After 6.5 hours of waiting I finally had my interview. I did not do well. I think I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I could not even explain how I teach letters. I have interviewed enough people in my job as an Academy Director to know that when an interviewer asks you the same question several times its because you are not answering it correctly. Secondly I was sent possible interview questions and I rehearsed the answers but they didn’t ask those questions. Lastly when I left I could of sworn I heard the interviewers laughing. Of course I assumed they were laughing at me. Once I got back to the friends aunts apartment in Brooklyn, I was hungry and depressed. I called my family and talked to them before i laid down but I couldn’t sleep because the right answers haunted me all night long. Failure is a terrible feeling for which I’ve only felt a few times in my adult life. Once when I tried to get a job as a border patrol I passed all the interviews and the physical but because I was honest about something I once did I didn’t get the job and I was devastated. Just like I was the night of the interview. But I knew I had to snap out of it because I had my Kuwait City interview the next day. Here is a list of the interview questions I can recall being asked for Abu Dhabi:
What are the ages of the Kindergartens you teach? (Btw Abu Dhabis Kindergarteners start at age 3)
What does three years writing look like?
How would you get their drawings to turn into writing?
How do you manage behaviors?
What do you think will be one of your hardest challenges coming to AD?
How would you show parents their children’s work?
What would we hear and see in your classroom?
What reading curriculum do you follow?
The set up of the interview was: in a hotel room, in front of two ADEC reps, sitting in the lobby waiting for your turn, no food, no cushion seats, but you do meet interesting people from all over who want to teach in another country just like you.
So even though I feel like my chance to teach in AD is over I felt it important to mention that they say I won’t hear anything til some time in April after all other interviews across the U.S and Canada have concluded and then all the info is taken back to AD. And so the waiting continues………….
Teaching Abroad- American Teacher Overseas 