4º Proyecto entrevista a Michael

Por: alumnado de 4º Proyecto

El alumnado de 4º de ESO Proyecto, dirigido por su profesora de Inglés, Katy, realizó una entrevista a nuestro colaborador y lector de esa lengua, el australiano con orígenes cántabros Michael Aguirrezabal Gil. Se trata de una actividad del Departamento de Inglés del IES José del Campo con la que se pretende un contacto profundo con la lengua inglesa a través de la conversación con un hablante nativo, de forma que a partir del trabajo en la redacción de las cuestiones y el esfuerzo en el oído y en la pronunciación se consiga una mejora significativa en la competencia en lengua inglesa de este grupo.

Primero ponemos un resumen de la entrevista, y luego, pinchando en 'leer más', tenemos la transcripción completa de las preguntas realizadas por el alumnado y las respuestas de Michael.

Interviewing Michael (22/01) 4º PROYECTO. 4th period. ROOM 1.4

[Action]

ANE:

Hi guys, we have a very special guest with us today. We have prepared this interview to get to know more about him. Let’s get started!!

ÓSCAR:

1. What’s your name?

Michael. Michael is my name.

2. Where exactly are you from?

I’m from Sydney, Australia.

3. Have you got any brothers or sisters?

I have two brothers.

4. Have you got any children?

Yes, I have two children, both boys.

5. Have you ever had an unusual pet?

I have had a goose, a very naughty goose. He used to attack me when I went down to the backyard.

IRATXE:

1. When did you first come to Spain?

I came a long time ago when I was a child.

2. Why did you decide to stay in Cantabria?

For several reasons, and mainly because I met my wife.

3. What other places have you visited around Spain?

Lots of places. I’ve been to a lot of cities and I’ve seen a lot of countryside. It’s very nice.

4. What’s the best and the worst place you’ve been to?

Well, the best places on holiday have been to down the south, Sevilla, Almería, Granada. And I can’t really say I’ve been to any bad places in Spain. They’ve all been quite good.

ALEJANDRO:

1. In your opinion, what are the main differences between Australia and Spain?

OK. The main difference is the language, basically. Culturewise, we’re very similar because we are very multicultural. A lot of European settlers, a lot of Asian settlers. Perhaps, we are actually more multicultural now than a hundred years ago.

2. Is there anything you miss from your country?

My friends, my family and my golf course.

3. Which places should we visit if we ever go there?

Ah! I would recommend anywhere in Australia, especially Sydney for obvious purposes, for obvious reasons. I’ve lived in Sydney. It’s a beautiful place. But yeah, go visit any part of Australia, you’ll enjoy it.

4. Are there any traditions we should know before going to Australia?

Well, we like our sport. We like our cricket. And we like being outdoors, so barbecues are very traditional in our culture. We tend to have parties where we would be outside in the garden and hang out. We’re very laid-back. Australians are very laid-back. That doesn’t mean we are not serious, but we tend to be laid-back, relaxed.

LUCÍA:

Michael, let’s talk about school life now.

1. What was your favourite subject when you were a teenager? Why?

OK. My favourite subject changed along the years. History was one of my favourite subjects. But I’ve always had fun memories of my other subjects where I had great teachers, so I actually liked science, I liked English, I liked religion, I liked maths. OK. So I actually enjoyed all my subjects so I had great teachers. But one of my favourite teachers taught me English and History, Mr McGinty.

2. What languages do Australian students learn at high school?

Can you repeat it, please? Yes, OK in my time, we basically did English and perhaps a couple of other European languages, Italian. But now they tell me that they’re learning Chinese. Yeah! Chinese, Indonesian so it’s quite interesting I didn’t know that till I spoke with my niece and my brother out there.

3. What’s your opinion about our school’s level of English?

Well, it’s good. It’s good because the students are good and the teachers are good. So when you have good students and good teachers, your level should be good.

4. What do you think we should do to improve it?

OK. I’m probably going to say something outrageous, but I think there’s a … from the age of 14 onwards, students, people, young people go to work and they get paid, so perhaps we could think about … we should have a discussion, a social discussion about paying students to come and work and learn if they get the right results, to reward them.

5. Do you enjoy working as a language assistant?

Yes, I’m learning a lot. I really enjoy learning so it’s helping me to learn a lot.

MARÍA

1. We know you’re a golf teacher. Can you give us some advice to play golf?

M: The best advice is to go with friends, with someone you know and have lots of fun.

2. What other sports do you play in your free time?

M: I play a little bit of paddle and sometimes I kick the soccer ball around with my children.

3. We’ve seen you playing the didgeridoo. What other musical instruments do you play?

M: I’m not sure, if you call it playing the guitar, but I play the guitar.

4. What other hobbies do you have?

I enjoy doing things with my hands so when I have some time I tend to try and fix something that’s broken or I make something. But one of my main hobbies is learning, believe or not. Every day I come across things I don’t know, especially here at school, so I go home and I try to spend at least 5 minutes investigating that and trying to know for next time.

5. Have you ever played Fortnite? Do you think Spanish teenagers should spend more time outdoors instead of playing computer games?

Well, I haven’t played Fortnite, but I have asked someone who has played Fortnite because I was a little bit worried that it was all blood and gore and he told me that it wasn’t all blood and gore you know.  You have to prepare your battles, you have to think strategically, so he changed my mind about what the game was. And as regards spending time playing games, I think we’ve all played some sort of games as children or young people, but if you stop spending time with your family or friends or if you can’t.., if you don’t have enough time to study or take a walk because you are playing video games, I think –you know- perhaps you should change that. 

ANE:

1. Michael, we know you speak Spanish very well although we’ve never heard you. Have you ever had any misunderstandings or funny anecdotes?

Yes, I have. I actually sometimes invent words, so I take an English word and put it into a Spanish phrase and then along the conversation someone says “Hang on a sec. that word  doesn’t exist in Spanish”. And vice versa, sometimes I take a Spanish word and I try to put it into English language and sometimes it works and sometimes I say hey  that’s not a word.

2. Do you think Spanish is more difficult than English?

I don’t know. I really don’t know. I don’t think so.

3. Can you speak any other languages?

I’ve tried. I actually learnt a little bit of Italian at school because my friends were Italian, some of my friends were Italian, so I did a year of Italian and…

[Alejandro: Is it difficult?]

No, not really. If you have fun doing something, nothing is really that difficult. It needs effort, but if you have fun doing it…

4. Can you teach us some aboriginal words or expressions?

Right, I found out the other day at Colindres that “Kangaroo” actually means “I don’t understand you” because when the British settlers went to Australia and they said to the aboriginals: “What’s that?” (you know)  What’s that?” The aboriginals said to them  “Kangaroo, kangaroo”, “I don’t understand you!” So the white settlers said, Oh it’s called the kangaroo. So I don’t know if it’s true, but I suppose it is because the teacher prepared it.

ANE:

Michael, thank you so much for this interview and for being our assistant. We hope you can come back next year!!

MICHAEL:

Oh! Thank you very much for having me. I’ve really really enjoyed every day I’ve been here. I mean it. and it’s a great learning experience for me too, so If I can come back next year, I will. And I hope to see you as well next year.  OK. Keep up the good work! Been a pleasure, thank you.