Manuals > Business English > Daijob Interview Course - Lesson 2
The following 4 lesson plan is intended for use during the winter of 2014/5. It is aimed at students who are planning or hoping to interview at an overseas company.
Each class introduces some key phrases, however, these are not the focus of the lesson. The main objective is to give the student practice and experience interacting in a job interview like situation in English. Each class also offers some interview tips. These are based on western business practises, so may differ from the student’s own culture. It’s also great if teachers can bring their own experiences to the lesson. Also included is a lesson flow for each class. Every lesson follows a basic TTT cycle (Test, Teach, Test) to maximise student talking time. Each lesson has its own worksheet. You can find a copy of this in the school where you work. The teacher and student should share a copy, then the student can take it home after the lesson. The instructions on the sheet are intended to help both teacher and student.
Before the lesson you should;
Read the appropriate lesson plan below - paying close attention to the objective of the class
Prepare a copy of the worksheet to use in your class
Check the student’s profile for useful information. (If they have already taken at least one lesson)
During the lesson you should;
Focus on getting the student to speak as much as possible
Try to stick to the objective of the lesson
Give the student feedback about the language they use and the chance to demonstrate their understanding of the feedback.
Take notes, if possible, to use to update the student profile further.
After the lesson you should;
Give the student the worksheet that you used, along with their notes.
Confirm when their next class is and that they have understood their homework.
Update the student profile if necessary
If the student is very high level
Some students who register for this course may already be very comfortable communicating in English.
If this is the case, then the teacher should focus on the interview aspects of the preparation course.
Try to make the class as similar to an interview as you can, have the student standing up and sitting down as they would in a real interview.
Give advice on interview skills, rather than on English ability.
If the student is low level
Some students who register for this course may be of a low level. They may have trouble simply understanding the phrases presented and formulating answers correctly.
If this is the case, the teacher should focus on the English aspects of the course.
Rather than talking about interview skills, the teacher can help the student to make answers to common interview questions, then practise delivering them.
Give advice on language skills, rather than focussing on the interview.
Objective(s):
Introduce and practise phrases for talking about background and experience
Lesson Flow:
0-5 min: Introduction
Review the homework and some new vocabulary from the previous lesson. Introduce the learning objective of this lesson.
5-10 min: Test
Introduce the situation and do an introductory role-play, with teacher as interviewer and student as interviewee. Ask some questions about their experience and background, and use this to establish a base level of ability.
10-25 min: Teach
Give the student some feedback on their performance in the initial role-play. Use the role-play on the sheet to introduce some new phrases, then introduce and practise the phrases from the boxes. Practise asking and answering with your own information.
25-35 min: Test
Role-play the situation again then switch roles, and have the student interview you. Finally, repeat the initial role-play with the student’s own information.
35-40 min: Wrap-up and homework
Conclude the lesson by giving the student some final feedback on their performance. Confirm the homework from the sheet.
Homework
Think of a difficult situation that you have faced at work (or at school). Describe what the situation was, explain your target and the actions you took, and what the result was. Present to your teacher in the next class.
Copy-paste content
Feel free to copy and paste this text into your notes as appropriate
Key Phrases:
Interviewer questions
- Can you tell me a little about your background?
- What did you do at (company)?
- What were your main responsibilities?
- Can you tell me about a challenge or issue that you overcame?
Background
- I worked at (company) from ... to ...
- I’ve been at (company) since / for ...
- My main duty was ...
- My responsibilities included ...
Experience
- I’m familiar with ...
- I have experience in ...
- I have (4 years) experience in the field of ...
- I previously (worked with overseas clients) at ...
Interview Tips:
You should never talk negatively about previous employers in an interview, as this is a major red flag for interviewers.
A useful pattern for talking about issues you overcame is STAR - Situation, Target, Action, Result. See if you can find where the interviewee uses this in the role-play and identify each stage.
Role-Play:
Interviewer: Now, Jane, I’d like to ask you about your work history. Can you tell me a little about your background?
Interviewee: Sure. I worked at Systech for 5 years, from 2009 to 2014.
Interviewer: I see, and what did you do there?
Interviewee: I was a systems engineer and a project coordinator. That’s why I have experience in working with project management software.
Interviewer: What were your main responsibilities at Systech?
Interviewee: My main duty was to talk to the the client and understand their needs, then to make a project plan. I have 15 years experience in project management, so I enjoyed it a lot.
Interviewer: And, can you tell me about a challenge or issue that you overcame during your time at Systech?
Interviewee: Yes, of course. We had a very important client who suddenly needed some work done very quickly. Luckily, I had a very good team, so I was able to put together a group quickly, assess the clients needs, and move to meet them. We completed the project on time and to satisfaction.