Millfields School Year 6 Kids Do Journalism

I recently spent an enjoyable hour with a Year 6 class at Millfields school talking about what I do for a living. I told them about the very first articles I had published and was paid for way back in 1981, when things like blogs had yet to be invented and dinosaurs roamed the Earth. We then had an interesting discussion about how journalism works and why it sometimes - well, quite often actually - doesn't tell the whole truth and tends to exaggerate things (there's been an example of exaggeration in this article already. A big tick to any reader who's spotted it).

One skill in journalism is interviewing people, so at the end of my visit a couple of the children had a go at interviewing a classmate while I filmed them on my little digicam - one of the tools of my trade these days, along with a digital voice recorder, an iPhone and a variety of scruffy notebooks and slightly-chewed pens. Having obtained their parents' consent, I am now able to show you those interviews. Here's the first, in which a girl called Britney asks a girl called Aisling about her interest in art.

 

The second interview was by Abdullah, who asked Samuel about his love of football. 

 

I though the interviewers' questions were excellent, especially as they had almost no time to prepare them. I completed my visit by stressing to the children that one of the wonders of the internet as that any of them can become a journalist by simply starting their own blog and writing about things that interest them - and, with luck, interest others too. Photographs and video clips can be posted on your blog too, of course, as this article shows.

I'd like to thank the children of Athens class (as it is called in honour of Olympic history) and their teacher Leon for inviting my to talk to them. Which Athens class kid will be the first to start their own blog?   

Comments

[Athens class]

Thank you for coming to our school and making these videos.

You have really helped understand how journalism works and how we could get involved in the future.

Merry Christmas from Athens Class!

(ps careful with the editing!!!!!!!!)

[Things to do in Brisbane]

Journalism is one of the most difficult profession. You have encourages us to make our career in journalism.