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CNexpatesl
Joined: 27 May 2015
Posts: 194
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 Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:19 am Post subject: SAT Teaching |
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I landed an interview for a gig as an SAT teacher/Test Prep Instructor. They want me to do a demo basically covering only grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
I've never done a demo for this type of work before. Can anyone who has tell me what these companies are usually looking for in a demo? Appreciate any tips. |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 1:13 pm Post subject: |
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| How much does it pay? I mean, how much are my tips worth? |
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teenoso
Joined: 18 Sep 2013
Posts: 365
Location: south china
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| Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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Don't know anything about SATs, but I've heard that students want a 'codebreaker' for these standardised tests - so I suggest you take one typical question format, and show in your demo how to answer as quickly and efficiently as possible.
There was a thread a while back on SAT teaching , where it seemed common practice in these schools that teachers were expected to take the test and achieve almost perfect scores to demonstrate their ability (!) |
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OhBudPowellWhereArtThou
Joined: 02 Jun 2015
Posts: 1168
Location: Since 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:55 am Post subject: |
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Followup to teenoso: If the OP takes this approach, I suggest that he bone up on the first few chapters of Princeton Review's prep book. It discusses strategies.
Kaplan and Baron go into strategies, but not to the same degree as Princeton Review.
It might be good to present the simple strategies (e.g.read the questions before reading the text). You'll find these suggestions in both Kaplan and Baron. This is one "trick" in gaining an advantage in Reading comprehension. Some questions will contain some actual words from a section of the excerpt. The one taking the test can remain alert to this fact. Anything beyond that really requires greater reading experience, and there's really nothing that can be done to improve comprehension in a few weeks. Most of the prep books exist to give the test taker experience working with material of similar depth and complexity.
For vocabulary, try to find a demo page from Word Power or any advanced vocabulary list. Create flash cards. (It would be better if you used actual words from Kaplan or Baron). Explain how students will retain more if they create their own flash cards and read the definition aloud repeatedly as they make more and more flash cards. Speaking the definition aloud reinforces the reading. Continual exposure also reinforces the learning process.
You should use the same approach for the Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes and demonstrate how knowing the most common ones will help the student to make an educated guess regarding the meaning of a word.
Working with analogies: This really stumps a LOT of students, especially E2 students. Approach them by a process of elimination and skip the ones that they just can't figure out or make an educated guess. (This is true of ALL answers on the test).
BE SURE to point out to the people doing the interview that it is very important that one who administers the test (even practice tests) read the instructions aloud to the students. This is one small detail that they'll be listening for.
I was Kaplan certified, and I have six years experience working in this area. The students who performed the best began the program before high school and continued in the program until they took the test. A few weeks really won't make much of a difference.
If I still had my materials, I'd tell you more.
Caveat, when Xiao Wang fails the test miserably, be prepared. It will be your fault, not Xiao Wang and his video games. |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:31 am Post subject: |
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| OhBudPowellWhereArtThou wrote: |
| I was Kaplan certified,... |
Under Grayer? The Harvard whiz of marketing.
Anti-trust suits, unqualified instructors as recently as 2015. (Wikipedia)
But it's good to see you at a public university and contributing to a greater society than the options pursued by many.
