PME Hibernia

Walnut45

Hi everyone,

I have been thinking about applying for the PME course with Hibernia for years, and I am finally biting the bullet.
I have decided to apply for the Autumn 2018 intake, which gives me about 5weeks to brush up on my Irish. Has anyone else taken this risk?
I got a B2 (hons) in the LC but that was 10 years ago and I pretty much haven't spoken a word since...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!

justcallmemary

I am in a very similar position! Exact same result in LC too although mine was 14 years ago! I have no advice but following thread incase anyone else can offer some words of wisdom.. Maybe one thing I would suggest if you haven't already done so is to sign up for one of the webinars that Hibernia are running, they have one on every week or so at the moment where they go through the application process and you can ask questions both about the application and any questions about the interview and the course itself there and then and they will answer. I just did one this week and found it quite helpful. I am preparing my application at the moment as you will know closing date is 11th July but I will wait to submit to closer that date to give me as much time as possible to work on my Irish. As it stands it is very rusty, I was fairly comfortable with spoken Irish in my Leaving Cert and didn't have any trouble with the oral but that was so long ago now and I am so out of practice that I am a bit concerned about how it will go.. fingers crossed anyway.. good luck with your prep!

Walnut45

@justcallmemary: Best of luck with your application/interview and thanks for the advice regarding the seminars.

Hopefully the Irish will come flowing back to us in the coming weeks!

Aoibhs100

Hi guys, I have been thinking about applying for Hibernia for a while but I didn't meet the Irish requirements. I have just completed Irish LC in June 2018 and awaiting results, I am hoping for a H4 to meet Hibernia requirements.
I have my date for interview and it is less than 2 weeks away and I am not that confident in the Irish part. I am ok if they ask the scripted questions such as family school work etc but if they veer far off that I am afraid I will be in trouble.
Any advice of other questions they may ask would be helpful.
Thanks

Daffodil12

Hi I had my interview two weeks ago. They time the Irish interview with a stopwatch. About half of my interview was the standard stuff about pastimes, where I live, holidays, why I want to be a teacher, where I work. Then there was questions I was not expecting e.g. who I was supporting in the World Cup, the time my train left , arrived, what time my train is due to depart and what I did on the train, what I planned to do after the interview. I got the place and I’m delighted . Just practice your tenses and do you best. You are probably a lot better than you think you are if you just sat the leaving. I was really out of the practice with my Irish but took some grinds to brush up. Good luck !

Daffodil12

I was also asked if I am interested in sport and my mc question was “what would you do if you had more spare time”.

Aoibhs100

thankyou. this is helpful...
delighted you got in!
yea il just keep at it here and hope that on the day i can remember it all.
thankyou

Aoibhs100

Hi, had interview yesterday and it was ok! English part grand but Irish I found difficult! now the waiting part... he said it would be a week to 10 days before I get notification if I got in or not... Was it this long for you?
thanks
A

paularice

Hi @Aoibhs100, what kind of questions were you asked? Have mine tomorrow so a little nervous!

How many people were in the room?

thanks!

Daffodil12

Aoibhs I had my interview on Thursday afternoon and I got an email on the Monday morning. I was surprised how quick I found out. Paularice there are two people in the interview. One does the Irish interview and one does the English interview. Good luck with your interview.

Aoibhs100

Hi, there were 2 men, they were really lovely! I was very nervous too!

For the English part they asked me:
Why I wanted to go back and do PS teaching now...
What was my greatest strength / weakness
Talk about a topic for 2 minutes
What do I think about teamwork
If a person complained about my teaching what would I do
Tell me about your education qualifications
Tell me about a teacher that inspired you
What qualities did I have that would make me a good teacher
What leadership skills do I have
What my IT skill were like
They referred to the personal statement I had done in my application so know what you have written in it.
then they talked about Hibernia for a while and said it was very intense and asked how I would manage, having a family and working and completing course

Irish questions...
Where did I live and facilities in the area
What did I work at
What do I do every day
If I won the lotto what would I do
Holidays
What I am going to do after the interview
what are my past times (one of them were reading so he asked what I was reading at the minute)
Tell me about your children
He asked me about the Irish Leaving Certificate, if I thought it was difficult (I just completed in June)

It is an intense 30 minutes but it really does fly! just try to sell yourself as best you can! Good luck tomorrow!

Aoibhs100

Thanks Daffodil12. Hopeful I will hear soon...

justcallmemary

Just incase anyone else is still waiting for interview, below is my experience as I found some really helpful posts from other previous applicants in other threads so thought I would pay it forward Good luck to everyone applying or waiting for offer of place!
I applied 2 days before the application deadline
I got a call a week later to advise interview date which was 2 weeks after that
I got an email the day after I interviewed offering a place
There were 2 interviewers, a man and woman, one led the English and the other the Irish. I was asked whether I wanted to start with English or Irish. They were very friendly but also direct. The man particularly for English didn't really allow any waffle with answers, 20 mins for English is of course a short interview so understandably they don't want time wasted on waffley answers! In the Irish I faltered a couple of times but she helped me along, they really were very friendly and do their best to put you at ease so just try to stay calm and listen carefully to the questions you are asked to answer as best you can.. Also as important as Gaeilge is don't neglect your preparation for the English!

