Tell your story

Fact 3

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Glossary

backstroke: (n.) a way of swimming in which you lie on your back and move one arm and then the other straight behind you so that they pass the sides of your head, while kicking with your legs. The youngest competitor in the 2016 Olympic Games was Gaurika Singh. She’s from Nepal and she represented her country in the 100-meter backstroke race when she was just 13 years of age. Thirteen is very young to be in the Olympics!

As you can imagine, reporters wanted to interview her! ‘How do you feel competing in the Games? ‘Are you nervous?’ How long do you practice swimming every day?’ ‘What is the secret of your success?’ Glossary

success: (n.) the achieving of the results wanted or hoped for.

Glossary

outstanding: (adj.) something that is very much better than what is usual. Many other outstanding young people are often interviewed. For example: other young athletes, young musicians and singers, brilliant young mathematicians and scientists, young entrepreneurs whose businesses are doing well, artists and writers who aren’t quite teenagers yet.

But you really don’t need to do something very special to be interviewed. Answering questions about yourself is a fun thing to do, especially if someone – your mom or dad for example - interview you every year as you are growing up.

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It will be really interesting to look back when you are much older and see how your answers change over time. What were you like when you were 12? Were you very different by the time you were 18? In what ways were you different?

Of course, to do this you need a list of good questions and you need someone to interview you, record your answers and keep them year by year. That person should also remember every year to do the interview! You’ll probably forget! Glossary

interview: (n.) a meeting in which someone asks you questions.

This is what to do, if you like the idea. Get together with friends and family and work out some questions. The answers should tell you something about what sort of person you are, your likes and dislikes, your dreams and goals.

‘What’s your favorite…?’ is always a good question, and there are dozens of variations.

What’s your favorite… food, color, movie, sport, treat, subject in school, hobby, song, television show, fruit, vegetable and so on. You can probably think of other similar questions.

Go to page 43 Activity Book Then there are questions like: • Who is your best friend? • What do you like doing with your best friend, mom, dad, brothers and sisters, and so on. • What do you want to be when you grow up?

Here are some other questions you might like to put on your list. • What places do you want to visit? • What is something you really want to learn how to do? • What things make you excited?

Glossary exited: (adj.) feeling very happy; interested in something and enthusiastic. bored: (adj.) feeling unhappy because something is not interesting or because you have nothing to do.

• What things make you bored?

• What about these questions?

• What is something you really want? • What are you most worried about? • What are you most excited about? • What is one amazing thing you want to do in the coming year? • What are your greatest talents? • What do you imagine you’ll be doing when you’re 23?

Glossary

worried: (adj.) troubled or concerned.

In fact, questions about how you imagine your future are good ones to ask. For example, what do you want to accomplish in your life? Where do you see yourself in the future? What will your life be like? Who will you be with? How will you be spending your days? What is your greatest dream? Glossary

accomplish: (v.) to finish something successfully or to achieve something. spending: (v. gerund) to use time doing something or being somewhere.

When you’ve done the interview and someone has recorded the answers, make sure a recent photo of you gets put away with the questionnaire. You’ll want to know what you looked like, as well as what you thought and felt. Sometime in the future you’ll find it very interesting to discover what you were like in the past!

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