Interview Questions

[KoeiS]

The "bananas" question: Banana's are delicious.

I'm sorry but none of you should be teaching English if you couldn't see what was wrong with this the second you looked at it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, just... come on.

^ Random raging presumptuous post :/

Why would you randomly assume that people here do not know the issue with that line?

[Mimmy]

The "bananas" question: Banana's are delicious.

I'm sorry but none of you should be teaching English if you couldn't see what was wrong with this the second you looked at it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, just... come on.

^ Random raging presumptuous post :/

Why would you randomly assume that people here do not know the issue with that line?

... One person said they were told they got it wrong and others said they weren't sure if they got it right. Read the other posts where that's clearly stated, lol.

[KoeiS]

I'm sorry but none of you should be teaching English if you couldn't see what was wrong with this the second you looked at it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, just... come on.

^ Random raging presumptuous post :/

Why would you randomly assume that people here do not know the issue with that line?

... One person said they were told they got it wrong and others said they weren't sure if they got it right. Read the other posts where that's clearly stated, lol.

Or if you read the other posts, you will find that there's a very high chance people got different banana questions since there is already one variation (though the context is similar). That being said, no one confirmed that they made a mistake on this specific sentence so I find it kind of silly (and kind of mean) that you would make such a statement to people who may have nothing to do with it.

IF people did get that specific sentence wrong though, I don't know if they have the English ability to be an ALT either but it's not everything.

[AVN]

The "bananas" question: Banana's are delicious.

I'm sorry but none of you should be teaching English if you couldn't see what was wrong with this the second you looked at it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, just... come on.

I am regularly appalled by the English seen on these forums but I must say in terms of this question you also have to remember it was in the context of an extremely stressful interview. Some of the people who got it wrong probably realised it the moment they stepped out the door. Stress can make you blank on the stupidest things. Not saying everyone did that but it's possible it doesn't reflect their actual ability.

@KoeiS SATs are in no way the solution to the problem you described. In my opinion SATs keep good students out of good schools. Testing is in no way a good way to evaluate all students. I believe Canada has one of the best ways of determining entry by using your overall grades like a GPA.

[moonlight_kit]

.

[AVN]

I'm sorry but none of you should be teaching English if you couldn't see what was wrong with this the second you looked at it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, just... come on.

I am appalled by the English seen on these forums regularly but I must say in terms of this question you also have to remember it was in the context of an extremely stressful interview. Some of the people who got it wrong probably realised it the moment they stepped out the door. Stress can make you blank on the stupidest things. Not saying everyone did that but it's possible it doesn't reflect their actual ability.

@KoeiS SATs are in no way the solution to the problem you described. In my opinion SATs keep good students out of good schools. Testing is in no way a good way to evaluate all students. I believe Canada has one of the best ways of determining entry by using your overall grades like a GPA.

Hi Mimmy and tracey86,

Yes, I admitted my final answer was wrong.
I did answer it right (first time), but then they kept questioning me "are you sure?", so I changed my answer.
They didn't tell me that I got it wrong, but I found it out later.

We all make mistakes from time to time and I admitted that.
I am trying to help other aspiring JETs not to make stupid mistakes like me,
and give my blessing to all other aspiring JETs.

Do you think teaching is only giving out the right answer?
Let's face it, you are going to Japan and teaching English,
they WILL make lots of mistakes, are you guys going to laugh at them just like what you did?

Congratulation if you guys pass the interview,
but please consider other's feeling, especially your students in the future.



Hi KoeiS,

I made the most stupid mistake in my life!
but you know what..
I will never answer this question wrong again

Umm why did you include me in that?

[KoeiS]

@KoeiS SATs are in no way the solution to the problem you described. In my opinion SATs keep good students out of good schools. Testing is in no way a good way to evaluate all students. I believe Canada has one of the best ways of determining entry by using your overall grades like a GPA.

I'm not sure what you mean by me proposing SATs as a solution to our grammar problem. My point in that statement was that the nation (or province/state) wide exams set a standard for which students can attain and possibly learn things outside the classroom in which they are taught. The lack of exposure to that could possibly be one reason some of us lack the expected English skills. (Sorry if that wasn't too clear in my previous post.) For me personally, the English SATs actually taught me quite a bit of grammar and reading skills in which I would have never recognized or had the chance to learn otherwise as ALL my English teachers throughout high school focused solely on essay writing and novel/poetry analysis.