What's an E2 student Bud? |
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hdeth
Joined: 20 Jan 2015
Posts: 583
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:13 am Post subject: |
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| teenoso wrote: |
There was a thread a while back on SAT teaching , where it seemed common practice in these schools that teachers were expected to take the test and achieve almost perfect scores to demonstrate their ability (!) |
This is for the top teachers, who are usually Asian or ABC. They are outside the realm of normal TEFL and charge exorbitant rates. Most SAT teaching in China is more like a focused reading comprehension/academic writing class. And yes, they expect you to have near perfect SAT scores and/or ivy league credentials for the top jobs, but those top jobs are an extremely small percentage of SAT teaching. |
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OhBudPowellWhereArtThou
Joined: 02 Jun 2015
Posts: 1168
Location: Since 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:01 am Post subject: |
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| hdeth wrote: |
| teenoso wrote: |
There was a thread a while back on SAT teaching , where it seemed common practice in these schools that teachers were expected to take the test and achieve almost perfect scores to demonstrate their ability (!) |
This is for the top teachers, who are usually Asian or ABC. They are outside the realm of normal TEFL and charge exorbitant rates. Most SAT teaching in China is more like a focused reading comprehension/academic writing class. And yes, they expect you to have near perfect SAT scores and/or ivy league credentials for the top jobs, but those top jobs are an extremely small percentage of SAT teaching. |
This is a bizarre requirement. One cannot teach SAT. The "A" in SAT stands for "assessment" (previously "aptitude"). The test measures the skills acquired over time. In the verbal section of most of the SAT books, there are lists of words and prefixes, examples of analogies, passages from different types of sources for critical reading, and other things. The best that one can do in such a class is to coach the student and to exercise what he has already acquired so that he can perform at his optimal level. There is no magic formula.
Someone who has a perfect score is not necessarily more competent to guide the student through the exercises in the SAT prep books. Besides, someone who scored extremely high on the SAT on both the verbal and the mathematics isn't likely to be working in China as an examiner, and he certainly won't be found working in a mill in The U.S. working for $15.00 per hour.
Sorry to go off-topic. OP, try to get a copy of a Baron or Kaplan SAT prep book. It'll guide you in your own preparation for your demo. I'd present more information, but it has been 12-15 years since I've even looked at an SAT prep book. |
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hdeth
Joined: 20 Jan 2015
Posts: 583
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:37 am Post subject: |
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| OhBudPowellWhereArtThou wrote: |
| hdeth wrote: |
| teenoso wrote: |
There was a thread a while back on SAT teaching , where it seemed common practice in these schools that teachers were expected to take the test and achieve almost perfect scores to demonstrate their ability (!) |
This is for the top teachers, who are usually Asian or ABC. They are outside the realm of normal TEFL and charge exorbitant rates. Most SAT teaching in China is more like a focused reading comprehension/academic writing class. And yes, they expect you to have near perfect SAT scores and/or ivy league credentials for the top jobs, but those top jobs are an extremely small percentage of SAT teaching. |
This is a bizarre requirement. One cannot teach SAT. The "A" in SAT stands for "assessment" (previously "aptitude"). The test measures the skills acquired over time. In the verbal section of most of the SAT books, there are lists of words and prefixes, examples of analogies, passages from different types of sources for critical reading, and other things. The best that one can do in such a class is to coach the student and to exercise what he has already acquired so that he can perform at his optimal level. There is no magic formula.
Someone who has a perfect score is not necessarily more competent to guide the student through the exercises in the SAT prep books. Besides, someone who scored extremely high on the SAT on both the verbal and the mathematics isn't likely to be working in China as an examiner, and he certainly won't be found working in a mill in The U.S. working for $15.00 per hour.
Sorry to go off-topic. OP, try to get a copy of a Baron or Kaplan SAT prep book. It'll guide you in your own preparation for your demo. I'd present more information, but it has been 12-15 years since I've even looked at an SAT prep book. |
They've either done a masterful job faking their credentials or they really do have such scores. One of my students was showing me a program where they had before and after photos of students scores (increase of 200 points or so) and the cost was 36k or something to hire the guy as sort of a consultant/tutor combo. I think the normal program was like 200y per person for a class of 20 or so...you do the math.
I won't get into the argument of teaching to the test and the validity of tests in general as it's already been done ad nauseum on this forum. Or the rumored ways in which some training center groups can get the answers to the SAT for their students. It's all been done.
