First, this is going to sound dumb and obvious but, really, every interview is different. Past intakes have seen different questions, and while the interviewers certainly pull from a stock of questions, different interviewers are going to ask different questions. Don’t let this freak you out, just be aware of the types of questions you might encounter.
In general, these questions range from asking about your application, specifically about revising the lesson plan if there’s anything of concern to questions about your personality and goals, to behavioral questions about classroom situations. There’s a ton of great vlogs about general behavior tips and ways to come off well. I’ll link two of my favorites below.
Interviews can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes or even 50 minutes (very rare–the person in question got into some good bants with their interviewer, so…don’t plan on it being this long). They might ask only a couple of questions and then ask tangential questions related to your first answers for the rest of the interview. Some interviews might focus mostly on the lesson plan and personal essays rather than behavioral questions. It always varies! They will certainly not ask all the questions listed below, maybe a few, and this isn’t a comprehensive list. The general idea is to get to know you, see why you’re interested in teaching ESL and how you’ll be able to handle stress!
I had written my lesson plan over describing appearances, and a few of the questions and vocab I had centered on skin tone and weight. I was actually a little worried about putting this into my application, but I needed more vocab and I had actually watched a classroom video made by EPIK that included vocab over skin tone and weight, so I figured it would be fine. Turns out, not fine! No big deal though, my interviewer just asked me to take it out and add a bit more to fill the text boxes back up. Revising the lesson plan is totally normal at this stage.
Then we got into questions. He asked me a bit about myself, including what I knew about Korea and why I wanted to be a teacher. He also asked some classroom management questions, like how I would handle a disruptive student, a stubborn co-teacher or lower-level and high-level students. I felt I did okay on all of it, except he prompted me to come up with another solution for an answer. I was able to, but I felt shaky since I wasn’t expecting that.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years/What is your 5 year plan? Tell me about yourself? What specifically do you know about Korean culture? What specifically do you know about the EPIK program?
10 EPIK INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS + TIPS | 2021
epik interview questions
EPIK (English Program in Korea) is a public school English teaching program in Korea sponsored by the Korean government that places teachers into various cities as well as provinces around South Korea. English Program in Korea is the most inclusive English program in Korea and has the most location choices out of all the public school teaching programs in Korea, spanning across all of South Korea. Applicants have the option of choosing a preference for their location.
epik interview questions
That was my experience applying to EPIK. There were frequent changes which were often not properly announced beforehand. Plus, I spent $182 on documents no longer needed for the initial application. And since I did not get selected in the final round… Now I have an apostilled national level criminal record check just lying around on my desk.
The email goes on for a couple more paragraphs, explaining that this term was “particularly competitive,” and that the decision is a reflection of my suitability for the term. It is “not necessarily a reflection of [my] ability or qualifications as a teacher.” Plus it kindly states that the decision is final, and that EPIK is “unable to release any information related to the reasons for this decision and will not reply to inquiries of that nature.”
I had heard from a fellow applicant in the Kakao chatroom that he heard back from EPIK just 4 days after his interview. But my wait time was longer, as the Friday I had my interview was interestingly right before Koreas three-day national holiday, Chuseok. So I did not hear back from EPIK until a week later, on a Friday afternoon.
My EPIK coordinator was Jeffrey, and he provided me with much useful information about the program. Each time I answered a question, he gave me feedback (which were all positive), along with additional tips for becoming a successful EPIK teacher. He told me to maintain the positive, friendly personality that I displayed, as it was crucial to be outgoing during the first weeks at the Korean school(s) I would be assigned to. And for lessons, he suggested that I narrow down my English expressions to just one, and utilize as many hand gestures as I can while teaching (clapping, thumbs up, etc.)
2) Check out bloggers who share their EPIK experiences! Some great blogs I came across are ariography and Korealizations. Ariographys EPIK interview content is from 2018 and Korealizationss from 2014, but they are still relevant and useful. The only thing Id add is that as of 2021, there is an on-the-spot lesson demo. Plus the interview is via Zoom, not Skype. (And, of course, there was that CRC requirement (read about it HERE) that was cancelled in September. Hopefully EPIK doesnt bring that back again!)
Questions:
Here’s a list of the questions I prepared for.
- Tell us a little about you
- What is your teaching philosophy?
- Why are you interested in teaching?
- Why Korea?
- Why Daejeon? (My preferred placement.)
- What do you know about Korea?
- What do you know about EPIK?
- How do you deal with culture shock?
- Why did you choose Korea instead of [x] country? (I minored in Italian and studied abroad in Rome, so I was prepared to answer why Korea instead of Italy.)
- Why have you chosen to pursue a teaching job in Korea?
- What would you say are the top qualities in a teacher?
- How would you motivate students?
- How would you promote classroom management?
- What are your strengths/weaknesses?
- How would you handle students of different levels?
- How do you go about making lesson plans? What is important and how do you decide what goes in a lesson?
- What happens if you have a difficult student/need to discipline a student?
- What would you do if students are speaking in Korean and not English?
- What would you do if you and your co-teacher disagreed? How would you handle it if your co-teacher was absent/difficult/mean?
- How would you handle it if your co-teacher was making an error in English? (How) Would you correct them?
- What’s your 3-5 year plan?
- What would you teach Koreans about the U.S.?
- How is the U.S. different from Korea? How would you teach that to your students?
Special Questions — I was asked neither of these, and didn’t even prepare for the second one, but I would DEFINITELY try to have something on hand because if you do get asked, these are hard to think up on the spot.
- In 1-2 minutes, teach me something I don’t know.
- Introduce yourself in Korean.