ENGLISH;

Tell me about your educational qualifications..

Why do you want to be a teacher?

What do you know about the course and have you attended any of the roadshows etc.

Do you know anyone who has done the course in recent years and are you aware of the workload?

What is different about the classroom now compared to when you were in school?

Is there anything about school in your day that you remember that you would still like to see?

What would you do if you had a conflict with someone?

Are you an organised person?
I answered yes and talked about how organised I am and they pointed out that as a teacher you need to also be very flexible and adaptable so good to work this into an answer where possible..

What are the traits of a good teacher do you think?

What are your strengths?

How would you deal with a situation where a parent or group of parents arrived at the door of your senior infants class at 9am?


GAEILGE

How are you?

How did you get to the interview today?

How long did the journey take you?
Spoke about dropping my baby off at my parents and she asked if she is sleeping through the night..

Have you been on holidays this summer?

Did you do any travelling while you lived in Australia?

Where do you live now and do you like living there? Tell me about the place..

Are you working at the moment?

What will you do this weekend?

If you were a teacher tomorrow morning, what class would you like to teach?

Is there any teacher that stands out in your memory to you and why?

Walnut45

@justcallmemary - thanks a mill for this, it's super helpful! I have mine this week!
Congrats on getting your place and best of luck with the course

justcallmemary

No probs Walnut best of luck with yours this week, hope it goes well! Let us know how you get on, will hopefully see you in September for orientation

Aoibhs100

Hi guys, hope your interviews go well this week. I passed the general part of the interview but didn't get the Gaeilge part. Very disappointing but they have offered me a chance to do Gaeilge only part in Jan/Feb for April 19 intake which I am happy about. I will see what I get in LC on 15th Aug and hopefully if I get the H4 required I will start the study process for Jan/Feb interview.
Good luck guys.

Daffodil12

Sorry to hear you didn’t get the interview , must be so disappointing after the work you put in. Fingers crossed you will get it the next time

justcallmemary

Sorry to hear you didn't get a place Aoibhs, but stick with it, if teaching is really what you want to do you will make it happen in Spring! Hope the LC results go your way and you get in next time

Aoibhs100

thanks dafoldil12 and justcallmemary. hopefully next wednesday results will go my way and then i have a bit of time to brush up irish...

Walnut45

@Aoibhs100 - same here. Very disappointed but I completely blanked at the interview so not overly surprised!

Aoibhs100

Sorry to hear that walnut45... It is very dissapointing. Hopefully we will be registering for spring intake.

user9797

Im repeating Irish as i want to be a primary teacher and hibernia is the only college that will allow me to start neXt year rather than waiting till 2020 to start, the thought of online study doesnt appeal to me much as it sounds kind of lonely, is it difficult to make friends in hibernia seeing as most of it is done online? I would rather go to traditional college but don't want to have to wait another year to get my degree, anY advice

Daffodil12

I'm nearly three months in to the course now. I'm a bit taken back by the amount of study but I'm just going to put the head down for the next two years. There is a lot of the course online (lectures are put online each Monday and live interactive webinars in the evenings but there is around 500 in my cohort so that limits how interactive they can be). However, there is lots of face to face as well. I was with my class (there's 30 in my class) every day last week and there is a lot of Saturdays with my class as well. It's taken longer than it would in a regular class but the 30 of us feel like a proper class now. Whattsapp is great. I don't feel isolated but I can see how somebody could. Doing the course the traditional way in one of the other colleges was not an option for me because of childcare. Good luck with the course if that is what you decide.

user9797

Ive read in a lot of the older threads that there is a stigma attached to studying in hibernia and some principals wont even consider applicants who have graduated from hibernia, does anyone know if this is at all true now a days?

joannesull

Aoibhs100 wrote: »

Hi guys, hope your interviews go well this week. I passed the general part of the interview but didn't get the Gaeilge part. Very disappointing but they have offered me a chance to do Gaeilge only part in Jan/Feb for April 19 intake which I am happy about. I will see what I get in LC on 15th Aug and hopefully if I get the H4 required I will start the study process for Jan/Feb interview.
Good luck guys.

Hi I have just got word I failed the interview aswel gutted as I put so much work in but onwards and upwards as they say and I will repeat it for September. Can I ask you did you do the Gaelchultur course or anything u can advise that will improve my spoken Irish. I have the tenses down and grammar etc and did a lot of prep for possible questions that I’d be asked but I think it’s my confidence that let me down. I take part in ciorcal comhrá aswel watch tg4/listen to radio na Gaeltachta etc) Anything u or anyone can advise?

Nate121

Hey I received an offer for a place on the course for spring 19, absolutely over the moon! Keep trying if your unsuccessful and be more confident in yourself, remember you have to really show you want it