International School Interview Techniques
International schools in Hong Kong not only possess abundant quality teaching resources and equipments for students, but also global perspectives. Therefore, it is increasingly prevalent for parents to send their children to international schools. However, these school interviews are often challenging and extremely competitive. Applicants should fully prepare themselves prior to application to increase their chances of entering their target international school.
Some parents help their children prepare themselves even earlier on by sending them to international kindergartens. These children, as a result, would be able to be immerse themselves in English from an early age, as well as make friends with classmates from all over the world, gaining global perspectives. Some parents also desire a good command of Putonghua from their children, thus opt for bilingual international schools for better consolidation purposes. International schools require their applicants to fulfil a certain level of proficiency in English and other relevant languages. Therefore, these schools usually examine students’ abilities with a written test in the first round of selection. Applicants can only go onto the next round if they perform well in the written test. This explains perfectly why it is so important for students to acquire techniques and strategies for the written test.
Once candidates are given the subsequent round offers, what follows is the most critical process: the interview. Candidates will face a series of common and advances questions in this session, all of which aim to test their interview attitude, basic manners, improvisational skills, quality of responses, creativity, communication skills etc. International schools value students’ proactiveness, confidence and positivity more than anything. Therefore, students must be able to demonstrate their charisma in order to leave a lasting impression on the interviewer. One of the most important things candidates should learn to do is to express genuinity in their responses to the questions, such as favourite pastimes, books etc., in addition to a smile on their faces, instead of merely memorizing the answers.. This will help the interviewer get to know the applicant person-to-person.
After the second round of selection, some international schools would look into students’ personalities on a deeper level. Parents may also be invited to participate in the third round of interview. This stage of interview emphasizes on the inquisition of parent-child relationship, as well as parenting style, to see whether or not the child is a match with the school. Prior to attending the interview, parents and children should fully prepare themselves on information related to the school, including their philosophy, characteristics as well as developmental prospects. Being knowledgeable about the school demonstrates sincerity. For even more competitive international schools, due to the limited number of places available, there could even be a fourth or fifth round of interview, where the school would arrange for candidates to attend lessons at their school for a week to further inquire whether or not the applicant is able to fit in.
Children who successfully enter their target international schools after overcoming such challenging obstacles are, without any doubts, outstanding and excellent. It goes without saying that these brilliant children could very well be our future leaders. Applicants who have earned their places with hard work should cherish every opportunity coming their way.
