SPP Interview for Future Teachers!

Hello people. It’s been a really quite eventful March for me seeing that a lot of things happened. For instance, I managed to cook a number of dishes (hahaha), creating or editing Wikipedia articles (you don’t know how nerdy I am), Sushi King’s opened in Terengganu now (huzzah!!!), I finally received my legal copy of Madeon’s Adventure (which I will review soon heheh), and oh yeah, I was interviewed by SPP, and that is what I’m going to talk about. This is your short guide to SPP interview success (okay... maybe that's an exaggeration).

Anyway, SPP interview is a prerequisite for all teacher graduates (from both IPG and Universities). Before you are posted to anywhere in this great nation of ours, you will need to face the wrath of officials (okay, they’re not that bad… hahaha) from Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pelajaran, where they will assess you based on your appearance, teaching method, and knowledge in general issues and education-related issues.

Here’s the thing, before you start thinking of being nervous for the interview, there are a few documents that you should have, and they are:

IC

Birth certificate

SPM certificate

Degree certificate or full exam results transcript if you don’t have the certificate

IPG letter of offer

Degree letter of offer

PPISMP certificate

The confirmation letter from JPA (on the website)

SPP documents checklist from the website

Passport-size photo

Make sure that you have two copies of the documents coloured in red. If you don’t have the letters of offer, go to the main office and threaten the staff to give you what you need: the confirmation letter that you are the freaking student of that IPG. When you have the copies of the documents needed, get the signature and confirmation from Pegawai Kerajaan Kelas A (well, they are the people who always give announcements at your IPG’s morning assembly hahaha or you know that important guy from HEP that I somehow can’t remember what his job is… uhhhh~) or if you can’t find Pegawai Kelas A, you can be like me, go to the nearest solicitor or advocate and tell them that Agatha is the one who tried to kill Lovelia… wait not that… tell the lawyer you need his or her signature and confirmation, though you may need to pay a fee. Only the copies are required to have the signatures, mind you. Anyway, IPG will help with most of the processes needed for you to be able to go for the interview, so don’t forget to be good with your IPG staff.

So, once you get the date for the interview, then it is time to study the things needed for you to pass the interview. Manners matter too, so…

Be clean and sparkling (not Edward-sparkly of course)

Cut your hair (for guys duhhh) and do not colour it (for both genders)

Wear shirts that have light colours (baby pink, or baby blue, or pastel maybe?). Do not wear dark-colour shirts. A blazer or coat is good too so wear it.

Clean your shoes.

Be in your best behaviour even if you’ve managed to destroy Manchester United in FIFA 2014 (which I don’t play because I hate football (and I don’t have a PS4))

Speak clearly and do not mumble.

Know your teaching methods and pedagogy and all the stuff related to education and general knowledge.

Bring your RPH! Complete everything!

Be confident (which unfortunately may not happen sometimes hahaha).

Here’s one thing, the interview may take somewhere between an hour (in my case) to three hours (in Putrajaya’s case because they had lots of times in their hands…). You may have between five to seven other interviewees with you so always respect them. The interview is not the time for you to start pouting your own opinions when you disagree with others. It’s okay to disagree, but do it in a civilised way because you guys are totally not going to besmirch your names by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons! (I love McGonagall~) Answer the question in a concise and precise manner. If you don’t know anything, just say it, do not lie. In certain interviews, you may even be told to conduct a short microteaching. Not all do that though. Your interview may be conducted with those who are not under the same course as you, or vice versa. In my case, all of us were TESL graduates, thus the interview was carried out mostly in English.

The SPP staff will check all your documents and after that, you will need to sit outside the interview room when you are good to go. Wait until the bell is rung and then politely like you’re the last Victorian gentleman in the whole planet walk into the room. Well, you get the basic idea, or do I have to teach you basic manners too? Anyhow, my interviewers asked us about GST, the countries of ASEAN, how to teach vocabulary to students are less proficient in English, how to apply higher order thinking skills in the classroom, the Education Blueprint, and FPG… yes, FPG, and most of got confused and damn well answered with FPK (dang it!), but hey, I think I did quite well… I hope~ So, make sure you know your stuff, and try to take note of the recent events of the country, be it education-related or not (because even Sultan of Johor’s coronation ceremony was asked in Kedah). Oh, since the Blueprint is somewhat an important matter nowadays, it won’t hurt to look at it.

So, I hope this post will help you a bit with your own SPP interview. I also consulted a few other blogs when I did mine, so I guess another one would be good for all of us graduates. Best of luck, peeps!