EDIT:
And I do remember seeing some SAT tutoring jobs where they only wanted a person with X score or from certain ivy league schools. As someone with a cousin who went to an ivy league school and ended up selling shoes for a living, I can tell you that not everyone who graduates from those schools ends up at an amazing job. |
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OhBudPowellWhereArtThou
Joined: 02 Jun 2015
Posts: 1168
Location: Since 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:35 am Post subject: |
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| I'm not arguing with you at all. I've seen the ads myself. In the states, some mills require very high scores on the part of the proctors who give the test! It's insane. |
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Why even play the game? Is the goal of education to achieve a high test score? Are you comfortable with a culture that has largely unquestionably accepted this delusion? The fact that high test scorers set themselves up as teachers of how to achieve a high test score says all you need to know about this collective, self-perpetuating and self-stultifying insanity.
Personally, I would rather have a lower salary doing something which actually contributes to society and to the quality of human existence. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 1:27 am Post subject: |
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SATs in the US and I am sure the same type of standardized test in other places, have become the norm, since I was a teenager in the 90s at least, for college entrance. If you do poorly, community college it is, if you want to continue. Many just don't take them anyway.
I never studied for my SAT or SATII exams, but scored relatively well. There is a method to it, and it is easy to pick up for anyone who has been shoved through a standardized testing system.
Check out this article, kind of funny http://blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-get-a-perfect-sat-score-by-a-2400-sat-scorer
Standardized tests are a joke. Watch the documentary "Race to Nowhere" and remember there are next to no new jobs for college graduates. |
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justcolleen
Joined: 07 Jan 2004
Posts: 654
Location: Egypt, baby!
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| Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| RiverMystic wrote: |
| Why even play the game? |
Because they have to.
The ACT measures (okay, okay, in theory) one's ability to learn.
The SAT measures (again, in theory) acquired knowledge/skills.
Combine (ideally) perfect SATs, a strong 4.0 GPA through high school, and cash money, no doubt Junior is a shoe-in at most American universities. Why not? Junior learned everything he was expected to learn (see SAT scores), always earned "the full mark" 100% of the time - for everything (see GPA), and mom and dad are supportive (see cash money). What more could a university ask for?
The shock will come as the SAT exams move toward Common Core and away from memorizing another photocopied book of 5,000 words that are "most common on past tests" types of preparation. Anyone who's taught/tutored comprehension and/or writing should be clicking their heals. I know I am. |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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Heel clicking heterograph alert
I'd be very suprised to see a cite on the distinction you've drawn between the SAT and ACT.
Metrics, or measures, or tests, or evalutions...assessments are most often dismissed by those without study in curriculum design (and its assessment). When you have an alternative to norm- and criterion-referenced assessment that can scale, collect your billion dollars. To be fair, most criticism centers about implementation. Which involves socioeconomic heirarchies and politics and the foibles and failings of us all and should be criticized.
That said, teaching to the test has reduced too much of education to a commodity. But there's a lot of that going around. Ask a medical doctor. |
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CNexpatesl
Joined: 27 May 2015
Posts: 194
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:03 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the help, guys. Appreciated.
So, I ended up not passing the demo portion of the interview... Not sure why. I asked for feedback but they refused to tell me.
I now may have an interview for a TOEFL teaching position that wants a demo.  Any of you guys experienced with this? |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:38 am Post subject: |
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| CNexpatesl wrote: |
| So, I ended up not passing the demo portion of the interview... Not sure why. |
You likely didn't lie convincingly.
The canons and conventions referenced by the SAT reflect American scholastic tradition-- not a small survey. The Los Angeles public library in Little Tokyo has the largest collection of Cliff Notes (a functioning archive) I've ever seen that only serve to orient/familiarize test-takers because the SAT isn't about recall, or lower-order skills.
The frenzy of a growing upper-class in China eager to send progeny abroad is a landscape of brokers, experts, and promises. You likely didn't fit a profile of appearances and self-assured assertions. The "dollar" figures in this sector of education are unprecedented. That said, test-taking strategies are a valid tack to present as deftly as possible. But presenting any viable preparation is well outside the parameters imposed by eager parents and admins of "international" programs-- though the most expensive are resource rich and accomplish success stories that fuel the greater enterprise.
Somewhat... |
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