Job interview question: What are the characteristics of a great teacher?

Recommended Answer:

A great teacher has the following characteristics:

Expert in the Subject
The great teacher, as the master of his or her subject, exhibits expertise, spends a lot of time on his or her professional development, presents learning the material in a passionate way and thus encourages students’ independent learning skills. 

Organized 
The great teacher is always organized and has clear objectives. The teacher comes to school prepared, arrives early and is ready to teach his or her students. The teacher presents lessons in a clear, planned, comprehensible and structured way. The lesson is organized in such a way that it minimizes students’ distractions.

Shows, but Not Only Tells
The great teacher shows, displays, but not tells or informs (and does not give orders). The great teacher can clarify a concept or explain a task, but he or she demonstrates it as well. The teacher brings examples into the classroom, draws pictures or diagrams, charts, graphs, maps, etc. In this way, the teacher promotes creativity and plays the role of a facilitator.

Stimulates Creativity 
The great teacher engages his or her students and in this way encourages creativity. ‘Learning by doing’ is his or her primary method of teaching because learning is an active process. Therefore, the great teacher stimulates creativity. It is impossible to pour knowledge into students’ minds like a liquid is poured into a bottle. 

Nice Personality
The great teacher treats all people (without exceptions) nicely not because they are nice. The great teacher treats them nicely because the teacher himself / herself is a nice person. 

Positive
The great teacher is always positive and often smiles. The teacher’s positive attitude encourages students to study, provides them with moral support and spiritual power. Being positive when it is hard for the students (especially before exams) can have a remarkably productive and optimistic impact on the students’ performance.

Kind 
The great teacher recognizes the value and importance of every human being. The teacher is helpful not only to his or her colleagues but also to all students (without any exceptions), colleagues, students’ parents and other people around him or her. The teacher’s kindness helps students feel welcomed, supported, protected, cared for and loved. It makes them feel confident and positive.

Shows Respect 
The great teacher is kind to his or her students and shows respect to them. A bad teacher demands respect from students. The great teacher treats students with respect and therefore naturally earns the respect of them too. He or she is always enthusiastic, accessible and caring.

Patient
The great teacher is patient and never loses temper, never shows irritation, annoyance, frustration or anger. The teacher is patient with his or her students’ behavior, and no matter how many mistakes the students make, the teacher patiently explains. Patience demonstrates self-restraint and self-discipline and exhibits an excellent quality in a teacher that will most probably be imitated by the students in the future.

Simple
The great teacher speaks and explains things in an easy way and never boasts that he or she knows everything (in fact, nobody knows everything); and never tries to impress students with his or her knowledge and experience. The great teacher never tells lies and is never bombastic, arrogant, grandiloquent or overconfident.

Willing to Learn
The great teacher learns from his or her students (gains knowledge and wisdom from those they teach). What makes him or her great teacher is that he or she is willing to learn because he or she knows (and admits it) that it is impossible to know everything. Therefore, the great teacher is never threatened by students’ difficult questions. By learning, the teacher encourages students to develop their lifelong learning skills (not just learning for a grade), because the teacher is a lifelong learner, too.

Able to Inspire
The great teacher inspires his or her students. It means that even when the course is finished, the great teacher’s students continue learning and showing their interest in the subject.


More job interview questions answers:

ESL job interview question: 
What are your weaknesses?

Job interview question: 
What color is your brain?

Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?


Job interview question: 
What is the purpose of using KWL charts?

Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?

Job interview question: 
What ESL activities in small classes would you suggest?

Job interview question: 
How do you know if you met objectives? 

Job interview question: 
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the communicative language teaching method?

Job interview question: 
If I walked into your classroom, what would I see going on?

Job interview question: 
What are your classroom rules? 

Job interview question: 
How do you know how long to spend on your objectives?

Job interview question: 
What are the most important issues facing your profession today?

Job interview question: 
Describe yourself as a teacher in three negative adjectives.

Job interview question: 
What types of teachers do you know?

Job interview question: 
What are the signs of a poor teacher?

Job interview question: 
Why the majority of the students cannot communicate in English fluently having studied English for 12 years in a school?

Job interview question:
What is your classroom discipline philosophy?

Job interview question:
What salary do you expect? 

Job interview question: 
Why are you leaving your current job?

ESL job interview question: 
What can you tell us about Hot Potatoes?


More:

Job Interview question: One early morning you come to work and find five thousand unread email messages. You can only reply fifty of them. How would you select which ones to reply?

Recommended answer:
I would select the emails from my boss first. If there are more than fifty emails from my boss, I will work overtime (if necessary), but I would still reply to all emails.


More job interviews questions answers

Job interview question: 
How do you know how long to spend on your objectives?


Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?

Job interview question: 
What ESL activities in small classes would you suggest?

Job interview question: 
If I walked into your classroom, what would I see going on?

Job interview question: 
What are your classroom rules? 


Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?

Job interview question: Tell me about your best class (when you were a student). Be specific. Explain why it was the best.

