer aid in S.L.S?
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In your opinion, how could computer science and Language study combine together?
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What is the difference between Linguistics and S.L.S?
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How does S.L.S affect on endanger languages?
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Is English teaching a majority in S.L.S?
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What is the student diversity in S.L.S? Nationalities and Majors.
In the field of Second Language Study, there are still not lots of computer aid among researches or work rather then
regular reports or thesis. But there still something can be made with computers’ assistance, like in the linguistic department;
people use software called shoebox to facilitate scholars to make a dictionary more quickly not only on a one-to-one dictionary
but also on a multi-language dictionary. More then that, if between computer science and SLS there is a kind of partnership, it
could have some different inspirations.
According to a language, linguistics try to find the rules about the language, and Second Language Study specialists are
working how to spread it more efficiently. The native Hawaiian language were endanger years ago, so the state government
carried on a emergency plan to save the language. They funded a special school to make students to use Hawaiian as their daily
language rather than English from kindergarten to 12th grade. Nowadays, you even can hear somebody talking in Hawaiian in the
UH campus, and those students from the school are truly native speakers of Hawaiian. Maybe it will be a nice suggestion for the
native languages revitalized plans in Taiwan too.
But for me, I would like to know more about how to let more people know another language through personally
communications. For under-graduate study in SLS department, they didn’t provide lots of advanced courses for different major
students, but there are still some students from different major background in the graduate program. In SLS, students are from
different places and all focus on the language teaching. The professor’s talk, “English has become a worldlish. Peoples from
different cultures or countries speak one common language, English.”, is really true. And I’m willing to dig more things out if I
can take part in this department.
During the short interview with Professor Gibson, his kindness really impresses me. He patiently listened to our questions
and tried to give us more than just answering the questions. And in his room is full of books and lots of notes to keep track on his
research, I like his goal as keep on working as well as he is. And about the teaching, “teaching is the most honorable profession”,
that is really impressive. And I am truly inspired by him.
Sample Interview Two-former NICE Student
EXXX KXXXXX
Oral production
Sep. 12, 2006
Expert Interview Report
I interviewed Maria whose major is nursing. I am interested in nursing so I interviewed her. I asked her about 10 questions
that I wanted to know. Here are the questions and her answers.
1. How did you decide to study nursing?
“It is a very long story. I already wanted to work in the health care field since I was young. I dreamt of becoming a good
doctor. But my interests changed when I stepped on to my high school years. I kept changing my desired career – lawyer,
architect, artist, and so on. So when the application period started for the universities, I opted for the majors wherein the
universities were known for. Not to boast, but I got accepted to all the universities I applied to. So there I was, trying to think
which university I wanted to go to and what major I really wanted to pursue. I chose Law in a very prestigious and premiere
private university in the Philippines. But then, my family didn’t want me to become a lawyer. Since I was also accepted in the
other premiere state university in my country with the major they want (which was nursing), they convinced her to go there.
2. What is a good thing about being a nurse?
“When you ask this question to the people other than nurses, they would say “caring for their patients and having a good
pay.” These are true, but I must say it is not only about these things. When a nurse cares for a patient, he/she is thinking, what is
the best action for this patient? Once we are able to think about it and implement the care we planned, we would see how the
patient progresses and goes back to his/her normal life. Just seeing a client get better is already a big reward for me.”
3. What is a bad thing about being a nurse?
“It is a hard question. I think nurses tend to forget to take care of themselves because of their very tight schedules, thinking
about their patients. Most of the time, since we have a shortage of nurses here in US, one nurse has 6-10 patients to take care of,
which is pretty demanding, considering the kind of care they provide for each one of them.
4. What is the hardest thing being a nurse?
“Seeing people’s condition worsen, and sometimes, watching them die.”
5. What kind of work place can you work after you study nursing at the university?
“I would like to work in a hospital after she graduates.”
6. What kind of difficulties do you experience when you are studying nursing?
“It is staying up all night to study, catching up with the readings (e.g. 3 thick chapters for each day for one class), afraid of
not being able to do the right technique when doing hands-on skills, not being able to reach professors’ expectations.”
7. What is your motto about nursing?
“Seize the day!”
8. What is the most important thing to be a nurse?
“Take care of yourself first. If you don’t keep yourself healthy, how could you keep others healthy?”
9. Is nursing a stable job?
Why? Why don’t you think so?
“It depends on the nurse. There is a very high demand for nurses all over the world. Go to Europe, and you’ll find a job.
Go to USA, surely you’ll secure one too. Go to Asia, and you’ll be hired, etc. However, a nurse needs to be strong to keep
him/herself on the job. They should be able to handle all the stress that this career entails.”
10. Do you like studying nursing?
“I do, minus the stress in nursing school.”
When I was a nurse in Japan, many people said that people became a nurse because of having a good pay. I felt really sad
when I heard it. Many people think nurse is having a good pay so that they become a nurse. Maria said the same thing, but her
opinion was different from other people. When I heard her opinion, I was really happy. She thinks that nurses are thinking about
what the best action for this patient is. When a nurse in Japan, I always cared what patients need. I thought that no matter where
they are from, every nurse cares about patients. I felt that I want to be a nurse In the U.S. too.
The interview was really useful in helping I decide on my future. I was wondering that if there is a difference between
Japanese nurses and American nurses. But I made sure that there is no difference between them. I thought that every nurse has
the same sprit as a nurse in the world.
As you know, Maria is an interchanger, so she knows that I’m studying English. I think she didn’t use difficult or technical
words during the interview. When I talked about what section I used to work, it was a little difficult, because I had to use
technical words. I didn’t want to use my dictionary, so I explained about it easily and Maria guessed it. I think that language
difficulty of this field is technical words. Even it is Japanese, It was difficult to memorize technical words. I thought that I need
to study technical words more.
It was a good opportunity to interview Maria. We had fun to talk about nursing. I’m going back to Japan the end of
September, but I’ll keep studying English and I’ll come back to Hawaii to become a nurse.