Job Discussion Forums

[Madame J]

Okey doke, I've been asked to attend an interview next Tuesday, which (provided I can get the day off work!), I really should start preparing for now. I'll be honest, my language awareness skills are non existent, and I am a little lost as to where to start in terms of brushing up.

So, to all of you people with experience of these interviews. What sort of questions were you asked? Are there any key pieces of grammatical knowledge I should be familiar with? I know no two interviews are going to be the same, but if perhaps there are some near universal grammatical points they call you on then it'd be most helpful to know where to start my revision/research.

Thanks a lot!

[fluffyhamster]

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=682031#682031

[Serious_Fun]

[nickpellatt]

The interview itself wass fairly standard. Why would you want to do the course, why do you want to teach etc....

But I was then left in another room with a question paper to complete, that was the part of the interview I didnt expect.

It featured a number of questions. I cant remember the exact questions, but it was questions like 'how would you explain the difference between the words 'listen' and 'hear'. 3 questions like that.

I think I explained that example as follows.

I was woken up this morning by my neighbour banging something in his garden shed. I wasnt listening to it, but I could certainly hear it. I used this example to explain. Listening is kinda something that is active, yet to hear, is something we dont always have a choice over.

There was another section that had 5 sentences, with either grammatical, lexical or punctuation errors. eg - 'Last night I going to the cinema'. You had to mark the errors and explain what they were. These are normally along the lines of wrong choice of verb tense. They may also show something like 'I wanted the lunch, so I went to the McDonalds'. This is incorrect use of the article - 'The'.

There was then a piece of writing...I cant even remember what I had to write....

This was then checked with my interviewer....who corrected my many errors and explained the answers.

You arent expected to know all these things....these just give you an idea for what language awareness means. I think I was able to point out mistakes on my test form, but I could really explain why....that was the case with most of my fellow trainees.

When I was asked about how I would overcome some difficulties in teaching new language points I mentioned I would like to use valid contexts to help understanding. That is, if we were using new language, I suggested I would like them to learn it in context rather than just remembering words from a page. She liked that.

Dont worry, Im sure you will be fine...Let us know how you get on ok? And if you want to drop me a PM for any info please do. Although my course was a Trinity one...Im sure there are lots of areas where it is similar....and as I only finished last week there are lots of things still fresh in my mind.

[Madame J]

Hmm, okay, that seems reasonably non terrifying. It sounds as though you were asked to demonstrate similar skills to the ones I was in the pre interview task, so if the interview involves more of that sort of thing then I should be all right.

The main point, though, I see people repeating on here is, "Brush up on grammar"-where does one even start?! I think that's what's really flummoxing me here.

[nickpellatt]

My suggestion is this....and if you can do this....you will be streets ahead of any of the 12 trainees on my course, including me. You would also know more than a lot of them do now!

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses.htm

That link will take you to a website aimed at students learning English, and from this page you can learn the different tenses. Learn the function, learn the grammatical form, and the different names of each. I feel this is a key part of understanding grammar and this will be really invaluable now, and in your future teaching career. Students always want to discuss tenses, and whilst they should sometimes concentrate more on speaking....being able to understand the tenses is going to really help you.

Most of the people on my course didnt understand them...and still dont know....you wont get time to review them on the course....so learning them now is my key tip. If you only learn these, and no other grammar...you will be in a good position compared to many of your peers.

Another thing to learn is the phonemes for the IPA. I dont have a link for those, but again.....if you can learn these, you will be miles ahead of your peers. My tutors were very keen to see us use these in our teaching practice, and if you are familiar with them before the course starts, you will once again, be ahead of your peers.

Far far better to learn a lot about these two areas.....then attempt to learn everything you can find....and end up knowing very little or nothing.

Tenses and IPA.....just learning these will stand you in very good stead!

