Interview for Primary Teaching

wannabeteacher

Hi i was just wondering if anyone had any info on the interview structure for the post-grad in St. Pats?? Specifically the Irish interview... What do they ask? Is it alot more advanced than the leaving cert oral? Any info will be appreciated!

little dinosaur

wannabeteacher wrote:

Hi i was just wondering if anyone had any info on the interview structure for the post-grad in St. Pats?? Specifically the Irish interview... What do they ask? Is it alot more advanced than the leaving cert oral? Any info will be appreciated!

Hello, I'm like yourself.

you can find very brief but scary info on dept of education's website:

http://www.education.ie/robots/view.jsp?pcategory=10900&language=EN&ecategory=19312&link=link001&doc=29226




I have a few questions here myself about the upcoming interviews...

I’d appreciate any advice from ye.


1) Can anyone there add to the very short list of the not so obvious questions one could be asked?
Here’s what I have heard about so far that could come up:
What is the role of the principal in primary school ?



2) They say, they’ll ask you to talk in irish about a book you’ve read…? Is this really true, or in say 50% of cases or are they not interested at all in what you read so they stop you ater a minute..ie. they're just out to test your level of self-discipline where they make you feel you have to prepare sth.for interview..?



Second Last lot of questions..

3) What’s the level of Irish in the prose/poetry you have to read & interpret? (is there difficult grammar..can’t think of the any of the grammatical terms)
Are they out to test your knowledge of grammar incl. verb tenses etc..or is it mainly you’re ability to summarise the facts of prose extract? or both..!?!

Are the texts like Peig type or sth. from rosenstock, o direan type of texts ( can’t think of any of others).. ie. literary extracts from work of writers we’d have heard about during our schooldays.?


Last lot of questions..

4) how many people present at interview? Is the irish interview conducted in the same room as english one) with same interviewers?
How long is the interview in Irish? and in English?



Thanks for reading!!

wannabeteacher

They are all the questions I wanted to ask too!!!
HELP US!!! When is ur interview by the way?

Trotter

I think its quite difficult for anyone to answer so many questions all togther at once. There are a lot of questions there that people here wont be able to answer because they're not on the board of interviewers. In general, on boards, its best to keep the questions short and to the point because what you've asked is a 20 minute job to respond to.

I think its important not to rely on information from other people and just to prepare yourself by knowing a bit about the curriculum in general and to have thought a lot about why you want to be a teacher. Look up things like micro teaching, using computers in the classroom, the new approach to science in the curriculum etc.

As for not so obvious questions, the objective there is to make you think while under pressure, so theres no way I or anyone else will be able to tell you whats going to be asked there. You'll need to use your skills of fast thinking which are vital as a teacher.

little dinosaur wrote:

2) They say, they’ll ask you to talk in irish about a book you’ve read…? Is this really true, or in say 50% of cases or are they not interested at all in what you read so they stop you ater a minute..ie. they're just out to test your level of self-discipline where they make you feel you have to prepare sth.for interview..?

Again, your asking for the percentage probability of you being asked a specific question. Thats not possible to answer! You will be speaking Irish in your Irish interview. Its not beyond the realms of possibility that they'll ask you about your favourite book.

You'll be given the chance to show your best level of Irish. That'll be done through conversation, possibly reading a piece of a book they will give you. Without being the interviewer, thats probably as much info as you'll get considering they may change the format slightly this year.. who knows?

My interviews for Mary I were done separately.. i.e. one room for Irish, another for English. I had 2 people on the interview done through English, and one in the Irish one.



I think its very important that you all start to trust your own ability to go in there and perform well without knowing what will happen next. Its unpredictable.. just like a teacher's school day. You'll be fine.. just do your best but I sense a panic going on because its not predictable. Relax and get over that because you need to do yourself justice on the day. Panicing wont help you.

SO.. No more OH PLEASE HELP ME NOW etc... calm.. confident preparation based on things you know will help. i.e. a read of the intro to the primary curriculum and a good think on what makes you worthy of a spot on the course.

wannabeteacher

Thanks a million for your advice! I guess I just paniced a bit because, like you said, it is very unpredictable! I do believe I am a quick thinker so I'm glad you mentioned that. I have also been studying the curriculum very carefully for ages now so am very confident about that! I guess its my low level of Irish that I'm most worried about... Just don't wanna be sitting there unable to understand a thing! But hopefully by next Thursday I'll be cool, calm and ready to sell myself!! Thanks again for taking the time to reply! Wish me luck!!
:cool:

kittex

Trotter wrote:

I think its very important that you all start to trust your own ability to go in there and perform well without knowing what will happen next. Its unpredictable.. just like a teacher's school day. You'll be fine.. just do your best but I sense a panic going on because its not predictable. Relax and get over that because you need to do yourself justice on the day. Panicing wont help you.

SO.. No more OH PLEASE HELP ME NOW etc... calm.. confident preparation based on things you know will help. i.e. a read of the intro to the primary curriculum and a good think on what makes you worthy of a spot on the course.

I couldn't agree more with this as posted by Trotter on this and another thread re: the Liverpool interviews.

As a professional career, they want to see that you can at least try to take on the attitude/persona of a teacher. That means a calm manner, self confidence, no fear of questions, ability to think on your feet and the ability to take your time to read the documents they have sent you very carefully.

You have no idea what you will face in a classroom some days, so they must see you act in a calm, adult manner - able to lead rather than needing to be lead.

Best of luck.

little dinosaur

ok. Thanks Trotter and Kittex.

Good luck to u, wannbeteacher.

wannabeteacher

And to you!!