I’m helping a student prepare for an entrance interview at Kobe Women’s College (神戸女学院大学). The student is applying to the School of Letters: English Department. She must give a 1-minute self introductory speech and then will asked a few questions by the interviewers in both Japanese and English. I am practicing basic questions that I think the interviewers \*might\* possibly ask her, but her ability level is intermediate level and she is really struggling with being able to listen to a question, pick out the main/key words, and then give some sort of reply. I am trying to get her to just be able to say something–anything–in a simple but complete sentence (rather than just one word answers).
Does anyone have experience with interview prep for this particular university? I’m just wondering how difficult the questions will be so I will know to what level she needs to prepare. Thanks in advance!
4 comments
Most interviews at lower-level unis will often ask more expansive questions and the expectation for students is that they’ll give more than a one-sentence response. They usually pull questions regarding high school life.
EIKEN pre-2/2 interview questions would be a good starting point if the student is struggling.
My student got into this school a few years ago. Always good to look at the school website and fit some beliefs and keywords into the answers. I cannot find the old questions but I did take a few from searching for entrance exam questions on here. I think it was something about How English impacted their life, or something about why Kobes women college.
I would also suggest having multiple session and slowly amping up the difficulty on different aspects like voice, eye contact, teaching kids to say pardon and ask the questions again. First things should be just he basics then add the others. Too many teachers and ALTs seem to throw the kitchen sink at the kids in the first session. The exception to this would be if you wanted to run a full on real life example then break it apart after and slowly work on the parts. Just make sure the actual training parts work on things at a reasonable level for the student.
The three golden rules of speaking English:
– say SOMETHING. Even a noise. Seek clarification. Even saying “I don’t know” is better than sitting in silence
– practice giving +1 sentences unprompted:
>”I play softball every day. My position is catcher.”
– talking about yourself is okay
> A: I went to Osaka for summer holidays.
>B: Nice! I went there last year. Did you eat okonomiyaki?
Number 1 is the biggie. Silence in Japan has a different cultural meaning in Japan compared to most Western countries and it will sap the energy from the room, make you look bad, and start a cycle of anxiety and self-doubt as the stress builds.
It’s a famous mission school and one of the oldest women’s colleges in Japan. Might be helpful to tell your student that the school’s official English name is just “Kobe College” (yes, some schools have different names in Japanese than in English because of history)