My ECC Interview

First off, I apologise for the massive absense of updates. I have been addicted to Tumblr so you can find me over there almost everyday. username: KawaiiProject.

OK so this is a post about the ECC Japan Interview I had the other weekend. I didnt get the job but i believe that was purely down to my mental blank half way through my teach demo. ANYWAY! There isnt too much information out there about the ECC interviews so this is for anyone thinking of applying or preparing for the interview.

So the day started off super early for me as i had to get the train to london. The session, although it said would start at half 9, actually didnt start until 10. So i got there an hour early. This gave me time to find the room and meet my co-interviewees. everyone was very nice but very posh and i felt like a bit of an idiot student next to all these people-in-the-real-world. XD

Anyways, we took our seats in the classroom and the first part of the interview began. They introduced us to themselves and the company, showed us the text books and told us about things like the types of students we would have, the kind of timetables we could expect to be on and things like pay, dress code and things like that. It took 2 hours but it was really interesting. We also had the opportunity to ask questions at this point.

Next. Was the ENGLISH TEST! The ENGLISH TEST was just that. It was the hardest thing i have ever had to do. ever. hands down. it was hard. if you are applying to ECC, don't be put off by it, but just be prepared that it was really hard. We all said so afterwards.

The ENGLISH TEST consists of 100 multiple choice questions, the answers to which you write down on a seperate sheet. You need to achieve 70% minimum to pass onto the next phase of the interview. So you can get 30 questions wrong. which doesnt sound like much but it is a decent amount. Also, at the top of your test paper you will have written a letter. This is how they announce if you are through.

The majority of the test is made up of questions asking you to identify words in sentences that are incorrect and need replacing etc. some of those are more simple than others. The things i would reccommend studying for that part is general sentence structure, grammar and things like "words that make this sentence redundant" (yeah i dont think i got that question right).

The next part is about spelling. These are multiple choice again and all you have to do is pick the correctly spelled word out of the 2 choices. for example: concious and contious. just do your research about spelling dificult words. As i have read somewhere else "if you have to think about how to spell it, it will probably be on the test" thankfully there are only maybe 20 questions on these.

Next is definitions. Basically a load of words I have never and will never use. The questions just ask you to identify to correct definition out of a, b, or c. I think, common sense is needed for that part. words like "revile" popped up and it was using common sense to rule out the answers that were definitely not right.

Then comes the passage..... oh the passage.... Basically a short paragraph of writing in which you need to identify the different types of words. such as - adverbs, simple past tense etc etc. look these up cause that was what really threw me.

The last part doesnt really have anything to do with english but basically you have to match up the word with the definition again however this time it is about teaching and it's a bit different. that part is pretty simple though and i found it quite fun.

Then you are done! and it's time for lunch! I was sooo nervous!
When you get back after lunch, they will have written all the letters of the people who didnt get through on the board. This is so you can gather your things and leave with dignity. You can talk to the interviewers after to see where you went wrong. If you letter isn't on the board, prepare for the teaching demo!!

Now this isn't really something I can tell you how to do as it's different for everyone. You get split up into groups and each group is given a group of cards with a lesson objective on and flash cards. You then have some time to prepare the "lesson" and then you present this to the other groups pretending they are the children. The interviewers sit to one side and observe. Be enthusiastic and make sure you get the point of the lesson and the correct vocabulary across. Don't be afraid to over act everything, chances are you might not see these people again and it may just get you the job. Don't be embarassed!!

After that you are sent away and called in one at a time for the individual interviews. These are pretty easy and it's more like clarifying things from your application form. the others in my session said they didnt get asked things like "why japan?" "why ECC?" but i did. Just "why ECC?" which i just answered honestly.

Over all it was a pretty interesting day and although I didnt get in, i have a feeling that i know what i messed up on and if i have the opportunity to go for another ECC day i know what to change.

I hope this post will help any others who are applying for ECC! Best of luck!!