Wow, that came around fast. I had my first interview five days ago, where did that time go??
I arrived at Gaba ten minutes early, but the woman who was interviewing me came out and got me just 15 seconds after I'd arrived. She took me into one of their booths and sat me down. She gave me a textbook and said that I had five minutes to prepare a five minute lesson based around one of the activities in the textbook. She then left me to it.
Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! The activity was on teaching the difference between 'want' and 'need'. She had given me a blank piece of paper so I tore it in half neatly and wrote 'NEED' on one half and 'WANT' on the other. I had a bottle of water in my bag and one of the examples given in the book was "I want to have some water" and "I need some water" so I got that out and hastily pieced together a quick lesson. I'm sure Felicity Huffman was teaching a lesson in a nearby room.
When she came back, she acted as a low-level student, and I introduced the words using my 'flashcards'. Then I acted being desperately thirsty for some water and pointing to 'NEED' and then drinking. Then I acted normal and calmly drank some water, pointing to 'WANT'. And my lesson went something like that. She seemed to think it went okay.
She then asked me to rate it out of 10. I gave it 6. She asked me how I'd improve it. I said that there should have been more student talking time (STT) than teacher talking time (TTT) as the student would be paying for as much exposure to English conversation as possible.
The questions that followed were things like:
Why do you want to work at Gaba?
Why did you come to Japan?
Why do you want to teach English?
What qualities do you possess that make you suitable for this position?
What are your strengths and weaknesses as a person?
If a student wanted to meet you outside of a lesson what would you say? (They didn't tell me before, but I assumed that they would operate a no-fraternising policy, which they do.)
If a student asked you what a word meant and you didn't know, what would you say? (I said I'd be honest and say I didn't know, then either go and find out, or find out for the next lesson.)
If a student brought in a work document written in English and asked you to help them with it, would you be able to?
I'm pretty sure the last two questions were aimed directly at me as I'm under 20, and are not standard interview questions.
She seemed to be pretty impressed with me, from what I gathered, and she asked me to come back for a third interview (which I have to have being under 20 to make sure I understand enough business English to teach there - which I'm not sure I do, but we will see) tomorrow evening. That one is with someone big at Gaba, a manager of some kind. Eeek!
She also said that one bank (Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank) would let me open an account if I said I'd be working at Gaba!
I got back and was racked with contrasting thoughts about whether to take the job or not if I was offered the position. But I think that I will take the position if offered it. But we will see what tomorrow brings.
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8 comments:
I just randomly wandered in from Osaka Life, sounds like your interview went well! Whether you take it or not, always good to have options. Ganbare!
Wow.. I am honoured that you saw my blog Harvey. Yours was the first Japan-related blog I started reading... that was about 2 years ago. So I'm glad you think the interview went well!
Miles
hey man... thank god I found this blog.. I had my second interview this afternoon but I guess it didn't go well because the guy told me that he will call/email me for the decision within the next three days.. I was given the same question, the "want" and "need.." oh well.. your blog took away my fears a little.. thank you, I don't know what to do now.. I was depress after the interview... maybe because I was not invited for the 3rd one.. and because I know what it means when they tell you that they will contact you through email/call for the decision..
now... I will be applying to AEON and Berlitz.. probably apply more at Gaijinpot.com
holla..
wwww.myspace.com/princelyle
Miles,
First off, your blog had been my bible 1 month prior to my Gaba Interview. For that you have my thanks and praise.
I know it has been a while since your second interview but I need to know something.
I had and failed the interview with Gaba recently. While most of the the 1st interview and the 2nd interview (your blog was INCREDIBLY helpful in calming my nerves) was similar, my role-playing part involved me teaching "asking a stranger questions" (and I had practiced teaching 'want' and 'need' for a week already)
I skimmed the lesson in about 30 seconds so I had enough time to prepare. But in the end I found myself lost.
The way I saw the lesson, I figured I first had to teach the "student" the meaning of 'who what where when why and how' before I could get to teaching them what questions they should ask. But I was strictly told that I could NOT use any Japanese.
At first I thought, not too bad, since students are normally professionals with some experience in English and should therefore understand 'who what where when why and how'....BUT....no my "student" did not understand it. Getting them to "understand" 'what how and why' in only-English brought about my failure. (If I could just say "nani means 'what'"...grrr)
I must know how you would have taught the lesson in preparation for any future interviews (I have to wait 1 year before I can apply again...wth!)
Sorry for the lengthy comment/question...but I MUST know. Even now I don't know how I could have 'taught' it better.
Hi Christopher,
Thank you for your comment, sorry it's taken me so long to reply.
First of all, I think that your question was much harder than mine! And I think they must have been being quite hard on you to act as if they didn't understand those basic words 'who, what, when, where, how' etc.
I've tried to imagine how I would respond to that question in such a pressurised situation.
I think I would reduce the amount of words, as there are a lot to fit into a five minute lesson.
As the most common question to ask a stranger would be 'where', for directions. I would focus on that one.
Maybe you could mime walking and then getting lost, and then shrugging and asking 'where?' to indicate the meaning.
Then introduce some simple phrases like 'Where am I?' or 'Where is the ...' You could perhaps put some objects on the table, like a pen, bottle, piece of paper, and then ask 'Where is the pen?' and ask the student to answer 'The pen is here/ there'.
If you wanted to introduce another word, 'what' would fit in with this lesson I think. You could ask 'What is this? Where is it?' and simple questions like that.
To finish, you could perhaps use larger objects as examples, like things you can see around in the office, or outside the window.
That is how I think I would approach the lesson. Of course, maybe it wouldn't be possible when it actually comes to it, so I'm sorry if it's not quite the answer you were looking for.
I hope you have other options and good luck!
Miles
Thank you for that David! I hope you continue to enjoy reading the blog!
Miles
Hello!
I've just found your blog, it's great! It's making me feel better, cos I also have just finished all my interviews with Gaba (via Skype, as I'm in the UK still), and am apparently due to start there from October. I've no idea what to expect, so reading about your lessons there is very fun and enlightening! Thanks for the read. :)
Lena
Hey Lena! Glad I could help! Best of luck with everything :)
Miles
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