as you can see by the title my loves today I am going to be chatting to you guys about how to Ace your teaching job interview you are welcome to take these answers as they are these are the answers that got me my job hardly so if we can all use these answers obviously some guides in harmony my classroom is a learner-centered space I believe that every learner learns differently and there should be multiple opportunities for each learner to shine I know that I've got my students who learn better with reading some with writing some with images music etc etc so my classroom has an incorporation of all these things [Music] thank you hey guys welcome back to another video I'm kise and this is my channel if you are a regular tegula a regular Leica a regular Shara honey thank you so much for coming back once again and if you are new here today welcome to the channel make sure that you click that subscribe button so you can join the regular ridiculas we are on the road to 14K so please please please uh click that subscribe button it literally cost you nothing okay so please do me that favor and enjoy the rest of this video so as you can see by the title my loves today I am going to be chatting to you guys about how to Ace your teaching job interview now this video is actually something that I've been planning to do for a while but I really wanted to get some experience a little bit more so that I can come with you guys with some updated information so for some of you who may not know I recently started a new job and I just went through the interview process I went through the interview process with quite a few schools in Beijing in jiangsu and other provinces around China but specifically I went through a lot of interviews with international schools because like I told you guys I wanted to change from kindergarten to primary school so when I was talking to the agents I told them I'm specifically looking for primary schools and specifically international schools so this is the experience that I obtained during this time doing the interviews and I really thought I want to share that with you guys because one many of you are trying to move to China and find good um jobs with good schools and most international schools in this country are well are formed and have good systems and this is where you need to be looking at training centers are slowly getting filtered out and so you want to look for international schools or even a public school so this video is for you I want to prepare you for the interview I want to give you some uh do's and don'ts and some advice based off my experience I'm also going to actually give you guys a demo of how I would answer these questions and give you some questions that you can actually prepare for the school because at the end of the day you are interviewing each other they're not just interviewing you you're trying to figure out if they are a good match for you so you have to have some questions prepared to see if you guys are gonna gel you know what I mean okay so let's start this video I'm not going to waste any more time so what I want to start with actually is straight to the point interview questions to expect and demo answers so what I'm gonna do is actually talk through the questions and kind of just read the question and then answer it how I would answer it I'm going to edit it in such a way that I'm gonna ask the question and then you guys are gonna hear my answer okay you are welcome to take these answers as they are these are the answers that got me my job honey so if we can all use these answers obviously some guides nothing Booth oh my gosh anyway so you like you know what I mean like customize it to you add some words change some words but this is just what I did okay and then after that I'm gonna share with you guys questions that you you can prepare for the school and ask them because you want to know if they're going to be a good match for you and if they are the caliber of school that you're looking for and then lastly I'll give you guys some final thoughts and do's and don'ts alright so let's start so the first question that most of these schools are asking is tell us about yourself tell us more about yourself now guys I want to keep looking down because the questions are here this is such a common question that I feel like you should not spend a lot of time on okay this is not a get to know you interview this is uh tell us about your career tell us about what you bring to the table what are you going to offer um and your experience etc etc so this question obviously you want to show them that you are a wonderful person but really start um um preparing this for this answer and have a short script about tell me about yourself so this is how I would do it hi my name is you can call me spa my full name is I'm from South Africa and I'm 30 years old I've been teaching in China now for four years and it's been such a roller coaster because obviously we've been away from home so I've taken that time to kind of do the things that I love which is to travel I love vlogging I love taking pictures also love spending time with my friends and being outdoors one of my favorite things to do is also just relax at home I do believe in downtime and making time for myself I'm a firm believer in hard work I love putting in um time to um better my craft maybe work and things that I do outside of work that's just something about myself okay so I couldn't go into families I didn't go into lineages I didn't tell them about oh I first came to China in 29 like none of that short and sweet get to the point tell them a little bit about what you what you do outside of work but also still show them that you're still focused we're still here okay so you can Jazz that up but it was very short three to four sentences um full name age and where you're from is