At pre-school interviews (age 2years or so), some schools will allow parents/guardians to accompany their child to the interview. However, this is not always the case!
In general, interviews for these young students comprise simple questions about themselves, for example:
- What is your name?
- How old are you?
- Who do you live with?
- Do you have brothers and sisters?
- What is your favorite toy?
- What do you like to do?
- Basic life-skills such as identifying colors, shapes, and objects depicted on images
- Counting
Overall, the emphasis is on getting the child to talk and display their level of (English) comprehension.
A big factor seems to be confidence. Confident and vocal children seem to be more successful than shy, quiet children. Moreover, children that have obviously been prepped are not going to succeed either. So it’s a bit of a balancing act to get your quiet child to be vocal enough to be heard but not to seem rehearsed.