ESL job interview question: Describe your balanced literacy program.

Recommended answer 1:

In a balanced literacy program you have to make sure you focus on the following elements:

(1) Read aloud (teacher reads aloud) serves as a model of fluent reading, encourages prediction, builds a community of readers, and develops active listening skills.

(2) Share reading - student/teacher - demonstrates awareness of text, develops sense of content, promotes reading strategies, develops fluency and phrasing; it also develops comprehension skills.

(3) Guided reading promotes reading strategies, increases comprehension and supports independent reading.

(4) Independent reading encourages strategic reading, increases comprehension, supports writing development, develops fluency, promotes reading for enjoyment and information.

(5) Model or share writing develops concept of print, writing strategies and supports reading development; provides model for a variety of writing styles, models connection between sounds, letters and words, produces text that students can read independently.

(6) Interactive writing provides opportunities to plan and construct texts, increase spelling knowledge; it generates written language resources in the classroom, creates opportunity to apply what has been learned.

(7) Independent writing strengthens text sequence and develops understanding of multiple uses of writing.

(8) Strategic reading is an expert reading: when students read, they use their prior knowledge along with clues from the text to construct meaning. Effective readers are strategic. They have aims for their reading and can adjust their reading to achieve their reading objectives.

Recommended answer 2:

I use a combination of read aloud, shared reading and guided reading in my class where I can model reading to the students. The class can practice reading in shared reading, and then I can focus on specific skills in guided reading. In addition to this, we do shared and independent writing to relate what we learn during our reading to better our writing. I use word wall words, environmental prints, and various reading materials.



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What ESL activities in small classes would you suggest?

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If I walked into your classroom, what would I see going on?

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What are your classroom rules? 

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How do you know how long to spend on your objectives?

Job interview question: 
What is your English teaching philosophy?


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ESL job interview question: What is the last book you read?

Recommended answer:

Prepare a list of books that you read - preferably those that were related to ESL and applied linguistics. Many employers would like to see you reading books  related to the position you are applying for. Choose a book that you read and scan it again - prepare to discuss it, because the next question would most probably be, Can you briefly tell me about it?

You should also be prepared to mention the titles of at least two professional journals that you read regularly. In addition, you should be ready to mention a  book related to fiction, science fiction or documentary.



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ESL job interview question: Do you work well under pressure?

Recommended answer:

Although you should say ‘yes’, you should not sound too much unnatural by trying to make an impression that you would enjoy working under pressure every day. 

You should give an example from your experience when you worked under pressure and achieved good results.



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ESL job interview question: How would you handle a conference with a parent who does not think there is a problem with the student?

Recommended answer:

I always file documentation of my students’ progress and problems/failures in case I need to present them to the parents. 

Or:

Apart from documenting all behaviours or misbehaviours (and keeping records of students’ performance), I talk to the parents about the good things that the child does so they would not feel like I am attacking their child. In addition, I try to maintain regular communication with the parents. Then, when it is time to talk about the behaviours that need to change they are usually more open-minded. I usually start conversation in a positive, optimistic manner. I absolutely positively hear the parent out and stay open-minded. 

One of the things the parent should be made aware of is what their child’s continued behaviour might mean in the future if left unaddressed (e.g. natural consequences like loss of friends on the behaviour side, or being pulled out of class for academic issues, or possible failure in class). Then I would follow up with some suggestions that have effectively worked in the past with students who faced similar problems.


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ESL job interview question: Why would we hire you over another candidate?

Recommended answer:

As a relatively new teacher, I can bring a freshness into my teaching. I am enthusiastic about my work, have many new ideas to try and am not set in a specific teaching style. I am open to trying new things, have a great grip on new technology and have the desire to utilize it in my classroom. However, I am not fresh out of college; I do have four solid years of substituting under my belt. I know the teachers here, the kids here, I understand what goes on in a school, and in particular, how things are done here.

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ESL job interview question: Why do you want to teach 2-nd grade students?

Recommended answer:

That would be easy for me because of my own experience. 

I went to an elementary school that was extremely diverse. For example, we had a large Chinese community and we would study some of their customs and would have school events such as the celebration of the Chinese New Year. I just love those memories. We also sampled some of the foods and did those chips that come in different colours - the Chinese potato chips. We also had an international day and that was a big celebration. I had this beautiful skirt that had mariachi musicians on it, so I chose to represent Mexico. 

I still have the picture from that event. I loved elementary school. It provided me with some of the best memories of my life.

In addition, you could describe how to make your lessons a little more challenging to ensure their mastery. 

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ESL job interview question: Discuss a time when you used poor judgement or made a poor decision in the classroom? How would you or how did you resolve the issue?

Recommended answer 1:

Children always argue about friends not sharing supplies. Then I made a decision to not allow supply sharing (their own school supplies twistables, colored pencils etc.). Later I discovered that this sent the wrong message (and kids started not sharing other things as well). So rather than banning school supply sharing, I decided to allow them to share but began stressing kindness and sharing in the form of character education. I then saw that the kids shared better and were learning important life skills at the same time.

Or: 

Recommended answer 2:

During my 1-st grade student teaching, I gave a girl several chances to correct her behaviour during a group activity. When she didn't "shape up" I had her leave the group activity and put her head down on her desk. She just bawled with her head down. I realized that wasn't the best way to handle her misbehaviour. When time permitted, I pulled her aside and apologized to her and explained why I was frustrated.  She gave me a hug and we discussed ideas of how to help her stay on track the next time we had a group activity. It was a good learning experience for both of us. When the event was over I reflected on my actions and what steps I would take with future similar situations to prevent the situation and behaviour [your aim is to convey that you know you are human and make mistakes, you admit your mistakes, reflect on them, and try to improve your teaching from the experience].



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

Recommended answers:

There are so many more things we have to do besides teaching. The major issues are state testing, childhood obesity, drugs, multiculturalism, broken families, budget cuts, etc.

Or:

For me, it is children's lack of motivation and lack of interest in education. This is more of a problem in the upper grade, but for some reason, many lose their interest by the time they get into 3-rd or 4-th grade. There is something wrong if teenagers, who are normally interested in the world, lose interest in learning.


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