Some parents will balk at the thought of preschool interview prep while others are rushing to enrol their children into interview boot camps and make resumes for them. While we don’t advocate for intensive interview prep, we can recommend these tips by Tutor Time’s Curriculum Experts to help prepare your child for preschool interviews.
Set aside time to prepare
More often than not, parents simply do not set aside time to prepare. You don’t need to conduct intensive review sessions- there are fun ways to prepare too! You could read to practice comprehension and sight words, play with others while modelling pro-social behavior, or ask your child common questions over dinner.
Practice sight words
Sight words are words that they recognize visually without pronouncing them. Words like: ‘it’, ‘be’, ‘do’, ‘my’, ‘no’, and ‘we’ are all sight words. Familiarize your child with sight words in books and encourage them to use them in daily life.
Individual and social behavior
Interviewers will take note of your child’s ability to empathize, sense of independence, and responsibility. Interviewers will take note of whether your child cleans up after themselves, knows how to take care of themselves, and whether they help others who are struggling (among other factors). These behaviors are heavily dependent on upbringing and previous social interactions.
Ask your child common questions
Make sure your child knows how to answer basic questions such as- what is your name?, how old are you?- and tougher questions such as: what are your hobbies and why do you like school? Try sharpening your child’s speaking skills by regularly talking with them.
Practice sequencing
Sequencing is how we use past knowledge to logically order: thoughts, actions, knowledge, experiences, etc. Interviewers often ask questions that require sequencing like “what do you do after you wake up” to judge your child’s grasp of sequencing. Practice sequencing at home by encouraging your child to use words like: ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘last’.
Sources
Mon-Sat