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PwC Employability E-learn Interview script - Emma

Podcast – Learning from self and others:

Candidate: Emma

Listen option B:

Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you've learnt something from feedback you've received from a colleague a friend or someone else you know

(Speaks fast, doesn’t pause) Er...okay sure, when I was in South America – I’ve just got back! – I was teaching English to children, I was given feedback that I was a bit “stiff” and formal in me teaching style - I was peer reviewed by my friend, who was also on the volunteer programme. I can see now where she was coming from….I didn’t really have many activities for the children in that lesson so; umm… I guess it just came across like me just talking at them for an hour – which on the one hand is ok, but I guess I should think more about what it’s like if you’re 7 or 8 and listening to me for a whole hour! I imagine it would’ve been quite long, quite a long lesson for them. Umm…she said I should think about using some interactive tools as she’d seen a real difference in the learning in her class when she used them.

Interviewer: So, what did you learn?

Well I….well I learnt that there’s different ways to do something and sometimes I just need to adapt my own approach to support others, in this case it was my students. I really appreciated Anita’s feedback as it helped me to learn all about my teaching style and how I might need to change it depending on who I’m teaching. And um…well I....I wanted the children to be engaged with what I was saying so asked if I could watch her lesson that afternoon to get some tips to help me and learn about how she teaches. I’m glad I went; I saw the difference a new approach would have on the kids…. 

Interviewer: How has this helped you?

Yeah a lot, the feedback and watching Anita’s class was really helpful…..because of this I created some new lesson plans and I changed the way I approached teaching…..added a few activities like matching words to pictures…..doing role plays with new words, you know that sort of thing, just to break down the lessons a bit.

And erm (rushed) the students loved it….I saw a big difference straight away, picked up the new words a lot faster and they made sense to them now that they were using them in the right context…..looking back I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner…..I guess I was just a bit nervous in my first few lessons so wasn’t really sure how I could do them….and…um…. I’m…I’m glad Anita gave me that feedback and we had the chance to talk about how she did her lessons. It was a big learning point for me early on in my placement. I have since given some similar feedback to a few, a new member of the teaching team, which means that we are continually sharing ideas and learning from each other….

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