I have an interview at a Callan school on Friday. I did not speak to the guy personally but he rung my girlfriend when I was out. He said they want to see if I have the qualities and such to become a Callan teacher. What are these 'qualities' they will likely want? I assume they want me to have an outgoing personality and a good British accent? I don't know if anyone here has been a callan teacher... except for seanus!
I have watched videos and it seems very easy. All I have to do is talk a lot. I'm not a shy person and find it easy to talk to most people so I guess this would help.
Best advice for the interview? Speak the truth. Be open and communicative. Show an inane side to you, Callan is that way. It opened me up in funny ways.
Show an inane side ay. So show I have a personality inside me and that i'm not just trying to be formal and polite for the interview. Thanks for the advice Seanus.
Exactly, the interview is short but your tenure will be significantly longer. They don't want conventional and methodical teachers. Just people who can put it out there.
Very good point. In Krakow, they will want you to be more prim and proper. I know a Callan legend in Gliwice. He went to Krakow but was put down and the DOS listened in to his lessons.
I've heard that some Krakowians are anal perfectionists. They think they are better, they are just asses tho.
ssjseifertom has commented on my youtube video insulting Polish women and our country
No idea why she wrote that, I commented on my FRIENDS video. I'll link you it if you want. You'll never believe he isn't polish haha. The school is in Nowa huta, I visited the school on Al. Pokoju last month but there was nothing going. This is the first I have heard from any of the schools I have visited since being in Krakow, I have been getting by with private lessons.
Well sadly i'm at the school nearer to the center, pokuje and slaw, but i wish you luck at the huta school. Dangerous place to work, but cool all the same;)
When is your interview by the way, maybe i could give you some pointers about what the MAK schools look for.
I heard its a bad place, hopefully not worse than the area of Nottingham I lived in, now that was dangerous! Thanks, i'll take Seanus' advice, I really need a job here and I prefer Callan Method to the standard way of teaching.
And thanks to Wyspianska! I even apologised to her last week in a private note for telling her to shut up and that she would love me... such a grudge over silly internet chat!
Its at the end of the week. I don't even know how to get there, but I'll get a tram to the end of Aleja Pokoju and try find it from there.
It's worth asking to observe a couple of lessons before accepting the job if they offer you it - you'll soon see if the school encourages creativity or not. A Callan school that doesn't want their teachers to be individuals is likely to make you thoroughly miserable - so if you find that they're looking for a droid, keep well away.
Just use your instinct - and don't be afraid to negotiate your conditions.
Very true, delphi. My advice would be to go with the book initially. Stick with the answers given until you become relatively familiar with them. This will help you when you come to be observed. After that, you can experiment.
You have very little latitude when it comes to contractual negotiations. Things are relatively fixed, increments included.
Very true, delphi. My advice would be to go with the book initially. Stick with the answers given until you become relatively familiar with them. This will help you when you come to be observed. After that, you can experiment.
Yup, it will tell a lot if the teachers you observe don't change the material around. Even little things - like one question 'are you always willing to do things for other people?'. If someone says yes, then it can be fun to throw a pen/the book/whatever on the floor and ask them to pick it up.
Even sometimes, asking "why?" after a random question can get some interesting answers. If you find the school doesn't entertain this and sticks rigidly to the amount of revision/readings/writings/dictations, then it's not likely to be worth any amount of money.
One thing that stands out about Callan more than anything - some people will use the language and have fun with it, while others will repeat the 'expected' answer even when you'd expect them to be able to discuss something. The earlier ones will encourage you, the latter ones will make you want to throw yourself off the building.
As for negotiating conditions - sure, moneywise they might be fixed. But don't be afraid to negotiate on points such as teaching Grammar - I managed to get an agreement that I wouldn't teach anything 'new' to students when it came to grammar, for instance. I could, but I don't like it and don't particularly want to teach it.
That's strange. We had to teach grammar as a matter of course. If it came up as part of the new work, we couldn't just skip it. It's not that hard to teach really. Callan will teach you how to shortcut the teaching of it.
When I teach in my other schools, I use the whiteboard. In Callan, I taught them letters or showed them briefly at the lectern with a bit of paper. For example, a transitive verb is S V O whereas an intransitive verb is just S V. The same with passive voice, I just inverted the sentence. The verb stays in the middle. Quite simple and a quick way, suitable for Callan method learning.
The maximum at any time is 12. I found 6 to be a good number. 2 to your left, 2 in front of you and 2 to the right. 12 with a beginner group is a nightmare, so exhausting it was. You cannot take the foot off of the gas pedal for long with them.
With higher-level groups, 4 is quite ok. You can discuss things a little more with them. Thank God that is behind me now. I'm more of a listener at present. The TTT at SU is significantly less. At Callan, you are the conduit through which everything flows.
one would have thought that to run profitable classes, and pay teachers a fair whack, callan schools would need to charge above average with classes this size... (?)
That's strange. We had to teach grammar as a matter of course. If it came up as part of the new work, we couldn't just skip it. It's not that hard to teach really. Callan will teach you how to shortcut the teaching of it.
When I teach in my other schools, I use the whiteboard. In Callan, I taught them letters or showed them briefly at the lectern with a bit of paper. For example, a transitive verb is S V O whereas an intransitive verb is just S V. The same with passive voice, I just inverted the sentence. The verb stays in the middle. Quite simple and a quick way, suitable for Callan method learning.
Bloody hell for once I agree with you!!! Callen on its own is a lost method and needs to be supplemented with grammar lessons that need to be assessed at each stage level throughout the book. There is even a need for extra English coursework to be included, because the callan method is mainly focused on oral improvement and doesn't really take into account the in depth use of writing and grammar use of English.
At least that is what we used when I was teaching Callan for over four years and our school had a 100% success rate in FCE and ADV English.
Over 4 years, geez. 3 years was a strain for me. True, Callan is speaking focussed and, even then, looks more at parroting than having fluent discussions.
Ah well, off to teach a lesson on crime now. Should be fun.
