Job Discussion Forums

[diderot]

I will be participating in an Aeon group interview next week and I am in need of some assistance. I am a little worried about the lesson I am required to prepare and present. As I have never done this before, I don�t know exactly what I should do. Aeon recommended that I consult an ESL book, but they didn�t recommend one. Can any of you? Aeon wasn�t very specific about what the lesson should consist of, only that it should be conversation based. I am thinking about something along the lines of having the mock students read something and then discuss it, such as what it is about and what the students think about it. I would have them ask each other and me questions about the text. Is this a good idea? Is this what they are looking for?

Any other suggestions?

I have read a great deal on this webpage about these interviews, but I haven�t found what I am looking for. Perhaps, one of you could just point me in the right direction.

Thanks for whatever assistance you can provide.

[guest of Japan]

Do not do that!

Do a role play activity, something along the lines of checking into a hotel, visiting a doctor, ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions. Make some props, use realia, use flash cards to teach key vocabulary.

Keep it simple. Most of the students you will teach at AEON are not discussion level. Even the ones that are will probably not just fall into a discussion like you've come to expect in the west.

Everyone does terrible mock lessons, so don't be worried too much. The key is to look friendly and adaptable. Receive and advice or criticisms they give with joy. But do not attempt to do a discussion.

[diderot]

Okay, sounds like good advice.

Do you think it would work if I just stole a lesson from another text and reversed the languages?

thanks!

[Jess]

Hi there
It would be ok to copy a lesson. The best lessons at my interview were ones where everyone was given a sheet and they had to find certain things out about one another, such as if they had ever won the lottery etc...
My lesson was getting everyone to look at pictures on flashcards and to describe the picture without using the words written on the flashcard (a bit like pictionary).
To be honest, this is not the stage of the interview you should worry about...it's if you get through to the next day! I really bummed the 8 minute lesson i had to give the interviewer, I used grammar terms and panicked really when I could not explain the present perfect...
Nevermind, I have an offer now with a company which I much prefer!
Good luck and don't worry if you don't get in, it seems to me AEON is extremely stringent!

[KarenMarie]