One main problem without a standardized test is, of course, grades/GPA will significantly vary depending on the teacher whether a student is in high school or university. I had one very distinct teacher back in high school who would MAKE UP MARKS. Yes, he actually makes up marks based on absolutely nada. Thankfully, only the AP exam corresponding to that course mattered and the university only required 4 of my provincially exam-ed courses so I stopped going to his classes (and somehow still managed to get a 91%.....). Also, my roommate constantly complains about the difficulty of English required now as her high school teachers only asked her to read some novels, watched movies, and did "fun" projects throughout those years. In my uni courses, my grades will vary greatly depending on which prof I get as well. As much as I agree with you that you cannot evaluate all students based on standardized exams, it is not fair for people to be evaluated on grades given by one teacher either.

PS - BC had compulsory provincial exams up until just 4-5 years ago.
PPS - Getting way off JET topic lol

[KoeiS]

Hi KoeiS,

I made the most stupid mistake in my life!
but you know what..
I will never answer this question wrong again

Glad you're still so positive about it! I wish you the best of luck! Time to hit the grammar books now

[Gekishinken]

I interviewed in Chicago and did not have a test. The only English grammar that I had to explain to them was the difference between "Need" and "Want".

[Mimmy]

Hi Mimmy and tracey86,

Yes, I admitted my final answer was wrong.
I did answer it right (first time), but then they kept questioning me "are you sure?", so I changed my answer.
They didn't tell me that I got it wrong, but I found it out later.

We all make mistakes from time to time and I admitted that.
I am trying to help other aspiring JETs not to make stupid mistakes like me,
and give my blessing to all other aspiring JETs.

Do you think teaching is only giving out the right answer?
Let's face it, you are going to Japan and teaching English,
they WILL make lots of mistakes, are you guys going to laugh at them just like what you did?

Congratulation if you guys pass the interview,
but please consider other's feeling, especially your students in the future.



Hi KoeiS,

I made the most stupid mistake in my life!
but you know what..
I will never answer this question wrong again

Your comparison doesn't make any sense. Of course they will make mistakes - why would we laugh at them? They're LEARNING English. We're TEACHING English. We're the ones who are supposed to have the right answers. That's not EVERYTHING when it comes to teaching, but it's a huge part of it... how can you possibly teach something to other people if you clearly haven't mastered it yourself?

As has been said, though, this is getting off-topic I think we have all heard enough about bananas.

[AVN]

@KoeiS SATs are in no way the solution to the problem you described. In my opinion SATs keep good students out of good schools. Testing is in no way a good way to evaluate all students. I believe Canada has one of the best ways of determining entry by using your overall grades like a GPA.

I'm not sure what you mean by me proposing SATs as a solution to our grammar problem. My point in that statement was that the nation (or province/state) wide exams set a standard for which students can attain and possibly learn things outside the classroom in which they are taught. The lack of exposure to that could possibly be one reason some of us lack the expected English skills. (Sorry if that wasn't too clear in my previous post.) For me personally, the English SATs actually taught me quite a bit of grammar and reading skills in which I would have never recognized or had the chance to learn otherwise as ALL my English teachers throughout high school focused solely on essay writing and novel/poetry analysis.

One main problem without a standardized test is, of course, grades/GPA will significantly vary depending on the teacher whether a student is in high school or university. I had one very distinct teacher back in high school who would MAKE UP MARKS. Yes, he actually makes up marks based on absolutely nada. Thankfully, only the AP exam corresponding to that course mattered and the university only required 4 of my provincially exam-ed courses so I stopped going to his classes (and somehow still managed to get a 91%.....). Also, my roommate constantly complains about the difficulty of English required now as her high school teachers only asked her to read some novels, watched movies, and did "fun" projects throughout those years. In my uni courses, my grades will vary greatly depending on which prof I get as well. As much as I agree with you that you cannot evaluate all students based on standardized exams, it is not fair for people to be evaluated on grades given by one teacher either.

PS - BC had compulsory provincial exams up until just 4-5 years ago.
PPS - Getting way off JET topic lol

I have nothing against standardized testing as a part of what determines ability but as the sole determiner I disagree. I understand what you're saying about it possibly helping as it made you study grammar but don't you think it would make more sense to just have that become part of the curriculum at school instead of putting it on a test?

In Manitoba we had standardized tests but at my school they counted as part of our final marks not a way to determine our eligibility to get into a university.

I think that instead of more testing we just need a better method of teaching first languages. Often we leave grammar to second language teaching in part due to our ability to learn first languages just from using it. I think we could all benefit from learning more grammar/grammar terminology at school but I think a reliance on testing is a bad idea.

