Job Discussion Forums

[mesomorph]

Thanks to everybody for all the help, and for making me laugh.

[MELEE]

[mesomorph]

I have been trying to get a clue about what I should do in the foreign language classroom, do you have any advice?

[Justin Trullinger]

[mesomorph]

I have decided the best way to get this job is to teach myself how to become a TEFL/EFL/ESL teacher and convince the interviewer that I am capable of filling this role.

I propose to do this by carrying out the following research project.

Research Project: How to become a TEFL/EFL/ESL teacher

Research Questions

1. How does an TEFL/EFL/ESL teacher teach English in a foreign language school?
2. What methods and strategies do TEFL/EFL/ESL teachers use to teach English in a foreign language school?
3. What will I have to tell the interviewer to get the job?

Methodology

Teaching staff questionairres based on research questions 1, 2, 3

[mesomorph]

I propose to use you guys for the reseach and will post the findings on this website.

Is this the best forum for a questionaire based on my research questions?
Is there a more suitable place for me to post it, like a learning and teaching board or something?

You have already partially answered my third research question.

If I ask the question, 'What will I have to tell the interviewer to get the job? I should first find out what the interviewer wants to know.

You have helped answer that.

Compilation of possible interview questions for the post of teacher of conversational language

The school �

We run English courses for both individuals and groups. The levels range from debutant to advanced and cover general English to commercial/business. There are also children�s classes on certain days of the week but the priority for this position lies with the adults.

The teaching role �

Your role would be to teach the groups face to face with the use of a variety of text books, CD�s and modules that we have within our library and to encourage conversation with the students. Of course, grammar is required during the courses but the emphasis lies with conversational English.

Predicated Questions �

Questions about you

Tell me about yourself.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What are your interests outside of work?
Do you speak any foreign languages? Tell me about your experiences learning a foreign language.
What is your EU residency status? Are you entitled to work here?
Why should I hire you?
Why do you think you are suited for language teaching?
How would you characterize yourself as a learner?
How would you describe yourself as an employee in relation to your co-workers?
Your superiors? Your students?
How long of a time commitment can you make with us?

Questions about your training

What was the most important thing you learned in your training?
Why do you think you were awarded an A/B/Pass grade?
Have you attended any additional training or seminars recently?

Questions about your current and previous jobs

Where are you working at the moment?
What are your responsibilities in your current position?
What have you learned from this job?
Tell me about your previous jobs. Why did you leave?
Why are you looking for a new job?
Why have you not been working since June?
What happened in your teaching practice/last school, why have you decided to come to France to teach?
What other work experiences do you have that may contribute to your performance
in the classroom?
In your opinion, which of the following jobs would best prepare a person for
language teaching? Why?? -Sports coach -actor -social worker -tour group leader -salesperson -nurse

Questions about the school and country

What interests you about this school?
What do you know about this school?
Why do you want to live in this country?
What are your reasons for wanting to work with us?

Questions about your teaching and experience

Do you have any formal training as a teacher?
Do you have any formal experience teaching English?
What is your biggest weakness?
You do not have much experience in teaching TEFL, what makes you think you can do this job?
What are your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher?
You're qualified to teach English to English speaking youth, how do you imagine teaching English as a foreign language would be different from teaching English as a first language?
What, in your opinion, is the most important aspect of language learning in the classroom?
(Writing, reading, speaking....)
How would you get students involved in class?
What are the main reasons for and against correcting students' mistakes?
How do you implement group work into your lessons?
What are some of the reasons for (and against) teaching grammar in class?
What is a good way to teach vocabulary?
How would you introduce the past simple tense to a group of 10 adult students?
What is English grammar and how would you teach it?
How important is grammar for teaching English?
If you get this job you will be teaching conversational English how would you do that?
What are some of the different methodologies you would use in your teaching of conversational English?
What strategies would you put in place for teaching conversational English in your classroom?
How would you assess the progress made with your students?
What do you feel is the most important thing to remember when teaching conversational English?
How would you engage the learners in your classroom in learning conversational English?
In what ways have you imaginatively used materials in the past to engage learners in your classroom?
How would you feel about creating your own syllabus?
Have you had experience-teaching adults before? How do you think teaching adults would differ from teaching children?
How would you explain "proud"?
What would you want to know about a group if I told you I needed you to teach it in 30 minutes?
What ages and levels of students have you taught in the past?
Have you ever had to teach without materials? How would you feel about this?
Tell me about your experience teaching children / business English / TOEFL. How would you feel about being asked to teach this type of class?
What aspects of your teaching have changed with experience?
How would your approach with a one-to-one student differ to that with a group?
What course books do you have experience using? What do you think of them?
Can you think of a time when you've successfully dealt with a difficult student or class?
How would you deal with a class of students of mixed abilities?
Tell me about a time when you felt rewarded or satisfied by something you did in a classroom.
Have you used multimedia (video, DVD, CD-ROM) in the classroom?
What is your strategy for teaching reading/writing/speaking/listening?
Just how do you teach oral English?
Give me a concrete example of how you could teach listening?
Give me a concrete example of how you could teach reading?
Give me a concrete example of how you could teach writing?
Give me a concrete example of how you could teach talking?
How could you use a textbook for learning in listening, reading, writing and talking? (Especially as it relates to learning and teaching Conversational English)
How could you use a CD for learning in listening, reading, writing and talking? (Especially as it relates to learning and teaching Conversational English)
How could you encourage conversation with our students?
How would you teach grammar?
How important is grammar?
We love grammar here how do you feel about that?
We hate grammar here how do you feel about that?
How could you most easily convey the meaning of the following to a group of language learners in the classroom?
a. To switch (something) on...b. Secretary...c. Congratulations!!...d. Reliable...

