Operational Online Teacheing Interview Preparation Guide

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If you have a reference or a referral (please be sure they are in good standing with the university, to the best of your ability, before name dropping!) then explain that. If you found it online you can say that too. I would suggest somehow bringing in why you wanted to work here or what you found appealing in the job description as well.

Only say positive things about the country you are going to. Make it sound like it is flawless and perfect. Don’t offend your interviewer by pointing out their country’s faults, no matter how true they may be.

You’re going to need to dig deep for this one. Is it because you want to do something rewarding? Fulfilling? Make a difference? Maybe you feel a calling to teach abroad, and you can’t ignore it.

Make sure you answer this interview question by saying positive things about the country you want to work in. Talk about people you know who have visited and loved the country, or your own previous trips to the country. Don’t mention how it is a convenient place for you to use as a base to visit other countries.

Don’t say that you like to spend it at bars getting drunk. A better answer would be to say that you are planning to spend your free time in [insert country name here] by visiting different places around the country and learning about its culture.

Tread lightly here and make it positive. Give a specific example from a previous job or teaching experience and how collaborating with higher management resulted in a better outcome.

Here, you can talk about how it is extremely important to be patient, and be sure to tell each and every student about how they can learn at their own pace without any judgement whatsoever.

The interviewer is wanting to find out not just about your experience, but that you know there is a difference between teaching adults and teaching traditional students. I suggest making this clear in your response.

Another typical question is where you’ll see yourself in the future. This is again one question that engages discussion and is used to further allow the respondents to open up about their hopes, dream, and expectations, and how they hope to manage those in the immediate future.

If they are looking for a ‘friendly, positive teacher’, then say that you teach in a friendly, positive style. Also mention how you care about every student and will do whatever you can to help any student.

Sometimes experience with traveling abroad is a prerequisite for teaching English abroad, or it just helps your chances of securing a spot in the program. Here you can talk about if you’ve studied or volunteered abroad or if you’ve just traveled abroad for fun. Talk about the value you got out of it and what it taught you for future travels abroad.

Even if you have no teaching experience on your resume, you will need to think of an answer to this common interview question. Talk about times you’ve tutored students in school, even times you’ve helped your younger brother with his homework. Just make sure you have a good answer to this question.

Pick something that shows you’ll be a great teacher. A bad answer would be that you learned some grammar, as that implies you didn’t know the grammar in the first place. If you haven’t done a TEFL, then say you are planning to do one online while teaching.

The best thing teachers need is efficient command on the subject and an ability to convey their point across in an efficient manner.

This is a common question because it’s a great opener, gets the ball rolling, and it allows for the respondent to open up and speak on his own terms without any hesitation. Discuss strengths from previous experiences that relate to the position, such as management, leadership, and organization. Don’t go in depth about your weaknesses — just name a couple that you’re working on and how you’re working on them.

Discuss that you’ll make sure the lesson plans are highly engaging with some entertaining aspects to keep the students busy and out of trouble. If trouble arises, you’ll follow the discipline procedures outlined by the school.

Family is very important in many countries like China and Korea. Say that they’ll miss you but you will skype them every week.

Simple enough. You read about them online right? You learned about them in our forums right? You have heard great things about how they uphold academic integrity, how they stand behind their faculty, they communicate regularly, your colleagues love working there, etc. If you are applying to a faith based school be sure to mention this element.

Use the STAR technique here: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Tell a story that demonstrates how you effectively handled some technical problems in a learning situation. If you have good problem-solving skills then promote those.

Be sure the strategies you describe are developmentally appropriate and effective. It is best to share ones that you have implemented successfully, so you can use examples from your own experiences. Administrators seem to appreciate discussing guidance that reinforces positive behaviors and involves children in deciding how to work together in the classroom.

It's easy to get carried away. In my early days of online teaching, I answered emails around the clock. Generally, I get back to the students in 24 hours or less, but I don't answer emails in the evening and on weekends. Some students require less support than others. Sometimes a short email will suffice. Sometimes, assignments require detailed feedback.

Say that you will try and be understanding, but if necessary you will deal with them according to the school’s policy.

If you have, great! Talk about your fantastic experience abroad, and how it made you want to visit whatever country you are applying for a job in. If not, then make sure you show that you won’t get homesick and quit after a month.

Just like the question about your experience teaching adults, the interviewer may just be checking to be sure you know that there is a difference between the methodologies used and engagement level online than in traditional education. He or she is also looking for what your experience level is (“I have X years experience teaching in XYZ platforms teaching ABC subjects” is a nice way to start this one). If you have no experience teaching online, just be candid about it. “I have experience doing ABC, but I have yet to teach online. However. .I believe an online instructor needs to…” and this is where your teaching philosophy comes in. What does an online instructor need to do? What open source platforms have you used just to learn them online (Moodle etc)? Did you have experience as an online student that transfer into the classroom as a professor?

Do you think outside of the box? Online teaching is for creative teachers. Ideally, if you can think of a technology-related idea, so much the better. Do you like to experiment with the internet to try new types of assignments or teaching strategies. Recently, I created a screen cast tutorial (I bought my own copy of Camtasia, a screen capture program) and created a video on how to revise a badly written document. The students liked it because they could scroll through it quickly or slowly, as they wished.