Job Discussion Forums

[JRJohn]

I am being considered for a university job in Beijing. It's NOT Peking University or Renmin University, but they are asking for a skype interview, and I am having trouble re-installing skype on my computer.
But let's say I succeed. The next stage is a skype interview and a TEACHING DEMO.
My friends in Beijing have NEVER been asked to do this. To them it seems extraordinarily demanding. I would do the skype interview but not the teaching demo, as it seems a silly idea. I would be "teaching," the interviewers. I can't do myself justice, and I have been given almost no notice, and don't know whether the students will be English majors or not. That makes a difference.

What do the readers think? Supposing I were to go through with it, what sorts of "lessons" would appeal to Chinese professors in Beijing. The fact that I'm being asked to do this suggests that (a) there's been a stampede of applicants, or (b) the university has done most recruiting already, but is applying an extra test, so that if I do extremely well they can hire me and drop someone, or (c) as I fear, the students I'll be teaching are really low level, really demotivated.


I have taught in Chinese universities before and things were fine. But I heard stories aabout other people's baad experiences. I also wonder if the Beijing school is wasting my time. I've had that before.

[Non Sequitur]

You don't mention your topic but most teaching posits some kind of student feedback.
This is as part of the general student buy in but also as an indicator that the teacher can move on to the next point.
You can't get that on a face to face demo to an interview panel and it would be impossible on Skype IMHO.
If you're looking at a Sept start you've got bags of time.
Politely decline to take this beyond an interview with Q&A i.e How would you handle x y or z?
If they insist on their plan terminate discussions.
If they're seriously interested (and they seem to be) they'll come across.
Avoid causing loss of face though.
Keep us posted.
Interesting topic as we approach hiring season.

[doogsville]

When I interviewed for my job two years ago, the other two applicants (there were only three jobs) had to do Skype interviews and we all had to do a demo class. It turned out there were no students there, just the interview panel. The school gave us all a choice of material to use for the demo. My carefully crafted lesson involved me doing my thing, then saying something like, "at this point I would ask the students this question", or "now I would have the students work in pairs to practice the dialogue". It was strange, and stressful, but the panel, all eight of them, nodded and looked like they understood what was going on. I got the job. The other two got the job as well, and they told me they had a similar experience, but remotely. In retrospect I think the school just wanted to make sure I wasn't a complete incompetent. Your situation could be similar.

Online teaching seems to be quite popular now too, with sites set up to connect teachers and students, though usually for one to ones. Maybe that's where they got the idea. As to the lesson appealing to the professors, I don't think that's such a good idea. You won't be teaching the professors, so think about what you would teach the students and demo that.

That's if you decide you want the job of course. If you really don't want to do the demo, just let them know and keep looking for another job.

[Guerciotti]

Got QQ?
If you can't Skype or QQ, offer to send a video of part of one of your classes. That might do.

[LPKSA]

Choose a grammar topic, such as first, second, and third conditionals.

Go on the Internet, spend a few hours at most, and research lesson plans others have contributed in the field.

Construct your own lesson plan, but don't copy, they might have seen the lesson before, but then again, it's China, where even in the Universities, copying is commonplace.

Do a 20 minute lesson plan:

Intro - 5 minutes: introduce the topic, and provide examples in sentence usage.

Explanation - 5 minutes: show how the grammar rules work.

Practice: 5-10 minutes: explain how you would do the activity with the students in class. Show these people how you would follow up and check their comprehension.

Film yourself. A good example can be found on youtube, a woman named Rachel (Rachel's English, she's really nice, she'll even answer your questions) provides exceptional teaching demos.

Just film yourself with a large piece of paper, with your own work, be yourself, smile, and most importantly, be presentable.

Put the video on Youtube and provide them with the link. Would be even better if you could film yourself teaching actual students, depending on resources you have at your leisure.

Good luck.

[DCHun]

While applying for my job, I had to do a video chat interview via QQ. Didn't have to do a teaching demo, but had to describe a lesson I had done before. Not a big deal