Le Shaun, before you start
The single most important goal across all 4 sessions isn't for Karen to memorize answers — it's for her to sound natural, like a native speaker, even when she first thinks the answer through in Spanish. In every session you'll be correcting both content (what she says) AND delivery (how it sounds). The Resources tab has a toolkit of phrases and corrections that come up across all 4 sessions — keep it close by at all times.
Today: "Tell me about yourself" + baseline
Goal: Karen can confidently talk about herself for 2 minutes, and you have a real "before" snapshot to compare against in Session 4.
0–5 min Baseline (cold)
Before teaching anything, ask her this with no help or correction:
Let her talk for 1-2 minutes without interrupting. This is your comparison point for Session 4.
5–10 min Sounding-natural toolkit (intro)
Introduce her to the toolkit in the Resources tab — especially the "buying time" phrases, so she doesn't go silent or switch to Spanish.
10–50 min The 5 questions (full method)
For each question: 1) what the interviewer is really asking, 2) what Karen should say, 3) build the answer together in English, 4) vocabulary, 5) she practices without reading, 6) you ask a follow-up. ~8 min per question.
1. "Tell me about yourself."
What they're looking for: a 60-90 second professional summary, not her full life story.
Structure: Present (current role) → Past (relevant journey) → Future (why this role now).
2. "Walk me through your experience."
What they're looking for: progression and growing responsibility over time.
Structure: first relevant role → key transition → current role → direct connection to this position.
3. "What are your main strengths?"
What they're looking for: 2-3 strengths tied to the role (not generic ones), with brief evidence.
4. "Why are you interested in this role?"
What they're looking for: genuine motivation, and whether she's researched the role/company.
5. "Why are you a good fit for this position?"
What they're looking for: an explicit connection between her experience and 2-3 requirements from the Job Description.
50–58 min Bring it together — timed full pitch
Have her combine the 5 answers into one smooth pitch, max 2 minutes. Time it.
58–60 min Wrap-up + homework
- Practice the 2-minute pitch out loud, recording herself, 3 times before the next session.
- Save today's 5 answers as the first entries in her Interview Answer Bank.
Today: Product, Data, Customer & Risk (breadth, not depth)
60 minutes isn't enough to go deep on all 4 business areas from the Job Description — today is one pass through each, with 1 main question and 1-2 follow-ups. Real depth comes in Session 4 (mock interview), once she has the fundamentals down.
0–5 min Recap + intro
Have her repeat her 2-minute pitch from memory (no reading) as a warm-up. Then explain that today focuses on business vocabulary specific to the role.
5–18 min Area 1 — Product strategy
"How do you approach product strategy?"
See model structure
Follow-ups: "What data would you look at?" · "How would you prioritize those opportunities?" · "Can you give me an example?"
18–31 min Area 2 — Data & business decisions
"How do you use data and analytics to drive business decisions?"
Structure: a situation that required a decision → what data/MI she used → what she found → the decision made → the outcome.
Follow-ups: "What was the risk of being wrong?" · "How do you validate your data?" · "What forecasting methods do you use?"
31–44 min Area 3 — Customer experience & growth
"How do you assess customer and competitor insights to grow a portfolio?"
Structure: sources of insight (customer feedback, benchmarking, trends) → how she turns that into strategy → the growth outcome.
Follow-ups: "How do you balance customer needs with business goals?" · "Give me an example of a competitive threat you addressed."
44–55 min Area 4 — Risk, compliance & changing priorities
"How do you assess risk in business decisions while managing changing priorities?"
Structure: how she weighs risk vs. opportunity → how she stays compliant with regulations/ethics → an example of reprioritizing under pressure.
Follow-ups: "Tell me about a time priorities changed suddenly — what did you do?" · "How do you stay compliant while moving fast?"
55–60 min Wrap-up + homework
- Write out (in English) a fuller version of the answer for whichever area felt weakest today.
- Add today's 4 answers to her Interview Answer Bank.
Today: Leadership & Behavioral (STAR)
The role requires experience leading cross-functional teams and making complex decisions — this session is critical. You'll work through 3 of Karen's real stories using the STAR framework, and practice cutting down her prep time so she learns to think in English faster, not just recite.
0–5 min Introduce STAR
| Letter | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Situation | Context — when, where, what was happening (1-2 sentences) |
| Task | Your specific responsibility or goal |
| Action | What YOU did (not "we") — this is where the "specific contribution" follow-up is aimed |
| Result | The outcome, ideally with a number (%, $, time saved, team size) |
| Learning | What she learned / what she'd do differently today |
5–20 min Story 1 — Leading a cross-functional team
"Tell me about a time you led a cross-functional team."
