Revealing to Indonesia the truth of the English language learning industry affair that has been hidden from the public under
a shroud of secrecy for decades.
The ugly truth…
Westwood Prep has received a huge number of job applications from English language teachers who claimed they had what it takes to teach English. Their assertions were not wholly accurate. We have been disappointed many times after analyzing the written works of thousands of the so-called professional teachers from prominent institutions.
In a nutshell, we are basically looking for teachers who can write. As to date, we have rejected the following applicants due to their incompetency in writing and teaching:
1) Indonesian teachers with a Doctorate degree in English Linguistics.
2) Professional teachers from well-known giant institutions with a large networking in Indonesia.
3) Native-fluent Indonesians who have spent most of their childhood in English-speaking countries.
4) Native speakers of overseas origins (Americans, Singaporeans, Australians, Philipinos and Britons).
5) CELTA and Trinity TESOL certificate holders.
6) Teachers who have been teaching English for decades.
In order to maintain the reputation of EM and more importantly, not to MISLEAD the public with ERRONEOUS teachings, as many former self-claimed professional teachers have, EM has pledged to cut the number of applicants down to just a handful.
Our standards are high. Not only do we not accept the mediocre, we also shun the phony.
So allow us to apologize for making you go through such a troublesome and convoluted filtering program.
The Noble Reason for Our Recruitment Policy
Westwood Prep is composed of idealists who think that recruiting instructors who are merely partially proficient in the arts of English language would result in the public being taught impure and diluted English – no different from scamming the public. English language does not come in multiple forms and variations. There is only one variation of English. We only aim to teach the real mechanics of the one and only English language. Failing to do so, as hundreds of other corporate and private entities in Indonesia have, would mean equating us to the likes of charlatans and frauders.
Once planted, a wrong idea or teaching will stick unbudged somewhere among the Neuron particles of a person’s gray matter until someone else comes into that person’s life and tries to correct his misconception.
But do not fret, if you, the job candidate, possess other noteworthy skills – the ability to explain to students a wide range of academic vocabularies, excellent reading and speaking skills – we MAY consider you for the teaching position even if your writing only attains the following MEAGER score of:
To Westwood Prep, being a savvy writer is a fundamental attribute of an English mentor.
The aim of this writing test is to point out all the grammatical, syntax and lexical faults that would otherwise be undetected just by having a mere conversation with the English teacher candidate.
We would also like to discover the extent to which candidates are familiar with phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. The flawless writing would be devoid of repetition and redundancy of phrases. In order to dazzle the reader, candidates are advised to incorporate intellectually appealing vocabularies and sophisticated sentence structures in their writing.
First, the academic coordinator aspires to gauge the conversational eloquence and articulation of the candidate. The candidate is expected to be comfortable discussing elaborate topics colloquially.
Secondly, the second stage strives to screen out candidates who are unskilled at defining vocabularies in their own words and explaining them to students in the medium of English. A lesser, but equally important, aim of this stage would also be to ferret out candidates who DO NOT possess an acceptably huge repository of English vocabularies.
You are advised to write fewer than 350 words on one of the following topics. At the head of your composition, write the number of the topic that you have chosen.
1. Write a personal narrative about a time when you were reduced to a state of desperation and how you managed to solve your problem successfully in the end.
2. You had been selected to be a participant in an important youth event in your country. Write a personal account of that episode.
3. A friend close to you abused your trust and this resulted in repercussions in your friendship. How were you advised by an older person close to you on how to mend your relationship?
4. A younger person who is close to you once gave you some advice that changed the course of your life and helped you to resolve the dilemma you were facing. What lessons can be learnt from this? 5. Having to put your family first at one point in time almost caused you to lose something that was very dear to you. Under what circumstances would you place your family members above your friends? 6. Bursting someone’s bubble.
7. One rainy day, as you were standing at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the light to change, someone came up to you and asked to share your umbrella. Write a full account of what happened. 8. When is it appropriate for teenagers to take up some part-time work?
9. How far would you go to change the way things are run in your school? 10. Some people lament the fact that the world is not being run by able leaders. To what extend do you feel that this statement is true or untrue of your country?
Advice:
1) Make use of the unlimited time. When you are finished, please review your writing and polish it.
2) Determine if your writing can be abridged and condensed.
3) Keep an eye out of sentences that do not make sense and can be omitted. If you think yours is an inferior piece of writing with illogical and unorganized content flow, please re-write it. Your writing MUST:
1) Be concise, brief and not circuitous.
2) not contain any redundancies
3) not contain any repetition of words and ideas.
4) incorporate a variety of lively and descriptive vocabularies.
5) contain various creative sentence structures with the aid of suitable linking words.
6) use appropriate grammatical. idiomatic and collocational structures.
The sample writings below are the some of the disappointing ones. To our surprise, they were written by professional teachers who have worked for reputable English language institutions and universities for years.
In a nutshell, Indonesia is infested with institutions that employ sub-par wannabe teachers, who are virtually clueless about the art of writing in English.
Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers are even more costly.
