CELTA interview - Mini-teach

Hello everyone,

I am new here and I am about to attend a group CELTA interview at Blackburn College on Monday. One of the items on the agenda is a 5-minute mini-teach, and so I just have a few questions on what to expect with this, and what is expected of me, as it is the only part of the interview that I am really concerned about.

I sent an email to the course leader to ask about this - and she confirmed my suspicion that the lesson subject should not be anything to do with English Language. But beyond that, she was reluctant to tell me any further information, as they 'do not want candidates to prepare for it before the interview'. I didn't press her on this, but can I just ask - does that mean that I shouldn't bring any props or materials to the interview? Will evidence of prior preparation make me look bad for 'breaking the rules'? Is it possible to 'fail' this part of the interview? Is it anything to worry about? I'm comfortable with standing up and addressing a group of people, it's just that this 'no preparation' thing is concerning me. I have searched online but have found very little advice on this aspect of the interview, so I'd be very grateful for any help that you can give me!

Thank you.

They will want to see how you interact with people. You're not expected to be the finished product. Don't worry about it and be your normal, natural self- they want to see if that normal self looks up to the course.

And good luck.

Thank you very much for your advice Tdol - as it happened we were allowed 15 minutes beforehand to prepare, and everything went well. I am now on the course