It's not "The End" yet.

It was 7.50a.m. At this time, I would usually be at the Techno Edge canteen and get a cup of Japanese green tea - one of my favourite hot drinks, before I go for Dr. Cook's English lesson. This has become part of my Monday and Thursday morning routines and I really enjoyed it. However, my English lessons will end in three more weeks. Oh wait, is there so-called "The End" in our learning journey?

Absolutely no. Learning English is a continuous process. What could be the difference is that I may have no opportunity to go through this learning process with the lovely classmates. :(

What I have gained the most from this learning journey is the increase of confidence level in academic writing. As of now, I am able to present an essay in a well-structured and organised manner. I was taught by Dr. Cook of how to write a problem-solution essay, for example, the content should include at least one major problem, two existing solutions, evaluation made to the effectiveness of existing solutions, and propose our own solution. I do not refer to the essay writing notes when I am writing this blog post because I could almost remember all after being through few rounds of essay drafting. Thank you Dr. Cook for this brilliant teaching method! 

In terms of grammar and vocabulary, I would say that there are more rooms for improvement. Learning grammar through peer teaching presentation was fun and meaningful. I should not just stop learning at there, yet, continue practicing at any point of time. Even when I read an email! I was very impressed by NUS President's email, of the way he used tenses interchangeably. I wonder when I could draft out such a great email...

Thank you Dr. Cook for always being there to guide us. Your method of teaching motivates us to learn more. Not to forget my group mates, Angela and Xiang Hui, who were learning with me throughout the 13 weeks. We shared ideas, reviewed on each other essay draft, and reminded one another of assignment due date. Let's keep the online group chat mode on! :)

With that, I would like to share an inspirational quote:
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain."

Let us always take a big step to learn English language! Don't be afraid to ask. :)

  

Learn How to Say 'NO'

“Li Hua, Human Resources (HR) Manager wants to see us tomorrow.” I received this message from one of my apartment mates. I was not very curious of why our HR Manager wanted to meet me and my other apartment mates because I was pretty sure that it is due to electricity bill. We exceeded the given electricity usage for the first two months, since we moved into the staff quarters of Four Seasons Resort Langkawi Island, Malaysia during our 4-month internship.

 

However, through the meeting with HR Manager, it was not only about the electricity bill, but also regarding another issue that HR Department had found out – my two apartment mates brought outsiders with opposite gender to stay over for a few nights. I tried to stay calm, though I knew that there might be a punishment on me. The reason of why I said this was because I was aware of the occurrence.

 

As I used to be close with two of them when I first arrived to Langkawi Island for internship, they did speak to me regarding their guests to be stayed over in our apartment. To be frank, I did not stop them from doing, but only mentioned not to bring any of their guests into my room, though my room was only occupied by myself. Yet, I did not reject another suggestion they proposed, which was to make a space for two of them to sleep in my room so that their friends could occupy their room instead.

 

According to the accommodation policies stated by Four Seasons, it is an offence of bringing outsiders to stay over staff quarters.  I had caught myself into a trouble. I could not say that I was totally implicated by them, because I did sort of ‘facilitate’ them, by making a space for my own apartment mates to sleep. At the end of the meeting, HR Manager had yet come to a final decision. He only told us a possibility of receiving Internship Termination Letter. I turned away because I did not want to show others my tearing face.

 

This episode still deeply imprinted in my mind after a year (I came back from Langkawi Island on 25^th January 2013). Although the final decision that HR Department had made was not to issue Termination Letter, but requested my two apartment mates to prepare Explanation Letter instead, it is still my responsibility to ensure not to happen in the future. I have gained some learning points through this episode: one is to learn how to say ‘NO’ and to learn making correct judgment. Recall back to the incident again. In fact, I had the ability to report to HR yet I failed to do as I gave myself an excuse that ‘they are my friends’.  One should always make correct judgment and learn to reject any favour that you think is inappropriate. Think of the consequence or even worse case scenario before you do.