DPLI Interview

Im back! :) As promised, this post will be about my DPLI interview. So there i was, in UITM (Tawau branch) at 8.30 am, filled a form, and sat with all the other applicants. I met some schoolmates and a collegue from SMTT. We chatted and I realised that i was the only one applying for TESL and the others are mostly Perniagaan or Perdagangan or something. Weird. Minutes later, there were facillitators calling us one by one, assessed our forms and conducted a color blind test. When it was my turn, they said I'd be selected for sure because my degree suits tesl. Point taken, I said, but then, you'll never know.. I was not really nervous about this interview, i don't know why...

It didn't take long for my turn. I knocked on the door, greeted the 2 fellows(who were lecturers from UMS), gave them my file (of original certificates, KPLI interview needed us to have copies of certificated ones), and waited for the offer to sit. He spoke Bahasa Malaysia to me, so i replied in Bahasa too. The other officer noticed my documents and asked me to speak in English.

I started to introduce myself, my name, when n where i graduated from, and then my teaching experience. He asked why i wanted to be a teacher, i told them that its a dream since school, my idols and guide are my teachers, my parents are teachers and finally a promising lifestyle a person can achieve teaching.

The next quiry suprised me, he said 'why, would you want to choose UMS of all universities?' His tone was quite 'demeaning' a little...Padahal diorang lectuer UMS pun. So I said that UMS is nearer to my hometown and that I do think UMS has its own reputation. I heard good things about it, like its research and efforts on the environment. I am a person who is concerned about the environment, sirs. (hihi,honestly, true, of course!)

Later, we talked about students' current issues, especially on students' less interests in English, especially those in the rural areas. I started to suggest ways to increase their interests, change their perceptions on English, having fun attractive activities they can participate in, and have trips to the towns where English is everywhere and what not. Basically, it all comes down to people are not able to survive or be successfull without knowing even a little abput English language, the language of information, not the language of mere identity (for Malaysians).

After that, he still underlined to me that teaching students with these kind of problems are difficult and that most teachers nowadays would only teach and finish the syllabus per se, without ever wanting to really teach and make sure every student achieves something. So then I shared about my view or shall i say philosophy of teaching- teaching is not just about teaching, but to learn, and a great teacher do not only teach the students but they learn from them as well. How do teachers learn from students? It is in his/her awareness of the students' progress by looking at their response, accepting their opinions, and then realizes that the learning process really did happen at that time. I like participation in class, so that we don't only teach a subject matter, but also a skill, a communication skill, whether it is between teacher to student, or student to fellow student, or a student to the whole audience/class.

"So is it not about the money as a teacher?the salary?" No of course not sir. The real 'salary' is given by God. Our deeds that we do as teachers. It is to teach.


They said that's all Suhaila, thank you. I thank them too.

*end of interview*