Revealing to Indonesia the truth of the English language learning industry affair that has been hidden from the public under
a shroud of secrecy for decades.
The ugly truth…
Westwood Prep has received a huge number of job applications from English language teachers who claimed they had what it takes to teach English. Their assertions were not wholly accurate. We have been disappointed many times after analyzing the written works of thousands of the so-called professional teachers from prominent institutions.
In a nutshell, we are basically looking for teachers who can write. As to date, we have rejected the following applicants due to their incompetency in writing and teaching:
1) Indonesian teachers with a Doctorate degree in English Linguistics.
2) Professional teachers from well-known giant institutions with a large networking in Indonesia.
3) Native-fluent Indonesians who have spent most of their childhood in English-speaking countries.
4) Native speakers of overseas origins (Americans, Singaporeans, Australians, Philipinos and Britons).
5) CELTA and Trinity TESOL certificate holders.
6) Teachers who have been teaching English for decades.
In order to maintain the reputation of EM and more importantly, not to MISLEAD the public with ERRONEOUS teachings, as many former self-claimed professional teachers have, EM has pledged to cut the number of applicants down to just a handful.
Our standards are high. Not only do we not accept the mediocre, we also shun the phony.
So allow us to apologize for making you go through such a troublesome and convoluted filtering program.
The Noble Reason for Our Recruitment Policy
Westwood Prep is composed of idealists who think that recruiting instructors who are merely partially proficient in the arts of English language would result in the public being taught impure and diluted English – no different from scamming the public. English language does not come in multiple forms and variations. There is only one variation of English. We only aim to teach the real mechanics of the one and only English language. Failing to do so, as hundreds of other corporate and private entities in Indonesia have, would mean equating us to the likes of charlatans and frauders.
Once planted, a wrong idea or teaching will stick unbudged somewhere among the Neuron particles of a person’s gray matter until someone else comes into that person’s life and tries to correct his misconception.
But do not fret, if you, the job candidate, possess other noteworthy skills – the ability to explain to students a wide range of academic vocabularies, excellent reading and speaking skills – we MAY consider you for the teaching position even if your writing only attains the following MEAGER score of:
To Westwood Prep, being a savvy writer is a fundamental attribute of an English mentor.
The aim of this writing test is to point out all the grammatical, syntax and lexical faults that would otherwise be undetected just by having a mere conversation with the English teacher candidate.
We would also like to discover the extent to which candidates are familiar with phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. The flawless writing would be devoid of repetition and redundancy of phrases. In order to dazzle the reader, candidates are advised to incorporate intellectually appealing vocabularies and sophisticated sentence structures in their writing.
First, the academic coordinator aspires to gauge the conversational eloquence and articulation of the candidate. The candidate is expected to be comfortable discussing elaborate topics colloquially.
Secondly, the second stage strives to screen out candidates who are unskilled at defining vocabularies in their own words and explaining them to students in the medium of English. A lesser, but equally important, aim of this stage would also be to ferret out candidates who DO NOT possess an acceptably huge repository of English vocabularies.
You are advised to write fewer than 350 words on one of the following topics. At the head of your composition, write the number of the topic that you have chosen.
1. Write a personal narrative about a time when you were reduced to a state of desperation and how you managed to solve your problem successfully in the end.
2. You had been selected to be a participant in an important youth event in your country. Write a personal account of that episode.
3. A friend close to you abused your trust and this resulted in repercussions in your friendship. How were you advised by an older person close to you on how to mend your relationship?
4. A younger person who is close to you once gave you some advice that changed the course of your life and helped you to resolve the dilemma you were facing. What lessons can be learnt from this? 5. Having to put your family first at one point in time almost caused you to lose something that was very dear to you. Under what circumstances would you place your family members above your friends? 6. Bursting someone’s bubble.
7. One rainy day, as you were standing at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the light to change, someone came up to you and asked to share your umbrella. Write a full account of what happened. 8. When is it appropriate for teenagers to take up some part-time work?
9. How far would you go to change the way things are run in your school? 10. Some people lament the fact that the world is not being run by able leaders. To what extend do you feel that this statement is true or untrue of your country?
Advice:
1) Make use of the unlimited time. When you are finished, please review your writing and polish it.
2) Determine if your writing can be abridged and condensed.
3) Keep an eye out of sentences that do not make sense and can be omitted. If you think yours is an inferior piece of writing with illogical and unorganized content flow, please re-write it. Your writing MUST:
1) Be concise, brief and not circuitous.
2) not contain any redundancies
3) not contain any repetition of words and ideas.
4) incorporate a variety of lively and descriptive vocabularies.
5) contain various creative sentence structures with the aid of suitable linking words.
6) use appropriate grammatical. idiomatic and collocational structures.
The sample writings below are the some of the disappointing ones. To our surprise, they were written by professional teachers who have worked for reputable English language institutions and universities for years.
In a nutshell, Indonesia is infested with institutions that employ sub-par wannabe teachers, who are virtually clueless about the art of writing in English.
Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers are even more costly.