key obviously okay the next question is what does your classroom look like what does your classroom management look like so this is a question that really came up a lot and I was quite surprised because when I remember when I started interviewing when I was with firstly they didn't ask those kind of questions it was more like are you ready to take on a class the size um are you willing to go into training like it was more like a they telling me about what to expect more than how would you manage a class and so it felt like a lot of these questions are questions that they are setting out if you will fit in with the school's classroom culture classroom management style are you aware of the most updated classroom management techniques do you know what I mean so this is a question that you actually need to do some reading up about if you know nothing about what I'm saying and you're someone who doesn't have a teaching degree and have never heard any of these terms it's really important that you YouTube YouTube is the university for USL teachers for ESL teachers sorry because this will help you get into the jargon of ESL teaching so for this kind of question be ready for you know what you would say so this is how I would answer this question my classroom is a learner-centered space I believe that every learner learns differently and there should be multiple opportunities for each learner to shine I know that I've got my students who learn better with reading some with writing some with images music etc etc so my classroom has an incorporation of all these things I also make sure that I'm aware of my kids strengths and weaknesses and constantly find Opportunities where I can help them improve but also challenge them because I will have higher level students and lower level students another thing that is very prevalent in my classroom are posters classroom rules on the board with the routines that are needed to take place every day I also am a very firm believer in having visual aids about classroom management um reward systems as well as just any other encouraging ways that the classroom culture can be improved so this could be be kind to your partner clean up the classroom put your bag away that's very important for Young Learners to see their expectations in the classroom the last thing I would say is that if you walk into my classroom there is a lot of routine and rules to ensure that the kids are all on the same page and they are and they know what is expected of them so that transitioning between activity to activity is smooth and I'm not wasting too much time trying trying to manage a classroom Behavior or any other behavior problems all right so that is a simple answer that literally any of you can use I don't mind but also what's important did you guys hear that I was throwing in things that someone could walk into my classroom and see I didn't talk about what I'd be teaching I didn't talk about my teacher talk I spoke about the actual classroom and the classroom culture they want to see if you are aware that in in especially international schools there's a there's a shift right in the more from away from the old traditional way of teaching where every kid should write homework the same way every kid should submit the same thing but no we're moving into differentiation we're moving into understanding that kids can still be doing the same activity but in different ways and you need to be aware of that you need to understand that you might need to bring in extra worksheets for kids that are more advanced and a little bit of a differentiated differentiated worksheets or lower level activity for the kids but they still training some type of school do I mean like we are more modern teachers now teachers who are open-minded okay and also a firm firm and focused on classroom management um as well as routine routine routine um you know visual aid all those kind of things that you must mention in your interview show them that you know these things you know what I mean so yeah that's question two question three came up a lot how would you differentiate for students with different levels different English levels now this is a question that um as ESL teachers we need to be able to answer I'm very much so on the spot and that's why I'm encouraging you guys to go do research about what is differentiation so differentiation by definition I'll put it up on the screen I don't have it as the definition right now but I'll chat to you more about it in Practical forms so basically differentiation is understanding that number one every child is different and every child learns differently and two you may not have every child may not have the same Journey to the outcome but you can carve out a journey for each kid or each group or level that will lead to the outcome so these are our learning outcomes so for example if you're trying to teach the alphabets okay and you want the kids to be able to um Trace every uh the uppercase and the lowercase letters for example your higher level kids you will actually put an apple and you put two lines and you ask them what's the first sound of this object and they'll say ah and then you'll be like what letter is it Apple so can you write uppercase a and lowercase a there you've given them the two lines you've given them the instruction they can do it on their own that's the higher level lower level would be you actually putting you know those um letter A's that are dotted so the kid is tracing right so instead of you kind of giving them free range of writing it on a line on their own you're giving them some steps right you're scaffolding for them so that it supports them they still reach in the same outcome but you've actually given them different worksheets to support them so these kids in the lower level group are still able to reach the outcome it