Let Karen tell the situation in Spanish first if she needs to. Then build it together in English using the STAR structure.
Follow-ups: "What was your specific contribution?" · "What was the biggest challenge?" · "What would you do differently today?"
20–35 min Story 2 — A difficult decision
"Tell me about a difficult decision you had to make."
Follow-ups: "What was your specific contribution?" · "What was the biggest challenge?" · "What would you do differently today?"
35–50 min Story 3 — Conflict with a stakeholder
"Tell me about a conflict with a stakeholder and how you resolved it."
Follow-ups: "What was your specific contribution?" · "What was the biggest challenge?" · "What would you do differently today?"
50–58 min Drill — thinking in English faster
Pick ONE of the 3 stories. Give her only 15 seconds to prepare (no more) and have her tell the whole story in English, without looking at her notes. The goal is cutting down mental translation time, not a perfect answer.
58–60 min Wrap-up + homework
- Write out all 3 full stories in English (STAR) for her Answer Bank.
- Think of a 4th backup story (in case the mock interview asks for something different).
Today: Mock Interview — 100% English
A real simulation. You're the interviewer. Don't give her the questions ahead of time. English only — if she gets stuck, remind her to use the "buying time" toolkit instead of switching to Spanish. Time every answer: 60-90 seconds, no rambling.
0–5 min Mock interview rules
5–49 min 8 categories — feedback loop
For each category, ask a surprise question (you choose the topic — don't write it out ahead of time). After each answer: ❌ what she said → ✏️ how she should say it → 🧠 why → 🔁 have her try again.
| # | Category | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Background | ~5 |
| 2 | Product strategy | ~5.5 |
| 3 | Customer experience & growth | ~5.5 |
| 4 | Data & business performance | ~5.5 |
| 5 | Leadership & cross-functional | ~5.5 |
| 6 | Conflict / difficult decisions | ~5.5 |
| 7 | Risk & compliance | ~5.5 |
| 8 | Pressure & changing priorities | ~5.5 |
49–57 min Closing the interview
"Do you have any questions for us?"
Teach her 2-3 smart questions to ask back — this matters too:
And have her practice a short, confident closing line, for example:
57–60 min Final wrap-up
Congratulate her — finishing all 4 sessions is already an achievement. Remind her to review her Interview Answer Bank (Resources tab) the night before the real interview — not to memorize it, but to refresh structure and vocabulary.
🗣️ Sounding-natural toolkit
This is the single most important part of all 4 sessions. Use it constantly, not just in Session 1.
"Buying time" phrases (instead of silence or switching to Spanish)
- "That's a great question — let me think about that for a moment."
- "That's an interesting point. Let me walk you through it."
- "To give you some context first..."
- "I want to make sure I answer this well, so let me structure my thoughts."
Common Spanish calques (correct these whenever they come up)
| She says | Natural in English |
|---|---|
| "I am agree" | "I agree" |
| "It depends of" | "It depends on" |
| "In my actual role" (false friend: actual = current, not real) | "In my current role" |
| "I have a great experience leading teams" | "I have extensive experience leading teams" |
Rhythm and stress
English is "stress-timed": content words (nouns, verbs, key adjectives) get the stress, while small words (a, the, to, of) get said quickly and lightly. Spanish stresses every syllable fairly evenly. Quick practice: have her read a sentence stressing only 3-4 key words, letting the rest flow quickly.
Professional connectors (beyond "and/but/so")
⭐ The STAR framework
| Letter | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Situation | Context — when, where, what was happening |
| Task | Your specific responsibility or goal |
| Action | What YOU did, not the team |
| Result | The outcome, with a number if possible |
| Learning | What she learned / what she'd do differently |
📚 Job Description vocabulary, by area
Product strategy
Data & analytics
Customer & market
Financial & business
Cross-functional & leadership
Risk & compliance
📖 Interview Answer Bank
This isn't a document to memorize — it's her bank of reusable building blocks. It builds itself, session by session, from what you've already filled in across the Session 1-4 tabs (each question includes: what the interviewer is looking for, vocabulary, structure, Karen's answer, and follow-ups). Once Session 4 wraps up, pull it all together into a separate document for Karen to review the night before — not to read from during the interview.