Year 2 English Interview lesson

Hi all, I have an interview for year 2 English lesson 40 minutes - mixed ability. I want to make it fun and engaging but also meaningful. Any ideas/advice would be really useful. Thank you in advanced!

Reply 1

Rachel_ysj

Official Rep

Original post by esm17

Hi there!

I am a second year Primary education student at York St John University (just for a little background information before I start talking about teaching).

First of all, congratulations for getting to the interview stage! If I was given this task, I would be considering all the information I had been given by the school initially about the lesson. If the only information I had was that it was a year 2 English lesson with mixed ability, then I would be looking at the National curriculum for the topics which are covered in this year group. I would also consider incorporating children's names in the plan (I presume you have not met these children before) so the 40 minutes would include creating quick name tags for you to refer to. I personally would think about going towards an activity surrounding a book where you can demonstrate your personality and skills of engaging children. I might also look onto the school's website for their core values and try to weave this into the lesson- maybe through a hot-seating task. I would choose a book which is not as well known as something like the Gruffalo (for example) to show breadth of knowledge of children's literature. Things like creating character descriptions by applying post it notes to a stick man are always fun and interactive. Or, if you wanted to show your teaching of a year 2 technique, then I'd consider going down the SPAG direction and creating activities around tricky spellings or punctuation rules for children.

Based on my experience, I think for a fun, memorable and engaging lesson, I would attempt to keep worksheets and silent writing to a minimum especially for an interview. I would also ensure that you have a clear starter and plenary within your plan too. If you can find something which works for the school's policies/values and the national curriculum, then you would be demonstrating your skills well.

I really hope this helps and that your interview goes successfully, I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you :smile: