Q & A with Teresa and Sara (Y12) about their podcast "Mandatory Talks"

Sometime in January, my English teacher Mr. Eoin Brosnan asked two Year 12 students to come into our year 9 English Lang & Lit class to talk about their podcast: Mandatory Talks. The goal of this was for us students to learn how a podcast was made by asking them a few questions on how they made their own podcast. The interview was very interesting and the whole class learnt a lot about how a podcast can be made fluently. I was immediately engaged during this interview and I was always eager to learn more about the topic. Here is a summary of the Q&A my Year 9 class had with Teresa Ayala and Sara Mateus.

Year 9: What tips do you have about making the podcast flow and not seem scripted?

Sara and Teresa: We don’t plan. We don’t write a script, basically. We sometimes research about an event that is happening during the week we’re recording our podcast in and then we just have a normal discussion, like one you’d have with your friends. We have a close relationship so it’s pretty easy to have a flowing conversation. We just find a main topic and develop from there.

Year 9: How does the conversation not get sidetracked then?

Sara and Teresa: *laugh* oh, it does! Because the point of this podcast is to educate but also to entertain and I think that what people like is when it’s natural. It’s just like when you’re talking to someone, you get sidetracked!

Year 9: What program do you use to edit the podcast?

Sara and Teresa: Basically, we use Teams to record the Teams call/meeting and we use iMovie to edit slightly, but we don’t really edit too much usually because it needs to sound like it flows. We decided to do this on a Teams call because we started this project during quarantine, so we had no other option to record then. We still use it because Teams is really easy to use.

Year 9: How long does it take to record one of your podcasts? Do you do several takes?

Sara and Teresa: We don’t do several takes. We usually record for about an hour because we don’t really have a time limit so we just talk about whatever we want and then we might eventually cut some parts if it’s really long.

Year 9: How do you make your it interesting, funny, entertaining, and serious altogether?

Sara and Teresa: Oooo that’s a good question! We don’t really make it serious or funny, really, it’s just friends being friends and talking about whatever they talk! We never say like “Oh, let’s tell a joke!” or anything like that. Nothing is scripted and we just have a casual conversation.

Year 9: Do you ever do something to make sure you’re speaking in an academic language?

Sara and Teresa: It really depends on what we’re talking about. If it’s a serious conversation and of course, we want to inform and educate others, we make sure to use the right terms and the right language. We would typically write bullet notes to just structure it a bit.

Year 9: How do you manage to talk one by one and not altogether?

Sara and Teresa: Sometimes we do. We talk over the other person and then we immediately stop ourselves and say like “you go first”. But over time, I think it has gotten better because in the first episode that happened more often but now, we’ve created a sort of flow.

Year 9: What is the biggest challenge?

Sara and Teresa: The biggest challenge was probably... doing episodes every single week. Also getting used to talking in front of the camera and feeling like you’re being recorded. Because one thing is just having a conversation with your friend. But then when you know you’re being recorded, you try to be more careful with what you say and the words you choose and it’s overall kind of weird to get used to.

Year 9: Is it hard, sometimes, to keep the conversation flowing?

Sara and Teresa: Well... normally when the conversation is over, we already know that the podcast has ended. We don’t want to push it too far and if we said all we wanted to say, then that’s it. But usually if there’s an awkward silence, we just change topics quickly and ask each other “what about this” or “what’s your opinion on this topic”.

Year 9: Do you need a better microphone to record your podcast?

Sara and Teresa: It depends on whether or not you want to do this podcast for a long time. We started off with the phone microphones but now we already have good microphones. However, better sound equals better product and better result. Warning: If you are going to buy a microphone, choose wisely because they’re not all as good.

Year 9: Is there a bigger advantage in showing your face or doing an audio podcast?

Sara and Teresa: I think a lot of people like to see faces (which is kind of weird but) and they feel closer to you and feel more entertained watching you (seeing your reactions and your facials expressions is really important).

Year 9: What program/software do you use to put your podcast on different platforms?

Sara and Teresa: We use Anchor. It’s a Spotify-based platform that sends you a link so that you can upload your podcast literally on any platform (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, etc.). It’s really useful because it basically does everything for you.

Year 9: So, are you doing this project for Service as Action/CAS?

Sara and Teresa: We started off by doing this for SAA but we could have decided not to continue, and we didn’t! We actually like doing it so we’re continuing to do it and it’s fun. We also really appreciate when we get feedback and compliments on our podcast, it’s so nice!

And now, a round of applause for Teresa and Sara! Check out their podcast Mandatory Talks on Apple Music; https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/mandatory-talks/id1550807668

Written by Zoe, Y9.2