August 31 - I met with the BOE today. It seems that even if I have already been hired by the company and moved to our new apartment, there is still a chance of being rejected if the BOE doesn’t like the ALT. My supervisor thus warned me that he might be asking some mundane questions just to let the BOE hear how I speak. I was also informed that the BOE has rejected a Pinoy ALT before because of his “strong” accent.
I would like to describe how the meeting went and the Japanese way of negotiating but it is a thing best experienced first hand. Suffice it to say that we were not made to go and pack up our things again.
Some bits and pieces from the interview.
BOE: Since you have been speaking English since you were a child, do you think you want to be like an American or other native English speakers?
----- or at least that’s what I understood from the translation… and duhhh???
BOE: Since you speak several languages, what comes to your mind when say, you see a thing that needs translation?
------ I told them that when I was learning Japanese and the Sensei would show a picture of a flower, my mind would go “flower”, then “sabong” then “bulaklak” then “hana”. They were quite satisfied, I think as I heard several “Naruhodo”.
BOE: Did you write your dissertation in Japanese?
------ I think that if I answered “yes” to this question, I would not be in my work now.
Other questions were on how should I make the lessons fun and interesting and if I would be able to anticipate the needs of the JTE in every lesson. Of course they stressed on the importance of being an “assistant” to the main teacher.
I was not nervous during the interview but looking at their faces, and gestures, I have to admit that the thought that they’d reject me crossed my mind. They were, as our Japanese liaison put it, “poker-faced”. And that is very normal in a meeting. It helped though that my supervisor was looking at me encouragingly.
I can do interviews anytime but that is one interview I’d be happy not to do again.
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