Teacher Selection: Teaching Demonstration and Job Interview

What makes a good teaching demonstration?
A Fantastic Teaching Demonstration by My Student Teacher

Sharing dos and don'ts, key elements, and structures of a teaching demo and answering any questions

I've been invited to the panel of experts for five years in a row by the Education Bureau. The job was to select potential candidates based on not only their teaching competencies but English skills. Teacher selection in Taiwan is highly competitive. It was my honor to help those pre-service teachers better prepare for it with a series of hands-on tasks at the Center for Teacher Education, National Chi Nan University. 

Both the teaching demonstration and job interview require excellent lesson planning strategies and English presentation skills. To stand out, you want to look passionate and ready to show your students an inspirational and fun class with connected and organized activities that leave the judges no time to get bored. You need a SCRIPT that will work for any designated lesson you draw. With this two-hour long workshop, here are what I believe will get the job done: 

English as the Medium of Instruction

By dividing each activity into three parts, we then focus on the features for pre, during, and post activity and come up with LINES, the English language, accordingly. 

For example, pre-activity instructions should include the purpose and rules of the game, mainly focusing on what exactly students have to DO. Then, keep it simple and short. Also, modeling is a good way to check students' understanding. 

EMI doesn't mean using difficult technical terms to explain grammar and sentence patterns. A big no-no is to overwhelm the judges with grammatical jargon you can't even say it fluently or clearly.  

Lesson Planning Structure

I believe there are six crucial elements for an effective fifteen-minute long teaching demonstration, including greetings, an agenda, reviewing vocabulary, teaching grammar, teaching reading, and a wrap-up. 

Each serves its own unique purpose. Time distribution has to be carefully calculated because the idea is to make a dynamic flow throughout the whole demo. After so many demos, the judges will get tired, too. The least you want to be is being predictable. 

You should be able to say your "fixed lines" effortlessly. The more you pause, the more nervous you'll be. For example, when conducting a discussion activity, without any hesitation, you'd be saying something like, "OK, guys. I'll give you two minutes. What do you have to do? You will work in pairs. One will be asking the question ....." 

How to Answer ANY Questions

My best advice would be taking a one-on-one online English class and learn to think in English. If you really want to edge out your rivals, you need to commit yourself to it. 

However, there's a pattern I believe would help organize your thoughts:

1 Recognize the importance of the topic. For example, it's an official policy that by 2030 we will become a bilingual country, so CLIL is .....  

2 A personal anecdote, especially a failure to success story, would be much appreciated. 

3 Give three points. For example, three ways to help my students become better English readers. 

4 Call for action. When I become a teacher, I will do this and that to make sure my students enjoy learning English. 

With that spark in the eye of the students, I knew I did a pretty good job. I kept them busy thinking, discussing, and sharing their ideas with the tasks, with each targeting a specific skill set. I had a good time showcasing my English speaking and role-playing techniques, too.