Questions about your expectations

What are your general expectations for this experience? Have you lived or travelled abroad before? What cultural differences did you find difficult to get used to?
Working in this country can be frustrating. The photocopier may break and go un-repaired for a week. Have you had to deal with situations like this before? How do you think you'd deal with them?
We expect our teachers to be flexible and supportive of colleagues and other staff. Can you think of a time when you've been flexible or supportive?
How much support do you expect from a school?
How do you feel about working split shifts and weekends?
Do you think it is important for the whole school to be an English-speaking environment (not just the classrooms)?
What are your salary expectations/needs while teaching?

Questions about your future

Where do you want to be in five years?
How do you see your future in teaching?

Questions you should ask them

Will I get holiday pay?
Will I get sick pay?
Will I get health insurance?
Will I have an option to join a pension plan?
Will I recieve a bonus for working unsocial hours?
Is there a union which protects the interests of employees which I can join?
Will I be guaranteed a minimum number of hours which will ensure a livable income?
Is there a complaints procedure, and is it fairly administered?
Can I expect regular pay reviews, and is there some kind of career structure?
How would you describe your staff turnover?

What do you know about the Eclectic Approach to language acquisition and how do you apply it?
What other approaches would you encourage or discourage?
What is your policy in relation to teacher support in the case of difficult or disruptive students?
What facilities and materials do you make available to teachers and to students?
What contribution does the school make to teacher development

[fluffyhamster]

The 'Questions about you' suggest that they expect you to have experience and ability in a foreign language beyond what you might have "achieved" at secondary school (I'm assuming you didn't study much apart from English at uni). How's your French?!

The 'Questions about your training' strongly imply that they are accustomed to interviewing applicants who possess at least the CELTA or equivalent (A, B or Pass are the grades awarded to those who successfully complete the CELTA). I'm sure you know what the CELTA is, but if not, it's the initial ELT qualification offered through Uni of Cambridge (UCLES)-approved training centres in the UK and elsewhere. There's actually a prior exam called the TKT for those who might be intending to do the CELTA but who might not have time to do the month full-time (or even a part-time option) - do a search for 'TKT' here on Dave's to find links to a downloadable Glossary of teaching terms pdf, could be useful...that or something like Harmer's How to Teach English LOL (I don't think you have time to do more than read a bare bones intro like that).
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=547851#547851 (NB: some of the books I mention in the linked post may be too progressive for CELTA diehards)

The 'Questions about your current and previous jobs' might be difficult for you to answer, but I suppose you could spin your training and teaching experience to date as a job, right?

'Questions about the school and country', you're on your own here LOL.

Quite a few of the 'Questions about (your) teaching (and experience)' would require quite long answers (or much hand-waving, even from experienced teachers), partly because some of them are perhaps a bit too general. I'm sure that there are some on here who wouldn't mind having a crack at a few for you, but it might be better if you selected some yourself and tried to answer them swiftly yet clearly and thoroughly, to see what we think of your ((own ) potentially half-formed and/or half-baked LOL) answers.

I notice that a few questions you've been asked by others here have found their way into the questions generally, and the last couple of categories seem to be copied verbatim from soapy's post. Actually it is kind of hard to tell which questions are from the school itself (assuming some are) and which are ones of your own devising.

[TheLongWayHome]

An old colleague used to ask one question only in a job interview. She used to ask them describe a lesson they'd taught that went really well. She reckoned she could get all the info she needed from their response to this question. Quite nifty.

[fluffyhamster]

I'd agree that asking a teacher to describe a lesson or activity that went well for them could be a good, revealing question to ask, but it could equally end up a bit like faltering midway through a humorous anecdote as you begin to sense the listener's patience or attention fading: 'Anyway, take it from me, it was really funny. You really had to be there to realize just how funny, though' (a lot would depend on how much, or little, time was allowed for the teacher to answer, especially to justify their approach (if need be)); that is, there are a lot of factors that come into play, and can't be known until teacher and student(s) meet (and then, any problems may not be the teacher's fault). Then of course there is the debate about how teachable discrete grammar points or structures really can ever be (lockstep syllabuses, not revisiting the same or similar structures enough with different new verbs or lexis etc etc).

All that being said, I'd prefer to be asked about a good idea that I'd come up with than be saddled with demonstration tasks like the following:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=2229

[mesomorph]

[mesomorph]

[TheLongWayHome]

[mesomorph]

An update -

A questionnaire has been posted in the Applied Linguistics forum to answer research questions 1 and 2, here,

http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=8550

Anyone that has done academic research before will understand that the process/findings/outcome can be quite rewarding so please take part!

(NB - There has been a small pocket of resistance so far, however I imagine this is representative of the dissaffected minority that populates any intellectual community and will have no real bearing on progress).

I have now read 'How to teach English' by J. Harmer, and have found many answers to questions 1, 2 and 3.

Once the process is finished I will answer the research questions comprehensively (incorporating all relevant contributions) and will post them up in a new thread.

I will call this new thread something like,

'How to become an English Language Teacher',

I will then kick myself later for being so generous as to publish it freely on the web.

[PeterBar]

mesomorph,

Just read your (long) list of interview questions.

How long do you expect the interview to last ?

Do you think the interviewer has anything else to do during the week that you expect to be interviewed ?

[zeke0606]

Amen brother PeterBar!