Revealing to Indonesia the truth of the English language learning industry affair that has been hidden from the public under
a shroud of secrecy for decades.
The ugly truth…
Westwood Prep has received a huge number of job applications from English language teachers who claimed they had what it takes to teach English. Their assertions were not wholly accurate. We have been disappointed many times after analyzing the written works of thousands of the so-called professional teachers from prominent institutions.
In a nutshell, we are basically looking for teachers who can write. As to date, we have rejected the following applicants due to their incompetency in writing and teaching:
1) Indonesian teachers with a Doctorate degree in English Linguistics.
2) Professional teachers from well-known giant institutions with a large networking in Indonesia.
3) Native-fluent Indonesians who have spent most of their childhood in English-speaking countries.
4) Native speakers of overseas origins (Americans, Singaporeans, Australians, Philipinos and Britons).
5) CELTA and Trinity TESOL certificate holders.
6) Teachers who have been teaching English for decades.
In order to maintain the reputation of EM and more importantly, not to MISLEAD the public with ERRONEOUS teachings, as many former self-claimed professional teachers have, EM has pledged to cut the number of applicants down to just a handful.
Our standards are high. Not only do we not accept the mediocre, we also shun the phony.
So allow us to apologize for making you go through such a troublesome and convoluted filtering program.
The Noble Reason for Our Recruitment Policy
Westwood Prep is composed of idealists who think that recruiting instructors who are merely partially proficient in the arts of English language would result in the public being taught impure and diluted English – no different from scamming the public. English language does not come in multiple forms and variations. There is only one variation of English. We only aim to teach the real mechanics of the one and only English language. Failing to do so, as hundreds of other corporate and private entities in Indonesia have, would mean equating us to the likes of charlatans and frauders.
Once planted, a wrong idea or teaching will stick unbudged somewhere among the Neuron particles of a person’s gray matter until someone else comes into that person’s life and tries to correct his misconception.
But do not fret, if you, the job candidate, possess other noteworthy skills – the ability to explain to students a wide range of academic vocabularies, excellent reading and speaking skills – we MAY consider you for the teaching position even if your writing only attains the following MEAGER score of:
To Westwood Prep, being a savvy writer is a fundamental attribute of an English mentor.
The aim of this writing test is to point out all the grammatical, syntax and lexical faults that would otherwise be undetected just by having a mere conversation with the English teacher candidate.
We would also like to discover the extent to which candidates are familiar with phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. The flawless writing would be devoid of repetition and redundancy of phrases. In order to dazzle the reader, candidates are advised to incorporate intellectually appealing vocabularies and sophisticated sentence structures in their writing.
First, the academic coordinator aspires to gauge the conversational eloquence and articulation of the candidate. The candidate is expected to be comfortable discussing elaborate topics colloquially.
Secondly, the second stage strives to screen out candidates who are unskilled at defining vocabularies in their own words and explaining them to students in the medium of English. A lesser, but equally important, aim of this stage would also be to ferret out candidates who DO NOT possess an acceptably huge repository of English vocabularies.
You are advised to write fewer than 350 words on one of the following topics. At the head of your composition, write the number of the topic that you have chosen.
1. Write a personal narrative about a time when you were reduced to a state of desperation and how you managed to solve your problem successfully in the end.
2. You had been selected to be a participant in an important youth event in your country. Write a personal account of that episode.
3. A friend close to you abused your trust and this resulted in repercussions in your friendship. How were you advised by an older person close to you on how to mend your relationship?
4. A younger person who is close to you once gave you some advice that changed the course of your life and helped you to resolve the dilemma you were facing. What lessons can be learnt from this? 5. Having to put your family first at one point in time almost caused you to lose something that was very dear to you. Under what circumstances would you place your family members above your friends? 6. Bursting someone’s bubble.
7. One rainy day, as you were standing at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the light to change, someone came up to you and asked to share your umbrella. Write a full account of what happened. 8. When is it appropriate for teenagers to take up some part-time work?
9. How far would you go to change the way things are run in your school? 10. Some people lament the fact that the world is not being run by able leaders. To what extend do you feel that this statement is true or untrue of your country?
Advice:
1) Make use of the unlimited time. When you are finished, please review your writing and polish it.
2) Determine if your writing can be abridged and condensed.
3) Keep an eye out of sentences that do not make sense and can be omitted. If you think yours is an inferior piece of writing with illogical and unorganized content flow, please re-write it. Your writing MUST:
1) Be concise, brief and not circuitous.
2) not contain any redundancies
3) not contain any repetition of words and ideas.
4) incorporate a variety of lively and descriptive vocabularies.
5) contain various creative sentence structures with the aid of suitable linking words.
6) use appropriate grammatical. idiomatic and collocational structures.
The sample writings below are the some of the disappointing ones. To our surprise, they were written by professional teachers who have worked for reputable English language institutions and universities for years.
In a nutshell, Indonesia is infested with institutions that employ sub-par wannabe teachers, who are virtually clueless about the art of writing in English.
Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers are even more costly.