The aim is to assesses the applicant's teaching skills and English language awareness. It should last about 30 minutes.

Interview 2 works in conjunction with interview 1 to get as full a picture of the candidate as possible. On top of language skills, note anything that would be a roadblock to being a good teacher, colleague, and employee at TEF.

Set up the interview over email. Use this template, please. Be sure to cc kara@theenglishfarm.com and matthew@theenglishfarm.com. Make sure you put the interview in the Google TEF HR Calendar so everyone in HR can see it.

Preparation

1. Review the applicant's online application, CV (Google Drive HR folder) and Covering Letter (Google Drive HR folder).  

2. Read through the notes from the applicant's Interview 1. The docs will be labeled appropriately and will be located in the Google Drive HR folder.
3. Set up a TEF evaluation form for the applicant by following these steps:
   • The template is here: Google Doc evaluation form.
   • Make a copy for the applicant and title it "Interview 2 Evaluation Form [applicant's first name] [applicant's last name]." You can ctrl+a, and ctrl+c to copy and paste into a new doc, or click File -> Make a copy.
   • Fill out the evaluation form during or immediately after the interview.
4. Open a blank Google Doc for you to take notes on the applicant's responses to your questions. Title it "Interview 2 Questions & Responses [applicant's first name] [applicant's last name]." (More on interview questions in the next section below.)

Conducting the interview 

Overview of the 30 minutes:

• The first 5 minutes are introductions.
• The middle 20 minutes are the assessment. Ask the questions below. 
  • You have leeway to fully assess the candidate's ability. This entire form is only a guide.
• The last 5 minutes are a cool down. Recap, answer any questions and set the candidate's expectations for a reply. 

Introductions—roughly 5 minutes

• Relax and get to know the person. The tone should be open, warm and gentle. 
  • Remember, the workplace culture at TEF is friendly and collaborative. The interview must reflect our culture.
  • Furthermore, the interviewee may be nervous which would not represent their true ability

The structure is as follows: 

1. Lay the roadmap
   • "This interview should take about 30 minutes. The middle 20 will be some teaching questions, then at the end you can take a few minutes to ask me anything you like. But first, let's take 5 minutes to get to know each other."
2. Start the intros as you might run a warmup with a student. 
   • Ask a simple, interesting introductory question. You may wish to touch on something in their CV, application, or previous interview. 
3. Ask these preliminary questions.
   • "If a student asks you a language question you can't answer, what would you do?"
   • "What's the ideal teaching style?"

Assessment—roughly 20 minutes 

Introduce the assessment in the following way.

• "I'm going to ask you a variety of language questions that might come up in a lesson. Some of them may be quite challenging, but this is not a test. I'm not trying to stress you out."
• "You can use any tools you might use in a lesson. You can quickly check in Internet, use your personal teaching resources, and you can always check with me."

Key guidelines:

1. Ask most of the numbered questions.
   • Copy and paste the key language (in bold) into the chat box.
2. Assess the interviewee's answer, then decide which, if any, follow-up to ask.
   • E.g. they may put the sentences in context and explain meaning. In which can you may follow up by asking, "What's happening grammatically?"
   • E.g. they may attempt the grammar and struggle. In that case, ask a simpler context or meaning question.
3. You do not have to ask all of the questions. 
   • For instance, if your interviewee nails the meaning and grammar, you may feel justified in moving on.
4. You may give examples to struggling or failing candidates. 
   • If you have deduced that the person is a poor fit in terms of grammar awareness, you may wish to guide them to self-awareness of their skills. 
     • e.g. "Living vs. live is tough, so what's the difference between "I'm drinking coffee" and "I drink coffee?"
5. Real-time feedback is encouraged, but not necessary.
   • Positive feedback is best when it's fact-based. 
     • E.g., "That is indeed what's happening, grammatically." Or, "
     •  

Grammar questions

1. Imagine your student asks, "What's the difference between these two sentences?"

a) I live in London.
b) I’m living in London.

Possible answers, from basic to advanced teaching ability. 

• Context
  • How might the the speaker continue?
    • a) e.g., "I live in London. I was born and raised here. I'm not planning on leaving."
    • b) e.g., "I'm living in London for the moment."
• Meaning
  • Both sentences describe where the speaker lives. Both are gramatically correct.
    • a) suggests London is the speaker's permanent residence. 
    • b) suggests residence in London is temporary.
• Grammar 
  • a) uses the present simple,
  • b) uses the present continuous (be + present participle)
• Teaching
  • What other instances of present simple vs. present continuous can you think of?
    • e.g. "I'm working at ABC, but I'm thinking about leaving." 
  • What question might you ask your student to elicit the difference? 
    • e.g. "Do you work at your company, or are you working there?"

2. Your student reads the following sentences and would like to know what's happening grammatically.

a) This time next week I'll have arrived in Hawaii.
b) This time next week I'll be sunbathing on the beach.

Possible answers, from basic to advanced teaching ability. 

