Stay on target
This is a trial lesson from our G.B.C. course. It is the first lesson in our course. It is about interview tests in general. We'll talk about what they are for. This will help you avoid the biggest mistake that people make in interview tests.
Start by discussing the G.B.C. test with your teacher. Have you done the test before? How do you feel in the test? How do you think you can improve?
Start off by getting a feel for the student's attitude towards the test. Have they taken the test before? How many times? If they have not, when do they plan to?
Don't teach here, but you can offer corrections.
Note: Ask if your student has taken the G.B.C. test before. If not, you'll need to give them a quick summary:
The G.B.C. test is an interview test. It takes about 20 minutes. They ask you questions about you, your job and then harder questions about politics and economics and so on. We'll practice some questions in this lesson, and you'll get a feel for the test.
You should also give your student this link http://theenglishfarm.com/blog-tags/gbc through Skype, and tell them to read up on all that good stuff so that they can better understand what the test is about.
Goal of this class
This lesson is about expanding on answers in a natural, organised, conversational way to generate interest and demonstrate the strengths of their language skills. Everybody can do better with this, so you should have a productive lesson.
Dive into the warm up, and remember you have 15 minutes for warm up, language and practice in a trial. See the detailed help page on trial lessons & skills assessments if you need some general tips.
Your teacher has a few questions for you. Answer them as you would in the G.B.C. test.
Ask the student one of these questions:
- Have you ever lived overseas?
- What do you do?
- Where are you from?
If all goes according to plan, you should typically get something like the following as answers:
- Yes. I have been to America and France and Italy and Australia and Saipan.
- I am a consultant.
- Japan.
If you get a one word answer, then you have an even better point to make in this lesson. If you get a decent answer, work through the other questions (you'll get a bad answer).
Lead the student in conversation, asking questions to get them to expand on their answers.
Let's talk about your answers from the warm-up. Your teacher will help you develop your answers. That way, you can maximize your chances of a higher test score.
Strategy
Now you get to make your point. You need to do a little speech here, or you can do it in the form or a dialogue with the student.
Directly ask the question: What is the point of an interview test? Evolve this into the following discussion.
The biggest mistake that students make when doing interview tests like the G.B.C. test is that they treat it like an interview. That is to say, they answer the questions on the assumption that the interviewer cares about the answers and that the purpose of asking the questions is to find out about the test taker.
This is not the case. The goal is not informational. It is not a job interview.
The idea of the test is to ask questions that give the student the opportunity to demonstrate their English skills.
Essentially, questions are designed merely to give the student something to talk about it. We want the students to grasp this difference and realise that at all times during the G.B.C. interview, they should be at pains to show off their skills.
Teach
Now take the student's original answer from the warm-up, for example "What do you do?" Let's assume the student's answer was "I am a consultant". Teach them a more expansive and interesting way to answer based on the information you gleaned from them in the warm-up.
Well, I work for a consulting firm, so I work with companies and help them improve their business. Sometimes that means cuttting costs, or developing some new strategy. Day to day, it means a lot research, meetings, presentations and research and analysis. We do pretty long hours, but the challenge makes it very rewarding.
Challenge the student to do this with one of the questions from the warm up you did not ask them, then give them some corrections, suggestions and feedback.
Crux: If the student does not talk more, then the interviewer has less to go on when they grade, so give them plenty! Use interesting phrases and words you know. Work it into the answer.
Note: Make a point of not using any new words and phrases here. The point we want to get across is that they can say something much more impressive with what they already know.
Now let's take what you have learned and practice with a few more G.B.C.-style questions.