might take them longer to get to writing on their own but it's buildable right and they are still doing the same exercise but in different ways I hope that makes sense so that's the most simple way I can think about it so that is how you would answer it in your um interview give a practical example so if you know that you you're interviewing for grade ones and grade twos talk to something that would be taught in grade one and two threes and four same thing higher levels same thing um you're absolutely welcome to ask them for to give you an example of a topic of a certain um learning objective that they want you to to give an example of um but I won't give you guys a specific answer for this because I've given you an example but think about that when they ask you about differentiation okay all right the next question is so important because especially if you're going to a country that is in that is trying to teach English as a second language they want to see results so a common question that came up in all my interviews is how do you assess your students now this was something that I had never actually interacted with before in terms of in the classroom you guys know I've been working for a kindergarten for the longest time and before that I was in a training center that had all of those assessments done by Chinese Teachers so I've never been the actual teacher to run assessments so I was so fortunate to learn about assessments at Moorland University that when I got into that interview I knew exactly what to say do you know what I mean so this is a question about summative and informative assessments for those of you who don't know the difference summative is at the end of the unit formative is during right during your your lessons throughout the units okay summative is at the end that's usually gradable you give a grade at the end formative like quizzes uh exit tickets um um what else quizzes exit tickets yeah just things that you can do like different matching games in the classroom even whole class activities where you check in with flashcards that's still a formative assessment because you're doing it while learning and then a summative assessment obviously is at the end to summarize all of this so I want you guys to always remember that when they ask you this kind of question they want to see if you are a teacher who understands that every time you teach something you must have success criteria you must realize what they've what they've learned and have they achieved what was supposed to be learned can they be assessed and that assessment can tell you if they were able right to achieve the learning outcome so so when you're answering this question think about that so I want to give you guys an example of how I would answer this question all right so I I love using uh formative Assessments in my classroom especially because it gives me an idea where I can one deviate from my lesson plan lesson plans don't have to be set in stone the beautiful thing about having a classroom with kids who are at different levels you can actually use the stronger level students to help you support the lower level students um and so they are still getting a challenge because they are doing some peer teaching as well so I'm a firm believer in doing quizzes in doing shots um exit tickets and doing other and as well as using other technology like kahoot where I can do multiple choice and kids can work in pairs and support each other in that way I also love using summative assessments because that gives me an actual miserable um score that I can use to actually measure their progress from year to year I can also keep that data and give it to them to their teachers if they are moving on to the next grade I think it's super important to keep doing as assessments all throughout while learning one to see if those assessments work well in your classroom maybe quizzes are not working well I need to find another way and maybe kids aren't doing well when they are writing um short paragraphs so maybe I need to give them another type of assessment like an oral where kids can better um actually show their ability to understand whatever the learning outcome is so it's super important to incorporate both formative and summative Assessments in the classroom and I'm a firm believer in using both so that is how I would answer the question I did kind of summarize it for you but you guys get the gist of it you really need to be um aware of how and when to use them use the terminology needed etc etc okay and then the last Christian that came up so much that like took me away when I heard it a lot of these schools were asking me what salary do you want what package do you want do you know what I mean like they were asking you up front in the interview even though I told the the the agent there but they were still asking and I think that is where you must put your foot down and actually believe in yourself and you know know your worth this is something that I did that I'd never done before I remember all my interviews I was actually very vocal about how much I want and I was watching their faces when I said what I want and some of them were like oh okay all right and you know I was being interviewed by Chinese people but it was actually so refreshing to be when I was interviewed by some foreigners and I would say that and I wouldn't see it in reaction because they know that you need to know your worth and you need to say what you want if you don't if you don't say it they're gonna offer something less and then you're going to be left with an offer that you didn't even want don't be afraid to be uh turned down or companies to walk away from you because that is just a clear indication from God that this is not the job for you ask for what you want especially if you're a qualified teacher guys like this is the