• Meaning
  • Both sentences are about the future.
  • Both project ahead to the same future time (This time next week).
  • Both talk about future actions in relation to this future point in time.
    • a) indicates the action arrive will be complete before this time next week. 
    • b) indicates the action sunbathe will be in progress at this time next week.
• Grammar
  • a) uses the future perfect (will + have + past participle)
  • b) uses the future continuous (will + be + present participle)
• Usage
  • "Can you give me another example of the grammar in sentence a)? Use that structure, but change the topic. Give me a different time and an action that might be true for you.
    • e.g. a) "In 20 minutes, I will have finished this interview."
    • e.g. b) "In 20 minutes, I'll be feeling much more relaxed!" 
• Teaching
  • What question might you ask to help your student produce the future perfect, as in a)?
    • e.g. a) What will you have done by the end of today?
  • How about b)? 
    • e.g. b) What will you be doing at 7 p.m. tonight?

3. Your student asks, "What's the difference between these two sentences?"

a) JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books.
b) The Harry Potter books were written by JK Rowling.

Possible answers, from basic to advanced teaching ability. 

• Meaning
  • Both sentences give the same information, but with subtle differences in emphasis.
    • a) suggests we are more interested in JK Rowling.
      • This sentence might be from a magazine profile on the writer.
    • b) suggests we are more interested in The Harry Potter books.
      •  This sentence might be taken from an article on some aspect of the wider Harry Potter phenomenon, like a review of the theme park or of one of the movies.
• Grammar
  • a) is in the active voice
    • With the active voice, the agent of the verb is also the subject of the sentence;
  • b) is in the passive voice.
    • in the passive voice, the agent is not in subject position, giving it less importance. Passive structure: be + past participle
• Teaching
  • Can you give me another instance of when the passive or active voice is important? 
    • E.g., a) Jim made mistakes. 
    • E.g., b) Mistakes were made (by Jim). 

Error correction and explanation

1. Your student says the following: 

I read a news yesterday about the political crisis.

Possible answers, from basic to advanced teaching ability. 

• Minimal change
  • I read a news article/a piece of news.
  • I read the news.
• Grammar
  • The noun news is uncountable so it cannot be used with an indefinite article.
    • To quantify news here, use a piece of; a news report; a news article.
    • You may also use the definite article, "the", to mean news in general.
• Explanation
  • What if you student says, "I was told nouns ending in S were countable? Like, cups, books, etc..."
    • Not all plurals end in s, what about "people"? 
    • Also, plenty of uncountable nouns end in s, like "economics" and so on. You can google to find more.

2. Your student says the following 

How long do you live in England?

Possible answers

• Minimal change 

  • How long have you lived in England?

  • How long have you been living in England?

• Explanation

  • When there is an action that started in the past and continues to the present, we use the present perfect (have + past participle), or the present perfect continuous. 

• Teaching

  • Ask, "How might you go about correcting a very high level student who made this mistake?
    • E.g., Repeat the error with emphasis, "How long do?!"
    • E.g., Tell them, "there's a mistake in the sentence. Can you guess where it is? 
    • E.g., The present simple is for fundamental truths of nature, for instance, "How long do you boil eggs for?" 
  • Ask, "How much you ensure the student doesn't make this mistake in the future?"
    • E.g., Instruct the student to ask 3 different, "How long have you [perfect participle]?"

Vocabulary

Explain the difference between the underlined words:

1. How would you teach the word miniscule?

• Definition 
  • It means, "very, very, small" 
• Discovery 
  • How would you help the student discover the meaning themself? 
    • "Can you see a work in there you recognize?" ... "How about the first 4 letters?"
• Visuals
  • Share Google pictures of the word.
• Examples
  • E.g. "My project's budget is $10 million, and my boss was bothering me about $100. It's a miniscule amount!" 
• Elicitation 
  • E.g., "Give me an example of a miniscule amount/something that's miniscule."  

Phonology

1. Explain how the meaning of the sentence changes using word stress and intonation:

The exhibition was pretty interesting.

Suggested answers:

• Modeling
  • Extra emphasis on pretty: 
    • longer peak vowel and descending tone on "pretty" means to a lesser extent. 
  • Extra emphasis on interesting:
    • longer peak vowel and rising tone on interesting means it really was very interesting
• Explaining 
  • Talk through rising tone and peak vowels, as above. 

2. How might you help a learner who pronounces the words "hat" and "hut" with the same vowel sound? 

• Listening/comprehension
  • Perhaps one of these sounds doesn't exists in the learners L1 (as in Spanish, for instance).
  • Say the words hat, hut and isolate the sounds /æ/ and /ʌ/. Ask if the student can hear the difference.
  • Note the place in the mouth where the sound feels that it comes from: front /æ/ hat, back /ʌ/ hut. 
• Production 
  • Start with minimal pairs /æ/ and /ʌ/
  • An explanation may help with production
    •  both are produced with the tongue positioned low in the mouth.
    • /æ/ is produced with the tongue nearer the front of the mouth,
    • /ʌ/ with the tongue slightly retracted.
    • You can send a Google image search.
  • Give the student a minimal pairs activity: 
    • Hat, hut; mat, mutt; bat, but. 
    • I saw a hat, I saw a hut. 

Cool down—last 5 minutes 

Ask if they have any questions about the interview itself or TEF as an organization. 

Applications are welcome to follow up with answers or missed information after the interview. 

Tell the application we will meet and discuss their application, and will get back to them in a few working days. 

After the interview

Please share both the evaluation form and your Google Doc with the applicant's responses in TEF HR Skype thread and Google Drive HR folder.  

The interviewer should converse with the first interviewer to discuss whether the applicant would be a good fit for TEF. Hiring instructions follow.