PS getting off topic makes this forum really interesting at times

[gaijin01]

I have been reading through some of the posts on this forum and must agree with alot of what I've seen. I had my interview yesterday in Los Angeles and can corroborate that the whole good cop/bad cop routine seems to be much in vogue this year. My panel consisted of a Caucasian male who I imagine was the ex-JET (somewhat neutral), a Japanese native speaker (the good cop), and an Asian-American female (the bad cop). The interview pretty much went somewhat like this:

- Tell us about yourself
- Why do you like Japan/Japanese culture so much?
- Based on your tutoring experience what would you say is the hardest thing about the job?
- What do you have to bring to JET that sets you apart from other candidates?
- Why JET and not another program?
- What are your professional goals and how would JET help you further said goals.
- If a Japanese colleague asked you to recommend two books/movies that are representative of American culture, which would you choose and why?
- Because I successfully completed the JPLT level four and am minoring in Japanese, I was asked: a) to introduce myself in Japanese, b) tell them where I am studying and c) what kind of anime/manga I like to read.
- I was asked if I could come up with a lesson plan aimed at grade school kids (probably b/c my tutoring experience is with high school and college students) in only 15 minutes if an instructor told me to do so.
- Whether I have ever been to Japan or have dual citizenship with Japan (the answer to both being "no").
- Finally, because we apparently finished earlier than expected, I was asked if there was anything else I would like to say.

By the end I was burned out so I told them I believed I had said all I could and they said it was fine. They stood up, shook my hand and I saw myself to the door. I don't know if it may have seen desperate but I did say thank you for taking your time to speak to me in Japanese to the native speaker. The Caucasian guy smiled to himself when I did, so I hope it is not a point against me. Also I think I spoke kind of fast so that's freaking me out a bit too but alas, we shall see in April.

Best of luck to all you guys and I hope this information is helpful to future, aspiring JET's.

[Spencer]

Guys, I understand that it may be hard to get questions like that. Most schools in Canada focus very little on Grammar though. To be perfectly honest, before I took TESOL, I didn't even know the difference between a verb and an adverb, let alone all the other terms in the English language. I surely would not have gotten that the comma was there. I think alot of people love the Idea of teaching English in Japan, but at the same time, people do not really know that they need to know grammar. In some respects, I think SOME people think that because they can speak it, they can teach it. I agree with AVNichols, when she said that the problem is more with how we teach first language. Not enough emphasis on grammar. This stuff should be drilled in to our heads. Now though, I'm a lot better at Grammar.

At the same time, I do recommend, anyone who will take an Interview and apply for JET, instead of preparing for the questions as much, (although that is recommended) also pick up and read a TESOL book as well to get the basics of how to teach this stuff to people, and it may help you out in your interview. Furthermore, once placed, I recommend if you have no formal training, to actually get a book on how to teach to that specific people group and age. Just a tip, might make it easier to learn the stuff if you got the basics. Be warned though, TESOL books tend to be very VERY dry. There is onnly so much one can read about verbs, nouns and adverbs before they pass out on their desk, even though their lesson plan is due in a couple hours to the one TESOL prof who doesn't give extensions.....sorry got off on a tangent there. lol.

@AVNichols-- U shd B a bIt mre forgiving of da English abilty on the forums hre??! Cuz, U think bout it, mst ppl have diff English SkIlLs Online then they do in real life. it may not be reflective of da actual ability of da person speakin.....jussss sayin.... ppl all typin fast and stuff, not rilly carin bout grammar on forums, jus sayin dont come naturally to all pppl. they may got soem perfect type of Ennglish ability when think about it they do.

[AVN]

Guys, I understand that it may be hard to get questions like that. Most schools in Canada focus very little on Grammar though. To be perfectly honest, before I took TESOL, I didn't even know the difference between a verb and an adverb, let alone all the other terms in the English language. I surely would not have gotten that the comma was there. I think alot of people love the Idea of teaching English in Japan, but at the same time, people do not really know that they need to know grammar. In some respects, I think SOME people think that because they can speak it, they can teach it. I agree with AVNichols, when she said that the problem is more with how we teach first language. Not enough emphasis on grammar. This stuff should be drilled in to our heads. Now though, I'm a lot better at Grammar.

At the same time, I do recommend, anyone who will take an Interview and apply for JET, instead of preparing for the questions as much, (although that is recommended) also pick up and read a TESOL book as well to get the basics of how to teach this stuff to people, and it may help you out in your interview. Furthermore, once placed, I recommend if you have no formal training, to actually get a book on how to teach to that specific people group and age. Just a tip, might make it easier to learn the stuff if you got the basics. Be warned though, TESOL books tend to be very VERY dry. There is onnly so much one can read about verbs, nouns and adverbs before they pass out on their desk, even though their lesson plan is due in a couple hours to the one TESOL prof who doesn't give extensions.....sorry got off on a tangent there. lol.

