TEFL Demonstration Lessons

Demonstration Lessons for EFL and ESL Job Interviews

We have created a podcast to complement this page.  You can download it from our podcast page.

Basic Concepts

Many employers will ask you to perform a “Demonstration Lesson” as part of the interview process when they are considering you for a teaching position. This is a very common practice, especially in teaching EFL.  While an uncomfortable proposition, often with “fake’ students, this is not something to be feared.  In fact, it is a chance to show off what you know.

Understand that schools are not necessarily looking for a perfect teacher as much as they are looking for someone who is friendly, outgoing, smiles, and is able to structure a decent lesson.

When you have a demonstration lesson requested, ask for whom the lesson is intended, their skill level, the intended target language or topic, and the length of the time of the lesson.  Often you will be allowed, within reasonable boundaries, to determine most of these things.

Once you know who, what, and how long you are to teach, design a simple lesson plan for that lesson – and DO keep it simple.  Be sure to take two copies of it (with any handouts attached) to the demonstration lesson.  One for you, one for the interviewers.

Follow your lesson plan carefully, make sure your boardwork looks sharp, be sure to minimize teacher talk time, put on a big smile, dress appropriately and, most likely, the job will be yours.  You may teach the full lesson, but many times the interviewers will see that you know what you are doing and will tell you to stop within ten or fifteen minutes.

Practice your lesson repeatedly before going to the demonstration lesson, ideally with another teacher observing you and giving you feedback on how you are doing.

A good nine-minute video about demonstration lessons is HERE.
While the participants in the video discuss demonstration lessons for a regular elementary school classroom, you can apply almost all the ideas they suggest to an EFL classroom.