Job Discussion Forums

nnyinside · Joined: 17 Apr 2012 Posts: 1

I had an interview with ECC about two weeks ago, and I found that the interview approach was a lot different than anything I found online.

I interviewed in Toronto with John. We started by watching a video and having a Q and A section, just as I expected. We talked about the school, benefits, tax information... a bunch of stuff.

Everything went exactly as I thought it would, with the exception of the grammar test. From everything I've read online, applicants take the test toward the beginning of the day. If you pass, you continue on with the interview. If you fail, you're asked to leave.

In my session, we didn't take the test until the very end of the day. It led me to wonder why they would spend the extra time interviewing and taping applicants if there was a high chance that at least one person in the session would fail. In fact, John even told us that he would be shipping all of our applications over to Japan to be reviewed. Does anyone know why they're not just eliminating people who don't pass the grammar test? Are they not taking it into account as much as they used to?

ghostrider · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 147

May not mean anything, though I have a hunch fewer people are trying to find work in Japan in the past. The amount of posts on forums like this one seem far fewer than just a few years ago.

It just seems like Japan's pop-culture is not quite as popular as it was 10 years ago when the quirky fashion trends, horror films and anime, Japanese video games, and some music all seemed new and exciting. Also, the average starting wages are quite low now and there's no sign they're going up. That and what happened in March last year and continues to be a problem today.

ghostrider · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 147

rxk22 · Joined: 19 May 2010 Posts: 1629

aynnej · Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 8:38 am Post subject:

I interviewed with John Barry (sp?) in Toronto in 2008. At that time, we took the grammar test at the end. I'm not sure how much weight the grammar test had. I've read posts from people who interviewed at other locations, and they sometimes took the grammar test earlier in the day. Perhaps it's up to the individual interviewer?

Inflames · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 486

If you interview for ECC gaigo in Japan you have a test but the interview is broken into 2 days - if you pass the first part (with the test) you get invited back for the second part.

That one guy · Joined: 19 Apr 2012 Posts: 10 Location: US

Kionon · Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 11:18 pm Post subject:

Had an ECC interview in 2009. Easily passed the grammar test. They wanted to change my visa, and I wasn't prepared for that at the time. I walked out on them.

aynnej · Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:34 am Post subject:

whispechoes · Joined: 07 Feb 2010 Posts: 20

When I went to one of ECC's interviews in 2010, the interview only took place over one day. The day was split in half, with a grammar test at the end of the first half; if you passed, you came back for the rest. If you didn't, they would just put your number or letter up on the door so you could check and slink off.

It might just be at the whim of the recruiters that day; maybe for some reason the exam wasn't ready until the end, or maybe they didn't think it was that important for your group, or... well, who knows.

If you get in, you can ask them Very Happy

weigookin74 · Joined: 30 Mar 2010 Posts: 265

So, what kind of grammar questions do these schools test on? How specific is it? Detailed, general?

aynnej · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:32 am Post subject:

When I took the ECC test, it was maybe 50 questions where you choose the best word. You didn't have to know terminology like present perfect, past perfect continuous, etc., but you did have to know how to use these tenses correctly. I suspect the spelling section is the biggest eliminator. I'd suggest finding a list on the internet of the 100 most misspelled/confused words and studying them.

That one guy · Joined: 19 Apr 2012 Posts: 10 Location: US

With the teaching part of the interview, what sort of topics does the interviewer assign?

I saw on other threads that one interviewee was told to prepare a five-minute lesson on farm animals and another interviewee was assigned food. I'm trying to prepare for the interview by finding games that work for animals, food, transportation, and body parts in case I'm assigned to teach on that particular subject. If I whip out pictures of food and have a game prepared, I think that will help my chances of acceptance considerably. Thoughts?

mc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 90 Location: Aichi, Japan

There are so many potential topics for the demo lesson that it would be impractical to prepare something for every possibility. It's fine to think about how you might teach these things, but to actually create your own props ahead of the interview is unnecessary -- especially since they give you some prep time (10 mins?) and access to materials before your demo.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I would say the topic itself (food, animals, etc.) is not as important as the grammar point it is meant to portray:

past tense
present tense
I want... vs. I would like...
This is... Those are...

If you want to think in advance of any collection of items, fine, but I would suspect that they have a language component behind them that goes along with teaching the mere vocabulary in that collection.