@AVNichols-- U shd B a bIt mre forgiving of da English abilty on the forums hre??! Cuz, U think bout it, mst ppl have diff English SkIlLs Online then they do in real life. it may not be reflective of da actual ability of da person speakin.....jussss sayin.... ppl all typin fast and stuff, not rilly carin bout grammar on forums, jus sayin dont come naturally to all pppl. they may got soem perfect type of Ennglish ability when think about it they do.

I hope Word reads this post...

When you say the comma was there are you referring to the apostrophe?

The "bananas" question: Banana's are delicious.

Also as for the last statement you made I think that attitude will be the downfall of the English language. I try to always give my posts one quick read through and often run a spell check to make sure I haven't missed any typos. It's not that hard. A small mistake here or there is fine but when I see the same person consistently making terrible posts then no, I will not forgive it.

In addition many of the mistakes I see are mistakes many ESL learners don't even make: your =/= you're, their =/= there =/= they're

Also weren't you the one laughing just a couple of pages ago?

HaHA I got it right away... I was like all of the banana is... whenn i was reading that post

[Spencer]

Guys, I understand that it may be hard to get questions like that. Most schools in Canada focus very little on Grammar though. To be perfectly honest, before I took TESOL, I didn't even know the difference between a verb and an adverb, let alone all the other terms in the English language. I surely would not have gotten that the comma was there. I think alot of people love the Idea of teaching English in Japan, but at the same time, people do not really know that they need to know grammar. In some respects, I think SOME people think that because they can speak it, they can teach it. I agree with AVNichols, when she said that the problem is more with how we teach first language. Not enough emphasis on grammar. This stuff should be drilled in to our heads. Now though, I'm a lot better at Grammar.

At the same time, I do recommend, anyone who will take an Interview and apply for JET, instead of preparing for the questions as much, (although that is recommended) also pick up and read a TESOL book as well to get the basics of how to teach this stuff to people, and it may help you out in your interview. Furthermore, once placed, I recommend if you have no formal training, to actually get a book on how to teach to that specific people group and age. Just a tip, might make it easier to learn the stuff if you got the basics. Be warned though, TESOL books tend to be very VERY dry. There is onnly so much one can read about verbs, nouns and adverbs before they pass out on their desk, even though their lesson plan is due in a couple hours to the one TESOL prof who doesn't give extensions.....sorry got off on a tangent there. lol.

@AVNichols-- U shd B a bIt mre forgiving of da English abilty on the forums hre??! Cuz, U think bout it, mst ppl have diff English SkIlLs Online then they do in real life. it may not be reflective of da actual ability of da person speakin.....jussss sayin.... ppl all typin fast and stuff, not rilly carin bout grammar on forums, jus sayin dont come naturally to all pppl. they may got soem perfect type of Ennglish ability when think about it they do.

I hope Word reads this post...

When you say the comma was there are you referring to the apostrophe?

The "bananas" question: Banana's are delicious.

Also as for the last statement you made I think that attitude will be the downfall of the English language. I try to always give my posts one quick read through and often run a spell check to make sure I haven't missed any typos. It's not that hard. A small mistake here or there is fine but when I see the same person consistently making terrible posts then no, I will not forgive it.

In addition many of the mistakes I see are mistakes many ESL learners don't even make: your =/= you're, their =/= there =/= they're

Also weren't you the one laughing just a couple of pages ago?

HaHA I got it right away... I was like all of the banana is... whenn i was reading that post

Yes, I was the one laughing a few pages ago....

And yes, I did mean an apostrophe. My bad! LOL FAIL!!!! ANYWAYS, I more meant that as a joke AV, no hard feelings or anything. I do think that people type differently online, but if your going on about how people type online, we could say that the downfall of the English language, and certainly a struggle point for students is thee conjunctions that we always use. I mean, come on, if you actually look at the English language, there are tons of things wrong with the speaking aspect of it.

My TESOL prof showed me this video, you may find it amusing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSSQe6vsSw


Its just that, when I type on a forum where everyone knows what I am trying to say, I dont mind typing without using the odd apostrophe in the word dont. you know I meant to say don't just as much as you know I meat to capitalize the word 'you' at the beginning of this sentence, but it doenst (note left out apostrophe) really matter here, it's a forum. Had I wanted to be proper, I could, at least mostly, I mean the red lines even hint at it. But when doing something more professionally I make sure my grammar is flawless, I proofread. A forum doesnt need to have that much time devoted to it from those of us who are not perfectionists. Just some thoughts.

I hope this doesn't come off as rude! Not intended that way at all. just different ideas.