space where you are at your like you are thriving in ESL in the ESL world if you are a qualified teacher okay so I'm not obviously going to give you that answer but you need to it's at your discretion what you ask for so do some research about what is this okay maybe you might not know the school but you will know what area it's in as the agent might tell you what package they are offering you and then you will say the amount that you want there you won't put between this and this you don't say that you'll be like I want 30 000 after tax I want 29 000 after tax don't be like between 27 000 and 30 000 because then then that gives them room to negotiate and give you the lowest amount that you asked for right so definitely say the amount that you want I want 30 000 RMB off the tax or I want 30 000 RMB um before tax whatever the case may be ask for that okay if you want housing or if you're asking if there's housing I'm gonna actually go into the question that you can provide or ask them when they ask you okay so those are the questions that I wanted to show you guys and kind of give you demos on how to answer them because these questions came up a lot all right guys so now I actually want to give you guys some questions that you can ask the schools or the company or the interviewer these are important questions I think a lot of us when we go into interviews we are thinking about being interviewed and putting our best foot forward but also these schools need to be putting their best foot forward especially if you gave them an opportunity to have an interview with you you really need to come into that interview with that mindset that you are interviewing each other right so I want you guys to think about these kind of questions these are questions that I prepared for the schools that I was interviewing with and I wanted to sense number one are they you know what they say they are especially in their job descriptions and what they were giving about the job the school bio you know I mean a lot of these schools had these fabulous bios so it's very important to me to hear it from the horse's mouth and not read the bio so these are questions that I asked take them copy paste I absolutely don't mind but I love that these questions gave me a better understanding of where I was going and who I was signing with do you know what I mean okay so the first question I would ask is can you draw me a picture or walk me through the day of a teacher at your school specifically the grade that I'm interviewing for this will give you an idea of your workload it will give you an idea of what what your day would look like it would give you an idea of what is expected of you okay and what they are providing throughout the day to help you be your best version as a teacher it could be you know resources it could be um teacher guides it could be templates it could be whatever the case may be but it gives you a better idea of how would your day at the school look like you know that's very important because you don't want to walk into your first day and have no idea what you're walking into so it's okay to ask this question in the interview I think it's very very important okay the next question I want you to answer ask them is how often do you assess my teaching okay so this is something that you know my some other schools might or so the HR might not know this question or know this answer but I think it's super important for her to to know that especially if it comes to appraisals and key performance indicators in terms of bonuses like how often do you assess my teaching when will you assess my teaching after my uh first day do what I mean because you as well want to know when okay guys sorry I had a phone call okay so I want to pick up where I left off so have you assist me how do you assist my teaching how often do you assist my teaching ask them that question so you want to know what they expect of you and how they assist you okay and what that assessment means for your job there if you fail the assessment do they provide training for you to equip you to better pass the next assessment or do they just fire you like you need to know what is expected of you do you know what I mean okay and the next question I want you to ask them is what professional development opportunities do you have for your staff you know like what are you providing as professional development are you doing it annually how often do you do them um are they in relation to the curriculum or is this outside of the school different things like that are the opportunities for me to move up the ranks what does that take like ask those questions especially if you're someone like me who doesn't believe in being stagnant in one position like I believe in in progression and I believe in working your way up so that you feel like there's progress you know what I mean so those are the questions you need to ask so that you know what kind of school you're walking into and uh what kind of environment you're walking into do you know what I mean it's competitive there's anyone trying to move up or does it take time and you need to do a few things to get to that do you know what I mean so those are really really important um key points to get from them all right the next thing is something I already spoke about but it's what are the key performance indicators you expect of me now this is another thing that I feel like as teachers we need to ask more of and because this also puts the schools at a position where they need to know what they expect of you so that when they when they come at you sideways you say to them no no these are my key performance indicators I've been doing them and you can choose to either do over and above that but anything less than that you know that you've gone wrong but you got something to refer back to especially when