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The
School Interview
No sooner does
a child start walking, than parents start wondering what school would be
suitable for him, and whether he will gain admission in a good school or
not.
It is best
to start preparing your child for the school interview as early as possible.
You make your child start cramming in the last few days or weeks before
the interview, and it is not going to be much help. The last few weeks
should be a period of revision for him, not a period of learning.
Alphabets and
Numbers
Make sure your
child knows all the alphabets, as well as phonetics and a couple of objects
beginning with each alphabet, eg. A is for Apple, B is for Bed etc. Your
child should also be familiar with numbers, and should be able to rattle
off the numbers to 20, if not 50, with ease.
Colours
Your child
should be well versed with all the basic colours. At every opportunity,
keep telling him the colours of various objects he comes into contact with.
What colour is mommy's shirt? Red! What colour is your new cap? Yellow!
And let him repeat colours after you. Start at a young age, and do not
worry about whether or not he will be able to assimilate the information.
You will be surprised at the amount small children can pick up and retain.
Languages
While interviews
do not usually test varied language skills, it would be to your advantage
if your child were fairly familiar with at least 2 languages. If your child
speaks Hindi, Gujarati or some other language with other family members,
grandparents (the advantages of living in a joint family!) or household
help, make it a point to speak to him in English. If it is just the two
of you living with your child, then one parent can speak to the child in
one language, while the other parent speaks in another language. Don't
worry about whether your child will pick up both languages. He will, and
you will be surprised to see that he switches to the appropriate language
with the relevant person. Unless you have reason to believe that your child
is very slow or may have learning disabilities, encourage him to learn
two languages at the outset.
Confidence
More than seeing
how much a child knows, interviewers want to test the confidence of the
child in question. If your child comes across as confident and bold, chances
that he will be selected are high. However, if your child is incredibly
intelligent but too nervous or shy to answer, no amount of preparation
would help. So you should definitely work on building your child's confidence.
Take your child with your whenever you go to the supermarket, and encourage
him to speak to people. Let him enquire about the price of a particular
object. If he ever wants a bottle of Pepsi, encourage him to pick it out
himself, find out the price and pay for it himself. If you run into a friend,
encourage your child to answer questions like, "What is your name? How
old are you?"
Familiarity
Increase your
child's familiarity with school. Children often picture school as a scary
place. Take your child to the school often, before his interview, every
time you need to go to collect a form or to submit it. This helps familiarise
him with the surroundings. Take him for a walk along the corridor, and
if the school has a playground, let him play around in it for a short while.
On your return home, ask your child what he liked about the school. Perhaps
he liked the swings, or the slide, or the friendly gardener, or the fact
that his father went to the same school so "It is the best school." There
is no 'right' or 'wrong' answer.
More tips on training your child for the first school interview.
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