Help me not fuck up this job interview.

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They'll almost certainly want to know the obvious--how you got into teaching, what your experience has been like, what things you enjoy/don't enjoy about it. They may ask you about your general approach to teaching or particular teaching strategies, as one_bean suggests. A pretty typical thing to ask in job interviews of all kinds is to ask about challenges you've faced and how you've dealt with them. Since this is part-time, they may want to know about what you're doing with the rest of your time. A couple of people I know applying for teaching-type positions have been asked to give the interviewer a brief lesson ("show me how you'd explain 'adverbs' in five minutes".). But if you're interviewing with HR that seems less likely. Things you can ask them--definitely ask about the classroom makeup--size, background. Are there prerequisites to the class? Do you have freedom to create a syllabus from scratch or are there particular things they expect to be covered? If this is continuing ed--what's the attrition rate for the classes? (I'm assuming it would be higher than for classes where people are actually enrolled in a degree program). Also definitely ask about non-classroom expectations--do they expect you to participate in any activities outside of the classroom, like outreach or administrative work? Will you need to keep office hours or is your presence only required at classes? I would not ask how many other candidates they are interviewing. There is really no reason to ask this except to gauge what your chances of getting the job are, and it will make you sound weak. At an interview, you should proceed with the attitude that it doesn't really matter who else they're interviewing because you are confident that you're a top candidate. You CAN ask about their timeline for making a decision and if they expect to be interviewing many more people, because their hiring timeframe is something that affects you directly.

Be confident. You got this.

Write out questions you think you might be asked and prepare/practice answers. When you are asked questions not on that list, try to pivot to the answers you have prepared.

The best job interview advice I ever got was this: when the interviewer says "Tell me about yourself" (and 90% of the time they will), give your standard professional elevator speech, but end with something unique about yourself - not necessarily work-related. For example, I would end my answer with "and I am the 2008 Illinois State Jaycee Jeopardy champion." Twice I had the opportunity to take this advice, and both times I got the job. : ) Good luck!

Department chair at a university here. Here's what I ask: what would you teach in an intro class? What kind of assignments would you give? What have you found that works and doesn't work? What does a successful class look like for you? I'd also try to ask questions about content. So, you say you'd cover S's theory of X. I'd ask about that. What do you yourself think of S's theory of X? What do you think when students think the theory of X is actually a theory of Y (where this is some sort of common misunderstanding). Are there other theories of X you find more plausible? Why? Here's a question I think I should get asked more than I do: so, chair, you've taught here for Y years. What is your view as to what makes a successful class here at university of Name? Or: I like to teach T's theory of Y. But students get lost at this particular point in the view. What have you've done to counteract this misunderstanding?

I'll tell you what I kinda wish I'd asked at my interviews: how does language learning fit into the overall culture and mission of the school? I've taught part and full-time at many universities and community colleges, and the unfun experiences were in a department or school that didn't value the work I was doing or didn't have a clear idea why what I did was important (the second worst experiences were the schools in which I had crappy coworkers, but that's a whole other kettle of fish).

Never go negative. For example, "Tell me about [your last supervisor]." If the truth is that he was an arrogant, dictatorial bully whom everyone hated, your answer should be along the lines of, "He could be demanding, but that motivated me to do my best, an experience that's taught me to be highly productive, even under pressure like tight deadlines." "Tell me about..." questions are an opportunity to connect your experience to the qualities and skills you possess that make you a valuable employee.

I'm actually having a hard time thinking of a good answer to "What's your teaching style". I kind of just go into the classroom and teach. What are some adjectives one might use to describe a teaching style? Ones that are actually informative (rather than self-advertising boilerplate of the "passionate" kind)?