things get sour key performance indicators also give you more structure in your teaching you know you know where to go what to do how to do it you know what I mean um I think kpis are also most of these schools align them to um bonuses so if you are achieving a certain score in your kpi when you get assessed you actually get bonuses I remember at firstly that's what they used to do um so different schools do different things for appraisals and you know incentives to ensure that their teachers are motivated and they're working at their best ability you know what I mean and they're giving their best um is what I mean to say and then lastly a question that I think is very very important that a lot of us can ask in the beginning so we don't get a surprise come the holidays is are you offering full or half paid holidays now people in South Africa might not know this but here in China our two major holidays are summer and winter summer in August which is about 2 months and winter holidays in January Feb and those are also two months so some schools come at us like oh we'll pay you half and some schools give offer full pay and some schools don't even pay people you know so you need to know this guys don't wait until you're in the job and you get a surprise when you're there ask this question in the interview okay so that you know what you're stepping into and you know what to expect I think um I think the worst thing is to walk into a situation and not know any of this information because then then that will leave a really bad taste in your mouth while you're in the job you know what I mean but I think when you know the Beast you sign up with you you fully are aware and you're not getting any surprises okay so yeah guys those are the five questions I really wanted you guys to hear and actually ask in your interviews give it a try see how it goes what answers are you getting so now you can compare after your interviews do three interviews put the information in front of you like okay all right so this school is offering this this is not what they have they have no professional development but they do have a great package like you know so you are able to figure out what's the best option for you okay lastly I want to do do's and don'ts things that I feel like shouldn't be said but I'm gonna say them anyway I've picked this up from just watching other people uh explain some do's and don'ts and I thought why not end off this video with that so let's start with some dues do this professionally as you guys can see I'm wearing just a simple linen shirt this is something that I could wear in an interview I'm wearing a little bit of makeup my hair is tied back there's some good lighting there's a clear background you know they can see me and they can see me for who I really am so that's another thing the next point is do a makeup or don't wear too much makeup because you want them to actually recognize you on the day that you get there and you don't want to portray something that you're not because then you're gonna have to keep up with it you know what I mean and in this place that we live in those things can catch up with you you know what I mean so be yourself dress professionally don't wear round necks t-shirts or anything showing cleavage cover yourself up appropriately take this job interview very seriously okay the next thing I would say that I've already said get some good lighting get a clear background shoot this during the day if you don't have box lights like me and try not to do it in selfie mode in terms of your interview do it at portrait mode so you might need to get not portrait sorry landscape mode so you might need to get a tripod stand to keep your phone up so that you can actually use your hands to express yourself having your phone in your hand while doing an interview might be a little bit tricky and you know might restrict you a little bit so get a tripod and you know hold the phone up with the tripod and have your you know freedom to move your hands and you know listen in on the interview last question which I think I've already given you the the ideas for is to do do have questions prepared for your interviewer guys this is so important I've given you five questions you can prepare you can absolutely have more the more the merrier because at the end of the day you're signing with the school you can ask them about Visa processes you can ask them about who's doing my Visa what's the process for that there's so many things you can ask this is just five but definitely definitely ask more okay lastly I want to do some tones okay don't eat gum don't be eating something while you have your interview guys it's very rude and people you know get turned off by that I don't wanna like not say this but I feel like I should don't be late you want to be as prompt as possible you want to sit the bar High you want them to remember you because they interviewing so many people so you want them you want to leave a good impression okay so be early text them a day before are we still on what time blah blah blah like be on it you know what I mean and be organized show them that you're ready and you're willing okay my love so that is the video for today I really wanted to keep this informative short and straight to the point I would definitely write these points in the caption or in the description box if you want these questions if you miss them it's okay I put them in the description box definitely steal them use them copy paste this is the embuzi that you need to get your next um International job honey and make sure that you um click the Subscribe button if you haven't already that will mean the world to me and watch the ads please my loves we are on the road to 14K thank you so much for your time thank you for watching I will see you guys in the next video thank you [Music]