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Getting your First TEFL Job in Prague - Part 2
by Chris Westergaard
Continued... Tips For Interviews and Demo Lessons Interview Obvious ones A. Don't be late - and I mean 1 minute late B. Dress nicely C. Bring in Lesson Plans - I tell my graduates to have 5-10 fully functional lesson plans. If you didn't keep yours from your course, you should have. Anyway, it's easy to create a few mock ones. Have the materials with you and make sure they cover a few different levels, perhaps a receptive skill, but definitely a few on grammar. Why? You want to show the school that you are trained, that you have ideas and that you can demonstrate that you know what you are doing. The more plans you can bring in the better D. Be Charismatic and Speak Clearly. When I'm interviewing someone, I'm thinking one thing - 'Is this person going to be able to engage a class for 90 minutes or more at a time?' Show a bit of energy (not too much) Show some enthusiasm. Speak clearly, have good eye contact...etc You're in Prague. It's your first year here - what more do you want? Show some excitement. Show a little passion. Don't worry you'll have years to develop into the stereotypical pissed off angst ridden Expat. This is your time to have fun now. E. Don't Let the School Worry About You For example this is what I honestly heard someone I was interviewing say Me: So, why did you decide to come to Prague and teach English? Them: ......mmmmm ...well.... it wasn't QUITE like I was RUNNING away from something, I just didn't have anything going on back hom- Me in My Head: No freaking way Schools don't want to babysit you, they don't want to worry about you, they don't want students to call them up and say your not there, they don't want you to have an anxiety attack in two weeks and move back home...etc Demonstrate that you are confident. Show that you like the city, the culture and teaching. Make them see that you are not going to run away after week. F. Ask Questions but Don't be too Demanding It's your first job. Your going to get the schedule that they have. Don't turn it down because you don't like getting up in the morning. If it's unreasonable, then don't accept THAT class. That MIGHT be possible, but don't overdue it. There will be a time where you will learn to say NO. When you are experienced and your school is throwing classes down your throat, sure! Go ahead and say No! It feels good. However, not when you just started and not on your first job. G Know your Grammar and Know your Course and Know TEFL They will ask you questions about Grammar, TEFL and your course. You better have a good answer and it better sound smooth. Go over what you went over. Go over the tenses and other grammatical points. Go over TEFL techniques like lesson planning structure and all of that stuff. Know what training you received. If they ask you what you did on the course, you should be able to fire back with an accurate description H. Don't BS an Answer and Don't Stall. It looks horrible. If you don't know something, say so immediately. It's OK, people expect it. Just say you'd have to look that up. Nothing is worth than trying to stall or mumble your way out of a question. I've seen it dozens of times. I ask what the 3rd conditional is and the person thinks while making strange sounds and guess like answers for 5 minutes before they say 'I don't know' Just say it in the beginning I. Follow up the Interview with a Call Leave your CV of course and call back if you didn't get a direct answer Tips for Demo Lesson Make it or Break it. It's that easy The school will decide if they want to hire you based on 1. your demo lesson and 2. your looks (joking) You should have one prepared. It should be practiced and ironed out. You should have already done it in front of a few people if not your trainers. A. Practice it B. Have a trainer look at it C. Make sure you are doing what the school wants you do to. Many schools will email what they want you to teach. Teach that, not something else D. Make sure it's engaging E. Make sure it has props and is really interactive F. Make sure to error correct students (or whoever is pretending to be the student- usually the director) G. Many schools follow an ESA/PPP format use that. Have a solid intro, lead in questions, studies, activation. H. Know what's happening Know what your target lexis is, grammar focus...etc You most likely won't have to do the whole thing, but you should be able to stop and explain what comes next if needed. Don't be staring at your lesson plan reading things off. You should be able to kill this thing by this point. What Comes Next? If you've done those things correctly, usually a job! and all the fun that goes along with getting legal. The lines at the foreign police. The random stamps. The red...red tape. Oh the fun we had, oh the way we were - but that's for another thread. Overall it's a pain, but the process is easier now than it was a few years ago so you'll be fine. Let's get back to teaching Make the effort to do a good job and constantly try to improve. If you are a worthless teacher, you and your students are going to be miserable. If you do a good job, you'll get more hours and will generally feel like a functioning person. I will say this about TEFL teaching in Prague. You get in what you put in. I honestly believe that the quality of your teaching has a direct correlation with the quality of time you spend abroad and in this city. I don't care if you don't plan on being an English teacher forever. You are one now. This is what you are doing. Why not make the most of it? Why not try to be as good as you can get. Talent and intelligence or fluid things. You might be teaching students that are very powerful and influential people in their companies or in the city itself. They'll see the work, the talent and the effort and they will appreciate it. You might even be offered a non teaching job at their company. It does happen. My point is simple. Make the most of it. What if I Didn't Get the Job? Don't worry! Don't let it get you down. There are dozens if not a hundred schools in the city. Find another one and improve. If your skills, knowledge, charisma and technique are all good - You WILL get a job at some point. If the city is not working out for you and you're unhappy - forget about it. Go somewhere else. That's the beauty of this profession. You don't change jobs you change continents I hope that all help, Chris Westergaard The Language House TEFL www.thelanguagehouse.net |
