TA Interview?

[drfuzz]

I have been accepted to my top choice program (MA) - I'm really psyched on that. I was also sent an e-mail asking to be interviewed via Skype for a TA position in the department (I live outside the U.S.) and am really nervous about it. I know that my (financial) ability to go to the school depends on getting this TAship. 

The TAship would be tied to a teaching a foreign language, but I don't know exactly what the responsibilities of a TA are, though from the looks at other TA profiles on the website it seems that TAs handle their classes on their own. This is all good and well with me as I have extensive teaching experience (albeit not at the university level) and I think it will be great experience as I continue to move onto the PhD and beyond. I'm wondering though if I should ask the department questions before the interview or wait until the I am talking with the professors to ask. 

 

Also, I am really at a loss as to what the interview is going to be like. I know the professors who are going to be there and of the three only one of them is a professor directly in my field, the other two are linguistics professors. Has anyone ever gone through something similar? Any ideas what to expect? I figure there will be some communication in said foreign language (which is fine, I have confidence in that department....I think) but I just don't know what these types of interviews entail.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.