Answer:

My best class was Psychology. Perhaps because it never felt like a class. The teacher was very understanding. He believed in letting the students reach their self-actualization state, and his method of teaching was more like a story-telling. I learned without realizing it.



Job interview question: 
Describe yourself as a teacher in three negative adjectives.


Job interview question: 
What types of teachers do you know?


Job interview question:
What is your classroom discipline philosophy?


Job interview question:
What salary do you expect? 


Job interview question: 
Why are you leaving your current job?


Job interview question: If I meet you in five years in a mall, would I remember your name? What makes you special?

Answer:

I guess that to a greater extent would depend on your memory, but even so I still don't think remembering my name has anything to do with me being special or not. But if you insist on knowing, I believe that everyone is special in their way, and being myself is a start. After all, an original is worth more than a copy.


Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?


Job interview question: 
What ESL activities in small classes would you suggest?


Job interview question: 
How do you know if you met objectives? 


Job interview question: 
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the communicative language teaching method?


Job interview question: 
If I walked into your classroom, what would I see going on?





Job interview question: How do grades matter?

Answer:

They evaluate how adequate a student's knowledge is, but in my opinion, they shouldn't be the only evidence for that.



ESL job interview question: 
What are your weaknesses?


Job interview question: 
What color is your brain?


Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?


Job interview question: 
What is the purpose of using KWL charts?


Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?



Job interview question: How is a student different from a teacher?

They are not so different. Both learn from each other, but in a different way. Teachers are more experienced than students. They are professionals in their field. Besides, teachers are also educators. 


Job interview question: 
What are the most important issues facing your profession today?


Job interview question: 
Describe yourself as a teacher in three negative adjectives.


Job interview question: 
What types of teachers do you know?


Job interview question: 
What are the signs of a poor teacher?


Job interview question: 
Why the majority of the students cannot communicate in English fluently having studied English for 12 years in a school?


Job interview question: What do you think a teacher's job is?

Answer:

A teacher's job is to help raise new generation. They have to prepare everything required to achieve that - from short quizzes to long lectures, projects and exam papers.


Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?


Job interview question: 
What ESL activities in small classes would you suggest?


Job interview question: 
How do you know if you met objectives? 


Job interview question: 
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the communicative language teaching method?


Job interview question: 
If I walked into your classroom, what would I see going on?


Job interview question: How long can you be quiet?

Answer:

As long as I feel like it. It can last hours or even an entire day, especially when I am busy, e.g. reading a book or conducting research.


Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?


Job interview question: 
What is the purpose for using KWL charts?


Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?


Job interview question: 
What ESL activities in small classes would you suggest?


Job interview question: 
What are the signs of a poor teacher?


Job interview question: Tell me a joke

Answer:

One morning I got on a bus and the driver said: "Good morning, how are you?" 
Without any hesitation I replied: ""Good morning, I am good thank you" just when I realised that the driver was actually on the phone.  I felt embarrassed. I immediately picked my phone and pretended I was talking to someone...


ESL job interview question: 
What can you tell us about Hot Potatoes?



Job interview question: 
What color is your brain?



Job interview question: 
How do you know if you met objectives? 



Job interview question: 
What are your classroom rules? 



Job interview question: 
Describe yourself as a teacher in three negative adjectives.



Job interview question: Give me five reasons why a student wouldn't do his or her homework?

Answer:


There can be many reasons. I think that the five reasons would be:

  1. The students was sick (or was just not feeling well).
  2. The students was absent-minded and forgot to do his / her homework.
  3. The student did not understand the task because it was not clearly explained by the teacher.
  4. The student was very busy preparing another assignment.
  5. The home assignment was not interesting.




Job interview question: 



ESL job interview question: 
What are your weaknesses?

Job interview question:
What salary do you expect? 


Job interview question: 
Why are you leaving your current job?


Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?

Job interview question: What interests you about this job and what skills and strengths would you be able to bring to it?

Your potential employer wants to know how much interested you are in the position and how well prepared you are for the job interview. If you are a strong candidate, you should be able to relate your skills to specific job requirements. 

Answer

You should probably say the following:

(1) Explain why this job is so attractive to you
(2) Tell your basic skill or skills (choose at least the one that might be useful to the institution)
(3) Tell your three basic strengths (and explain why they would be useful to them if they employed you).



ESL job interview question: 
What are your weaknesses?


Job interview question: 
What color is your brain?


Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?


Job interview question: 
What is the purpose for using KWL charts?


Job interview question: 
What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?


Job Interview Question: Teach me something I don't know in the next five minutes

Possible answer:

Choose any topic related to the job you are applying for, and explain in five minutes. 

For example, tell how crocodiles fly. Then check their comprehension by asking a question like ''Can a house fly?'' or ''Are you flying now''?

Crocodiles can fly by plane. Put them on the plane and let them fly.

We are all flying at high speed around the Sun.


Job interview question: 
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the communicative language teaching method?


Job interview question: 
If I walked into your classroom, what would I see going on?


Job interview question: 
What are your classroom rules? 


Job interview question: 
How do you know how long to spend on your objectives?


Job interview question: 
What are the most important issues facing your profession today?