27 1月 2015

AEONの面接 Interview

     As I prepare my shower (with old knobs that no one uses anymore in technologically advanced countries), I'll write a bit about my interview with AEON.

     I thought to myself every minute "I will get this", and it ended up being a good interview. Here are the basics:

  1. you come in as a group, where they give you some information about their company. most of it is review, other little parts are new. Those are the parts that I wrote down. Although they don't give you much time for your own answers since they're kinda in a hurry to do all that is planned. And let me tell you, it took our group basically the whole day.
  2. then she or he shows you what a lesson is like at AEON and some of the "new" technologies they implemented (a TV connected to an Ipad. . . . . yea, like I've never seen that before, although compared to my situation now (only 1 old windows computer at the elementary school, and nothing else; I am limited to even make my lesson materials) , it saves SOOOO much time and stress. As well as how they break down teaching of certain phrases. And then some simple activities (1 for adults and 1 for kids).
  3. next was the little grammar quiz they give you. I had this same thing in Interac, and I have to say this one was much harder. But because I had gotten my TEFL certificate, I felt more prepared to explain differences. And I had plenty of non-American friends in US who always asked questions about English, so I'm quite used to explaining differences in similar words and I like giving examples.

    Basically the interviewer says 4 to 5 words out-loud and you're suppose to spell it out. Then there is the vocab and grammar sections where you just explain the differences between the two. I don't remember everything, but I do know I was stuck a little bit on what's the difference between "farther" and "further". I had another one that asked the difference between "I have played golf" and " I have been playing golf". That one was fairly easy for me as we studied this in TEFL.

    Answer here ---> The first one talks about experience. The experience of doing something in the past, thus it stopped and isn't continuing now. The second one talks about an action (playing golf) that starts in the past and is continuing into the present, and probably will continue. 'Though when this action will end, we don't specifically know when. Definitely in the future, but when specifically, we don't know.

    And on the back they just ask questions about your preferences for the job (what day you can start and where you want to work), things like how would you help the companies goals and how would you be as a co-worker. Usual things. Nothing to worry about.

    We did realize that people had different quizzes, once we talked to each other about the answers. Some of those questions were difficult, even for native speakers.
  4. After that, we were split into 2 groups (though still in the same room) in order to do our demo lessons. At this point another interviewer walks in the room, so there is one person watching one group and another watching the other group. Saves time I think. What they had told me for the demo lesson was simple: choose whether you are doing the lesson for kids or adults, it's 15 minutes, and include the usual things like (being interactive, communicative/speaking a lot from the students, TTT (Teacher Talking Time) is to a minimum, have warm-up, some sort of review of words or phrase, etc). I'm not gonna say them all because you learn this in TEFL.

    I highly recommend anyone to take a TEFL course before applying to a teaching job in Japan; even if it is just to be an ALT. It really helps out in the long run of your career.

  5. Then I forgot what we had right after that, but I do know during the group session time, you watch this 20 minute video. But definitely they told us whether we passed to the next phase (the one-on-one interviews).

    The difference here that I found with Interac and AEON, is that in the Interac interview, you are pretty much given the job once you are welcomed to the group interview. Verses AEON this was not the case. You're still on your tippy toes worrying whether your trip to the office was worth it. In my case, my round trip was around 200 dollars. Really. No joke.

    Luckily, we all passed to the next round so it wasn't awkward to tell anyone to leave at that point. 150 people applied this time around, and only 10 of us got to the group interview round. I think this was just interviews within Japan. I can't talk for the number of applications outside US.

    They then told us briefly what time our interviews would start. So some of us were at 2:30, 3:40, 4:20 (me and 2 other guys), and some afterwards. The interviewers did take an hour for lunch before starting on anyone. We took our breaks also. To eat and just relax for a bit.

    Until one guy came back with his horror story about one of the interviewers being really strict. That's when we all were thinking some of the following or all of the following: "holy shit, i hope i don't get him as my interviewer", "I won't step out of line", "If I get him, I won't get this job", etc.

    The poor guy was criticized for his accent. And was disciplined for crossing his legs during the info session, and accused of laughing with the person next to him. (I was sitting next to him! But we never once did that. Many of us laughed at some parts of the video, but that's a natural reaction when something is funny on TV. I didn't even pay attention to him when the interviewer was talking.
  6. He told us this after he had finished with his interview. Then it was my turn and another guys to do our one-on-one interviews. Btw, we hung out at a near McDonalds on the second floor. We tried a restaurant, but it would have taken too much time for a party of 6. So McDonalds it was.

    Apparently I didn't know about this part, but you do another demo lesson during the one-on-one interview round. They just show you a page of one of their books. (we all had the same page to demo on). This page was from one of their grammar books, and it had an example dialogue and some examples to follow. Then they wanted you to do the free section (aka production exercise). You got 10 minutes to prepare. And the lesson would be 7 minutes long. My interviewer left the room during those 10 minutes. (I didn't ask the others if that same thing happened but I'm sure it did.)

    During those 10 minutes, yea I panicked and tried to calm down. They also told me that I could use the whiteboard and the textbook. Meaning ---> I SHOULD use the whiteboard and I SHOULD use the textbook.

    Of course I had things to improve on, so they give you a second try, after they have given you feedback. And you better write that shit down, 'cuz they are not nice about repeating things.

    This second time, I had the same amount of time to prepare, and they told me they would just stop me whenever.

    I did better, and then they went on to talk about an example schedule, and specifically talk about the questions regarding when I can start and where I want to work. They asked why I had chosen Saitama. It was mainly because I know people there, so it's easier for me to get things done and ask for help. And if something happens to me, let's say me being half dead, then someone can identify me and speak for me. Also because it's close to Tokyo.
  7. After this, some of us got together and had dinner. All I really ate was meat meat and more meat and lots of cabbage. I had a free beer from one of the guys that offered it to us all, and I chose to have a red wine. Though I'm never gonna order wine again in a restaurant unless I want the whole bottle. Damn it Japan. You have no idea what you're missing in the wine world. There aren't just 2 types of wine. And even those two are not suppose to taste the same all the time.

    This is what I've noticed when I order red wine at a restaurant. They all taste the same. They never tell you the year, nor the place of origin, nor what kind of wine. Same with the white one. They just tell you, red or white.

    Like wine is really that simple to categorize. Well, apparently they made it so. They're more into beer. And with wine, they don't even know how to serve it. I've seen it being served in so many kinds of glasses and cups. All I have to say is that Japan doesn't know what wine is, and they're missing out big time.

    Imagine all those people who don't like beer. They could be making money by selling them other things.

    Another of my number 1 favorite drinks of all time, that is like this rarity over here is tequilla. You heard me. I rarely see it. And when I do see it, I take the opportunity and drink as much as I can handle.

    That shit is not leaving my sight until I drink all of it. Damn it. I can't even order a mojito.
    If it's not made with tequila, then it's not a mojito. That's just common sense. Then again. We're talking about a country that doesn't want to learn new things outside their invisible shields. And if that's what they want, then that's what they get.

    Just don't expect others to ignore you. Because lack of information is weakness. And stop complaining about your declining birth-rate and population. You don't want to accept immigrants, nor improve the rights of women so you're making this issue bigger on your own.

 

     Anyways, that's what happened. It went well and at the end they told all of us except for one girl, that they would call us in one week.


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