Korean Job Discussion Forums

[smithy]

I have been asked to teach an extra class for 2 or 3 of my 3rd grade middle school students to help them prepare for their interviews for High School. These are very smart kids who will be applying for English-language boarding schools across the country.

Typically of my school, I have been given no materials or even much of an idea of what I should be doing in this class. I'll also only be seeing them for an hour once a week.

Has anyone ever taught a class like this? Any ideas as to how I should approach it? Any advice would be much appreciated.

[lowpo]

The first few classes I give the students a topic to give a speech on in class. To make sure the students are listening I will ask questions to the class after each student gives their spaach.
Then I will give them a small article to read and they have to tell me and the class what they read. At first I will ask the students questions about the artical. Then I try to get the students to ask questions about an article in class.
I like to play monolpy with the students. They can only speak English and if they speak Korean they lose money. It is the same of any game we play.I teach them all the sentences they need to say. If they want to play monolpy a second time. They have to tell me how to play the game and the rules.

[smithy]

[pjstarbuck]

I've worked at an academy for 2 years, and I've helped a few students prepare for these types of interviews.

Basically, these international high school/foreign language high school interviews resemble university/college interviews back in North America. So, the students will probably be asked questions about their education, subjects they enjoy, why they want to study at that particular school, where they plan on going to university, what they want to major in, possible future careers, etc.

Also, they get questions that were similar to the entrance essay/personal response questions I had to answer on my university application - here are a few examples:
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/personal-statement/

Along with the above poster's suggestions (which are great at getting the students comfortable speaking English, which is just as important in these interviews), you might want to have mock interviews at the end of this class, and give the students feedback on how they performed. I think this should be enough to create a decent syllabus for your class.

[faeriehazel]

If you're only meeting them once a week, I would focus mostly on doing mock interviews. I don't see how playing Monopoly is going to help them prep for an interview. If they're preparing to go to an English boarding school, they're probably already pretty fluent in English.

I went through the Korean education system and had to do a lot of English interviews for competitions and university applications. The questions are pretty much what you'd expect. Tell us something interesting about yourself. What do you think it takes to be successful? Why do you want to come to our school? What would you say are your strengths/weaknesses? Tell us about something that happened to you that changed your life. One interview had everyone read an article, and then the interviewers asked us to summarize it and present our own opinion on the issues presented.

The students should become comfortable with giving their opinion on something on the spur of the moment. You can practice standard interview questions with them, but they also need to practice thinking up stuff on the spot. You can give them an article to read and then start asking them questions about it immediately so they are forced to come up with things at once. Encourage them to get into the habit of skimming the news every day and formulate their own opinions about current issues.

Another thing they might need help with is body language. Students who aren't used to doing interviews or giving speeches sometimes aren't aware that they tap their feet or twiddle their fingers or talk way too fast when they're nervous. I've had to coach a lot of students to take their time, to look people in the eye, to not be afraid of pausing for a few seconds if they need to gather their thoughts.

Anyway, good luck with the class.

[thisisausername]

[smithy]

[smithy]

[smithy]

Sorry to bump this topic, but I'm running low on ideas. We've done 4 weeks of the class and it has gone quite well. We've spent around 25% of the class on discussions, current affairs and the like. We've also done a lot of work on giving opinions and playing devil's advocate. About half of the class has been spent on mock interview questions and interview technique, although I was advised by my director around half way through the month that my advice to maintain eye contact and to speak clearly and confidently might play against them in Korean culture.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyone out there with any ideas for this class? There are only 2 girls in there, just to make it a little more difficult.

[faeriehazel]

If they are applying for English boarding schools, they will most likely be interviewed by someone who isn't culturally Korean (westerner or kyopo). And even if the person is Korean, it doesn't matter. No school wants a kid who stares at the ground and lacks confidence. I wouldn't worry about the eye contact thing.

Are the students complaining that it's too repetitive? Prep classes are by nature all about repetition. It's inevitable.

[beentheredonethat777]

[smithy]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm going to give some of those things a try, cheers.