School Policy

Interview Time

5:13 PM 22 Aug 2006

This morning, I was in The Hague at 10:45 for an interview at 11:00. I was a little bit early, but they are Dutch and I thought they might appreciate a little promptness.

The job I was interviewing for was English Teacher. I though it was an appropriate job for me as I am over-educated and, until a week ago, I was under-employed. I was a personal assistant to two vice presidents at an American telecom company near Amsterdam. I had written to the woman listed as the contact and she wrote back expressing interest in me, inviting me for an interview today at 11:00.

I was expecting to meet with this woman, Janine, and possibly one of the other English teachers, a British woman named Monica - with whom I will be "team teaching." When I showed up, I was ushered into Ada's office as two men, Joseph and Henri, were rounded up.

So suddenly I was seated in my suit, at a table ready to be quizzed on I don't know what. We began the interview in Dutch, but I was told that when I needed to, we could switch to English. After the first real question, I mumbled, "Can we switch to English now?"

The problem is that I know certain word groups - I'm pretty good at simple food and talking about things that I do each day - but there are whole groups of words with which I am not yet familiar. The first question was, "Why do you think you have an afinity with this age group and would like to teach them?" In English, I can b.s. all day long. In Dutch, I would have been transparent as air and I was not able to express myself or give the "right" answer. (The answer is that they are still forming their minds and opinions and I find that fascinating.)

It went back and forth. It became apparent that my experience was not in teaching, but in being a therapist (in another life in New York City) and I explained my way out of that. How would I be able to keep them interested? Would I be able to promote discussion? These questions were all answered with relative ease as I referred back to my work promoting discussion and keeing mentally ill drug addicts interested.

I was shown a schedule - four days a week, eleven lessons a week - and I was briefly shown the book I would be using. After 45 minutes, I was ushered out and Henri took me on a tour of the school - sans students as classes begin Monday. Henri is the Head of the English Department. There are seven people - including me - in the English Department. Henri looks like he is in his early 50's, but I imagine he is a little older than he looks. He is tall - but not too tall - and has a beard and a full head of hair. He's got a little bit of that hang dog look. I was thinking of a blue dog from Hanna-Barbera, but it's not Huckleberry Hound.

Joseph has a nice look. He's older with white hair and a mustache. He is the head of the French Department. He's probably in his 50's and smiles and wears glasses.

Janine is surely in her mid-40's. She's got blonde hair and has eyes that are always at half mast. She's the head of something. I think she's the principle, but there's no telling.

They all smiled and talked and laughed. They were very welcoming. Apparently this position is open because the woman who had it before me died suddenly. I don't know anything about her other than that. My friend, Sally, said that now is the time to start looking for a teaching position. People are back from the summer holiday and they are desperate. Make desperation work for you - my lesson of the day.

So at 15:30, I was home and I got a message that Janine had called to offer me the job. There were two other applicants and I was number one on the list. I accepted. Hans, my partner, seems okay with the position. He's not overly excited, but knows that I want the job. I see it as an entry into an "industry" that is much better suited to who I am. It's part time, so my pay will be...less than it was. But I'm sure I'll be much happier and fulfilled.

I have an appointment with Janine on Friday at 10:00 to sign papers and show her all my working papers and degrees, which have nothing to do with teaching.

posted by Philip @ 7:01 PM