Teacher Interviews - Rome, strikes and southern accents

I just sat through 4 hours of teacher interviews!

The good news, we found four really potential people – Christians, educated and good attitudes.

The funny (because you know that is where I am going with this post. . . )

One person, when asked to share their testimony basically said this:  I was born Muslim.  But after I finished my teacher education I decided to be a born again because “When you go to Rome, do as the Romans.”  (Translation:  I was born Muslim, but I found out it is easier to get a job if I am a Born Again, so. . . here I am.)

We had a panel of three doing the interviews, myself and two social workers.  One asked religious questions, one asked teaching questions and then I asked a mixture of the two topics. The funny thing was that almost every time I asked a question, the applicant would look to the social workers for translation.  They would repeat my EXACT words, in English.  The applicant would then respond.  My southern accent!

Another interesting/funny response. The question was “Why is it important to have a scheme of work?”  The applicant responded that teaching without a scheme of work is like a driver who is driving without a permit.  If there is an accident, they will blame the drive that doesn’t have the permit. (Not real sure how that relates. . . )

One question on of the social workers kept asking was how the teacher would react to hearing news that the students were preparing a strike.  My thought every time was “Does that happen often?  Should I expect my students to strike?  What would they strike about?”  I never did ask the probability of a student led strike in the school.