Cheating on My Listening-Speaking Assignment

Every semester I give my ESL 132 and ESL 142 students a "contact assignment," which is an interview they're supposed to do to improve their speaking and listening skills. My instructions are very specific and include this directive:


Ask the following questions.  Don’t just give the native speakers the paper to fill out!  Remember the purpose of this assignment is to help you improve your speaking and listening skills.

The  first time I ever gave this assignment it was on the topic of music in the interviewee's life, and I knew that the students needed a sample report, so I made up a fake interview with a friend, Maureen Rooney, and I thought it was pretty good.  But she and I really got together, so I decided to conduct it for real.  It turned out to be totally different from what I had imagined.

Last semester on the subject of forbidden food, I wouldn't let my friend Linda send me the answers in writing.  I interviewed her at the dinner table on Skype.

This semester, though, I decided I'd cheat and skip the part on speaking and listening.  

I got caught by the teacher--me!  

Writing up the report, I was interested that Linda said that Bocelli and Connick sign so well.  I told a friend who came over for leftovers, "It's nice for Bocelli to sign for other blind people."  And then I realized that that didn't make sense.  How could blind people benefit from signing?  He must be doing it in solidarity with people who are deaf.  I then looked up Connick, and when I found him neither blind nor signing, it occurred to me that Linda had typed sign when she had meant sing.  That's not the type of mistake either of us would have made if I'd done what the teacher instructed and conducted an oral interview!