Any advice before my 2nd AEON interview?

6 comments

1. When I did everything the group interview was first, and then there was no covid so I did the group interview in person. I was the first one there decked out in the three piece suit, and by first one I mean that I was there before the guy who ran the group interview. I sat right at the door so they would know that.

   During the interview I was as professional as possible, visibly took notes, and nodded a lot. In the group work I took charge of my group, and I was expressive as well as getting physically involved (running around) when the activity was ready to be demo’d.

   Best guess, of the large group of folks we had, about a quarter got virtual interviews. Due to their being only one guy running the thing, they couldn’t do many in person.

   I got offered the job but didn’t take it. I’d met the woman I married about a month before I was offered, chose her, worked out.

   P.S. Wear pants. I had the top part of my three piece suit on when I did a virtual interview, stood up and showed myself. They laughed and I still got offered, but I’d not recommend going news anchor on them with shorts and flip flops haha

2. Assuming this is after the group interview? Here they’ll ask about expectations i.e. where you want to live. They’ll also ask you to demo a lesson. The 1st time they don’t help you. The instructor leaves the room and you take like 5 minutes to prepare. After you give the lesson the instructor will give you tips to improve. This is probably the most important part. Improve! They’re testing to see if you can follow instructions to fit the AEON format of teaching. If you can do that then you’re probably in. Being flexible about where you work also probably helps. I just said I wanted to work somewhere where my apartment was near the school, for example.

3. A group interview? That’s my worst nightmare. Please tell me this isn’t common.

4. Run!!

5. It was some time ago but I did in person interviews and the group part came first.

   However as other commenters have noted appearance and personal presence is a must. Don’t try to be clever and teach something difficult. You will be asked to do a demo Infront of the group, so pick and prepare a specific topic. It’s only supposed to last 5-10 minutes, they will tell you when to stop.
   Pick a straight forward teaching point, so for example you could choose movies as a topic and introduce genres as adjectives.
   Do a presentation introducing the topic, vocab, drill, be procedural and clear. Then do teacher and student interactions (T-” What kind of movies do you like?”, S- ” I like ______ movies” model first then proceed), change it up to get the ‘students’ interacting with one another, have another activity prepared, you’ll find you might go through such a simple exercise quickly but in short they want to see this:

   1. Professional / amiable appearance.
   2. Organisation, preparation and confidence.
   3. Energetic, interactive teaching.

   So as a plan I recommend:

   1. Choose a basic teaching point within a familiar topic (Movies + like/ don’t like + adjectives / Sports + comparatives etc…) It really can be anything your comfortable with.
   2. Plan it so you use a number of teaching elements – Presentstion, visual + oral modelling, drilling and practice)
   3. Provide your own materials, flashcards pictures, whatever you want.
   4. Just do the lesson and don’t wait for them to stop you, time your plan so you can show it all off but have a little in reserve just in case you freeze and have dead air (Even the simplest activity is fine – guess the flashcard, say the flash card, describe the flashcard without saying it )
   5. Smile.

   It’s very simple to plan, stick to the basics and if all else fails keep smiling and power through any awkwardness.

   You’ll be fine.

6. Was your first interview not a group interview?