Most of the people on my course bought books, as did I....but we would have been far better off learning what I have mentioned. Books may prove useful in the future, so arent really a total waste of money, but I am sure you can equally manage without them. Even the people who spent well in excess of �50 on books didnt excell, as they hadnt learnt the basics mentioned above

[Madame J]

Fantastic, thank you. I'll try and absorb some of that in time for Tuesday!

[sojourner]

Madame J,

As it is over 7 years since I had my CELTA interview, I don't really remember much about the questions that were asked - except one. It dealt with how I would get across to a hypothetical class of EFL beginners the notion that I will be paying $100 to someone to paint my house. The way I did it was to draw very simple diagrams on the whiteboard (eg, a house, a stick-figure with a paintbrush, etc).The interviewer-trainer seemed quite impressed ! I found out later, when the course was already underway, that trainees often get rapped over the knuckes, as per the post-teaching reports, for talking too much before a class (" you need to cut down on the TTT", ie "Teacher Talking Time").The CELTA approach emphasises that it should be the learners who do most of the talking in class, rather than the teachers ! Teachers are expected, where appropriate, to use non-verbal cues,eg: realia, simple diagrams on boards, gestures, etc.

If the interview is to take place in an actual classroom, quickly note what is close to hand,eg whiteboard pens, etc. So, if the interviewer asks you how you would explain something to a group of learners, consider drawing an appropriate diagram on the whiteboard, using gestures,etc.

One of the other posters to this thread said something about grammar. Hopefully, for your sake, there won't be any questions on how you would explain some difficult concept to a group of learners ! However, it wouldn't do you any harm to look at the section on time-lines/tenses in your grammar book. Even if you find that you can't adequately answer a question related to the teaching of grammar, if you say something like:" I would probably use a time-line to explain it", such a response would probably impress the interviewer through giving that person the impression that you have some familiarity with approaches to the teaching of grammar.

Good luck with the interview !

Peter

[Madame J]

Well, that went all right! The interviewers were so kind as to not keep me in suspence and give me my acceptance letter at the end of the interview, and I now have until tomorrow to pay up. What on earth am I letting myself in for?!

Thank you to all who furnished me with some excellent tips-I used both the timeline idea and the "TTT" phrase-they were very impressed with both! The actual task wasn't as difficult as I'd expected, with a few grammatcial questions that focussed on interpretation rather than prior knowledge, and a few exercises asking for my ideas on teaching certain topics. I think my grammatical answers may have been a little off the mark (apparently I made the common mistake of trying to analyse the sentence structures as opposed to the subtle meaning), but as I think more than one of you said, it didn't matter if I didn't have everything spot on as long as I showed the potential to learn it. (I hope I can!) They liked my teaching ideas, at any rate.

Time to celebrate with a strawberry beer, I do believe.

[nickpellatt]

Thanks for updating us...I have been looking to see how you got on. Good for you! Now pay the money and enjoy the course!

[Littlebird]

I have read your posts and gone to the English Club site. Thanks a lot for the useful tips. I am thinking of doing a CELTA course but am worried about the homework you have to do. Can someone tell me exactly the nature, length of the stuff you have to hand in. I am very good at spelling and grammar but I have always been a student who struggles to decide what to write, agonises over every word and is very hung up ! This is why I would rather do the course over 3 months than 1 but can't for financial reasons. ARe all CELTAS the same ? Same content, same marking schemes ? Are they marked by the teacher or sent to the examining board ? What is the pass mark ? Do many people fail ? I hear it is a tough course but the stuff you do sounds easy. I have already observed in English classes and applied to be a learning assistant. I have studied French for years and thick this has allowed me to learn a lot about how languages are taught and given me loads of ideas of how to teach myself. I adore studying French grammar. Do you think this is a plus for the interview and course ? Surely people who have not studied languages are at a massive disadvantge because they will never have dissected a language and got to grips with grammatical jargon whereas we linguists have. My ability to write good prose is a bit limited.

Well loads of questions. Thanks a lot in advance.

SAM