The Oral Proficiency Interview [OPI]
I just had my OPI so I thought I would make a post about what an "OPI" is. OPI, like the title of this post says, stands for oral proficiency interview.
Finalists who indicated on their NSLI-Y application some previous knowledge of the language they will be studying on their program are required to do an OPI.
ONLY those who indicated knowledge of their NSLI-Y language on their application will have an OPI [so don't panic if you don't know what this is and are a finalist].
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I received the email in late April about the OPI and scheduled mine for late May. About one week before my interview I was emailed with a date and time and had to confirm that with them.
*Make sure to check your spam if you don't hear from them because I saw mine 3 days later when I decided to check my spam for it...
IF YOU'RE NERVOUS ABOUT YOUR OPI....
DON'T BE. This doesn't count for placement in your program. It is to measure your progression! You will have a PRE-program OPI and a POST-program, and they will be used to see how much you progressed during the program. If you do poorly, it will only make you look even better when you have your post-program interview! So don't stress over this~
HOW MY OPI WENT:
I don't think I should give specifics in order for your OPI to accurately gauge where you're at. If I told you all the questions and specifics, then you could study beforehand. While you may be answering the questions and looking good at the time, you want it to accurately reflect your Korean [or whatever language] skills and accurately show your progression in the language upon returning home. I will, however, give you an idea of what an OPI is like.
~ I had my OPI at 7:30 and the guy called pretty much right at 7:30. He explained what the interview was going to be like [in English] and then asked me if I had any questions about it.
-We started after that and it was just basic stuff he was asking me about/to do.
-He asked me about me, my life, family, etc... [sorry, you're probably annoyed at how vague I'm being :P].
-There was also a part where we did a role play which was interesting LOL. In the situation, he asked me for my friend's name who we were talking about - I have so many Korean friends to choose from but my mind was blank.... all of a sudden I screamed my friend's name when it popped into my head [and on my kakaotalk cause she just messaged me] and he started laughing haha. [I told my friend about this afterwards and she was like "hahahahaha oh my I love you"]
-I had to ask him questions about something as well [which was awkward and my questions probably were so weird haha].
That is basically my OPI in a very small nutshell...
It's really nothing to worry about! I thought it was kind of fun. My interviewer guy was cool and the conversation flowed well. It didn't feel like a test or an interview- it was more like a guided conversation.
To those who have their OPI coming up... Have fun! Relax and remember it doesn't count for anything in your program! Use it as a chance to practice conversing in your NSLI-Y language ^^
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COMING UP:
★Don't forget you can subscribe(?) to my blog by email! Just simply enter your email in the side bar where it says "Follow Me By Email." You'll get an email every time I post~
★If you have any questions about NSLI-Y, my trip, or anything at all- send me a message where it says "Questions? Contact Me Here~" which on the side as well. I promise I'll answer!
Currently playing: Last Romeo by Infinite
Finalists who indicated on their NSLI-Y application some previous knowledge of the language they will be studying on their program are required to do an OPI.
ONLY those who indicated knowledge of their NSLI-Y language on their application will have an OPI [so don't panic if you don't know what this is and are a finalist].
------------------------------------------------------
I received the email in late April about the OPI and scheduled mine for late May. About one week before my interview I was emailed with a date and time and had to confirm that with them.
*Make sure to check your spam if you don't hear from them because I saw mine 3 days later when I decided to check my spam for it...
IF YOU'RE NERVOUS ABOUT YOUR OPI....
DON'T BE. This doesn't count for placement in your program. It is to measure your progression! You will have a PRE-program OPI and a POST-program, and they will be used to see how much you progressed during the program. If you do poorly, it will only make you look even better when you have your post-program interview! So don't stress over this~
HOW MY OPI WENT:
I don't think I should give specifics in order for your OPI to accurately gauge where you're at. If I told you all the questions and specifics, then you could study beforehand. While you may be answering the questions and looking good at the time, you want it to accurately reflect your Korean [or whatever language] skills and accurately show your progression in the language upon returning home. I will, however, give you an idea of what an OPI is like.
~ I had my OPI at 7:30 and the guy called pretty much right at 7:30. He explained what the interview was going to be like [in English] and then asked me if I had any questions about it.
-We started after that and it was just basic stuff he was asking me about/to do.
-He asked me about me, my life, family, etc... [sorry, you're probably annoyed at how vague I'm being :P].
-There was also a part where we did a role play which was interesting LOL. In the situation, he asked me for my friend's name who we were talking about - I have so many Korean friends to choose from but my mind was blank.... all of a sudden I screamed my friend's name when it popped into my head [and on my kakaotalk cause she just messaged me] and he started laughing haha. [I told my friend about this afterwards and she was like "hahahahaha oh my I love you"]
-I had to ask him questions about something as well [which was awkward and my questions probably were so weird haha].
That is basically my OPI in a very small nutshell...
It's really nothing to worry about! I thought it was kind of fun. My interviewer guy was cool and the conversation flowed well. It didn't feel like a test or an interview- it was more like a guided conversation.
●FUNNY STORY FROM MY OPI●
So the interviewer was asking me about things in the room and I mentioned my bags/purses. He asked me what color they were and I froze. I don't know many colors so I was like "μ΄.... λ
Έλμ?!" I told him that all my bags were yellow.... but in reality all of them are black- I don't even like yellow. THE ONLY COLOR I COULD THINK OF WAS YELLOW. He kind of started laughing when I said they were all yellow... Anyway, a lot of us made stuff up on our OPI cause we didn't know how to say what we wanted to really say [in Korean].
*Remember it's to see your current level*
To those who have their OPI coming up... Have fun! Relax and remember it doesn't count for anything in your program! Use it as a chance to practice conversing in your NSLI-Y language ^^
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COMING UP:
- Host family info in about 2ish weeks (probably the thing I've been looking forward to the most
- LEAVE FOR PDO IN 32 DAYS!!!
★Don't forget you can subscribe(?) to my blog by email! Just simply enter your email in the side bar where it says "Follow Me By Email." You'll get an email every time I post~
★If you have any questions about NSLI-Y, my trip, or anything at all- send me a message where it says "Questions? Contact Me Here~" which on the side as well. I promise I'll answer!
Currently playing: Last Romeo by Infinite
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