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bluething
Joined: 13 Jun 2017
Posts: 13
Location: Europe
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 Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:23 am Post subject: Pre-Interview Task |
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I couldn't find a topic with the same title, I hope it's ok to post.
I received this pre-interview task while applying for a teaching position at an International House. If you have similar examples, please share.
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Pre-interview task (teaching position):
1. You are teaching an upper-intermediate adult class. Describe how you would teach should have' & shouldn't have for criticizing past actions.Consider what context would be suitable and how the language would be clarified and practiced.
Please provide a brief lesson procedure.
2. You have a pre-intermediate class of teenagers (aged 12-14). Describe how you would introduce the Present Simple Passive. Consider what context would be suitable and how the language would be clarified and practiced.
Please provide a brief lesson procedure.
3. You have a class of 7-year-old beginners. In the first part of the lesson you introduced numbers 1-10 and the students practiced the vocabulary by doing a matching task. Describe an oral activity which would give the students the opportunity to speak using the new language. (They already know the alphabet, colors, shapes, basic classroom vocabulary, and some simple structures e.g. What’s this? It’s a/an…; What color is it? It’s…; Is it…? Yes, it is/No, it isn’t)
Outline the stages of the activity and the role of the teacher and students at each stage.
4. Think about a class you are teaching at the moment/have taught recently. How would you describe it to a colleague and what advice would you give the colleague if they were to take it over? |
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Gulezar
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 8:00 am Post subject: Re: Pre-Interview Task |
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| bluething wrote: |
I couldn't find a topic with the same title, I hope it's ok to post.
I received this pre-interview task while applying for a teaching position at an International House. If you have similar examples, please share.
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For three different positions I received two different styles of pre-interview tasks. One university sent an extensive questionnaire with points to ponder and answer in less than 200 or 500 words on the varying points. These were similar to the questions that you posted. I particularly liked the teaching philosophy in 10 words or less. A governmental agency had similar tasks. Both of these institutions allowed a few weeks for completion.
I believe that these tasks set the tone for the follow-up interview with an interview panel. It made for a starting point for the interview. It also gave the panel a chance to assess a candidates writing style and organizational abilities.
Another university sent a standard textbook lesson that is used by their program. This was sent one hour before the interview and then the interview followed. I believe that this was to assess how a candidate worked under pressure. It also demonstrated one's organizational abilities and generally if one could produce something beyond the textbook blurb. Would a candidate stick to the lesson or introduce an activity? Would a candidate be able to determine an appropriate time frame? Would some activities be skimmed over?
It all depends on what kind of program one is applying to. The best thing is to be honest. If the program is a page by page, hour by hour lock step set up, then a creative individual who introduces games and activities and skims over the drills would probably not fit in. Similarly, if the program is looking for innovation, then someone who sets up a lesson plan with minute by minute allocation of time to the textbook's prescribed lesson might be seen as a bit dry and dated. |
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fluffytwo
Joined: 24 Sep 2016
Posts: 139
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| Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:32 am Post subject: |
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Grammar-based, and indeed grammar-centered, often ostensibly textbook-backed lessons are still the norm in most language schools. I'm not sure what purpose it would serve then to compile a list of similar tasks, but with regard to the ones posted above, the first is IMHO clearly too limited and direct exponent-wise, while the third has that unfortunate air of strange pointless ob(li)viousness and redundancy about it that typifies a lot of so-called communicative teaching (and the age of the learners shouldn't always be an excuse). For the second, stuff like http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=45701#45701 and http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=46455#46455 might help supply data and ideas.
Bit of a Catch-22 then - confine yourself too willingly to any possible "set up" inherent in a task's "necessary" limitations of length and easy phrasing, or risk at least indirectly impugning the task-setter's linguistic taste and lack of functional foresight by "going beyond" the "given" in order to prove oneself a reasonably thoughtful if not capable teacher. Damned if you do, but even more damned if you don't especially LOL.
The fourth however is quite a gift, as the class could be a somewhat invented or idealized one and the perfect follow-up or cover or bridging lesson(s) thus formulated. One would need however to be reasonably succinct given that one is meant to be briefly filling a colleague in. (In reality the conversation would probably run something like this: "They've done Present Perfect Progressive Passive and are up to page 53 in the book. I haven't done Hangman with them yet though, so that's a surefire winner right there!"). |
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