The Plan for Enhancing the Language Skills - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Part A: The learning log 3 Week 1: Personal language history 3 Week 4: Critical Incident 4 Week 5: Personal training plan for enhancing the skills 5 Week 6: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) 11 Week 12: Self reflection of the success of the project 12 Part B: 13 Week 3: Self development & Setting objectives 13 Week 8: Informal e-mail 14 Week 14: Minutes of meetings 15 Week 20: How green is my Campus 16 Executive summary 16 Introduction 16 Findings 16 Conclusion 17 Recommendations 17 Week 23: A formal letter 18 Reference List 20 Bibliography 21 Part A: The learning log Week 1: Personal language history Early Language History Language is significant for every human being as it gives expression to their thoughts. Likewise, it is important for me as it has assisted me to express my feelings to parents and other since childhood. I was learned to speak Mandarin when I was 1 year old. Since then, I can speak and understand the language; though the local language is different. Both my parents dwell in different province of China; my father originates from Hunan province and mother from Hubei province. Both of them can speak the local language. I can understand their conversation when they speak in local language but cannot pronounce it. When I was 6 years old, I experienced difficulty in attending primary school. My classmate used to speak fluent local language; I understood what they said but could not speak, which was a bit embarrassing for me. However, with the passage of time as I was admitted to high school, the students were from different parts of the country. They also spoke their local language, which I came to understand after a while. Slowly I could also speak the local language. Educational experience There are many differences between city and country side education. I always lived in the city, where the educational standard is higher than that of country side. There is no particular rule in the countryside, whereas, in city the rules related to communication with other students are strict; local language cannot be used. Hence, I had to learn English, when I was in primary school. I was not interested to learn English but I had to because of the English class. Idiolects I am very fond of my voice; I learned recitation even before joining university. I used to recite famous poetries. Nevertheless, I recognised that my original voice is best of all. Week 4: Critical Incident Among the five incidents, I chose the second incident to provide my views regarding the critical incident. Culture plays a pivotal role in everyone’s life as it directs their behaviour and beliefs regarding any particular issue. We are guided by culture since childhood. Since birth our parents teach us what to do and what not to; this is culture. Hence, our parents are our first teacher, who makes us aware of our culture and also share their views regarding other cultures. Since our childhood, we are taught to follow few guidelines, which are directed to us. In few societies, male and female are not treated equally. In fact in many societies the male are dominating and they feel that females cannot achieve a higher position in the society by receiving higher educational degrees. In the second incident, I have observed that the female member of the organisation was not respected at all by the male colleague, who was surprised to hear that she is a professor. This thought has crippled the society to a great extent. Females are expected to marry at earlier stage rather than achieving higher degree and gain a respectable position in the society. Thus, it is evident that this is a critical incident. Week 5: Personal training plan for enhancing the skills I prefer to become a sales person in future; in order to achieve the professional goal I need to develop special skills. I have to develop my vocabulary, speaking and writing. In order t become successful in my career, I have to develop efficient skills, which will enable me to compete with others. I need to develop my English language so as to encounter the competitive world. I have completed the VAK questionnaire I order to understand my weakness and strength. After completing the questionnaire I evaluated it and selected the right method, which can improve my career. My learning style: Communication is the main door for improving by English language skills. Training is needed for enhancing my power of understanding the language. The training method that can be employed in such a case is coaching. Firstly, my needs are identified and communicated to the person who will guide me in the coaching session. Required skills for the job: I prefer to become a sales person in future as I want to communicate and persuade people. For doing so I need to read, speak and understand English properly. I have to gain the skills of a successful sales person such as communicate confidentially in English, make clear pronunciation and ability to resolve issue that are raised by the customers. For enhancing these skills, I need proper coaching. Questionnaire 1 Learning styles questionnaire (But do not take this type of exercise too seriously, there are many different classifications.) Ask another student which of the following choices they normally make 1. You have just bought a new MP3 player (which is also a USB storage device and FM radio). Do you: a. read the instructions which came with the device? b. ask a friend to tell you how it works? c. start to use it at once, to try to work it out for yourself? 2. You are on a day trip to Cambridge and you want to find one specific college. Do you: a. buy a map of the city so you can find your way around? b. stop someone on the street and ask for directions? c. just walk around the streets trying to find the place, perhaps looking for street signs? 3. You want to learn how to cook a dish which you enjoyed eating in a restaurant. Do you: a. use google to find a recipe for the dish on the internet? b. ask a friend who is a good cook how to cook it? c. remember the dish and try to recreate it, to experiment until you find an okay way of doing it? 4. Your friend has asked you how to use PowerPoint. Do you: a. find a guide of step-by-step instructions your friend can read? b. speak to them, to tell them what are the important things to remember? c. sit with them at a PC and demonstrate? 5. Imagine you have upset a close friend by not keeping a promise you made. When your friend tells you that s/he is upset do you say: a. I see what you mean. b. I hear what you say. c. I know how you feel. 6. Your boss wants you to do a new task, something you have never done before. Do you say: a. Show me how you want me to do it. b. Tell me how you want me to do it. c. Let me have a try and I’ll ask if I need help. 7. Your young nephew is learning how to play a new computer game. Do you say: a. Watch me, I’ll show you how it’s done. b. Listen to me, I’ll explain it to you. c. Go on, you try, let me watch. 8. Your new MP3 player is not working correctly. Do you: a. Write a letter of complaint to the shop/manufacturer? b. Telephone the shop/manufacturer to tell them what the problem is.? c. go to the shop to complain and ask for a replacement.? 9. You have been asked to organise a social event for a group of students so they can get to know each other better. Do you plan: a. a trip to a museum or gallery? b. a night out in a pub so you can chat? c. a session of paintballing? 10. For the birthday one of your friends you decide to buy: a. a new novel by an author you know she likes? b. a CD of her favourite band? c. some software you know she needs? 11. You need to buy a smart outfit to go to a job interview. Do you: a. look at the clothes in the shop and imagine whether they will look good on you? b. ask the sales assistant whether she thinks they suit you? c. try them on? 12. If you going to buy a new car, and need to choose between four, do you: a. read about the advantages and disadvantages of the possible cars in auto magazines? b. ask your friends which car they think is best? c. ask the garage if you can have a test drive? Total for a. Total for b. Total for c. Mostly a = a preference for a visual learning style Mostly b = a preference for an auditory learning style Mostly c = a preference for a kinesthetic/physical/tactile learning style Questionnaire 2 The skills required for job and areas that are concentrated on are described below: score/10 skills and work competency areas self- assess 2nd view Essential / Desirable 1 Using and developing my knowledge. 5 D 2 Researching, investigating and problem-solving. 7 D 3 Communicating outwardly: face-to-face, phone, email, etc. 5 E 4 Listening and interpretation, establishing rapport, understanding needs. 4 E 5 Developing solutions and agreeing things with people. 6 D 6 Financial understanding and commercial ability. 6 D 7 Speaking and presenting to groups. 6 D 8 Helping or coaching or teaching or training others. 6 E 9 Using information and communications technology (ICT or IT). 6 E 10 Technical appreciation and use of equipment/tools/machinery for my area and related areas. 5 E 11 Understanding and making the most of my relationships with people and groups. 7 E 12 Competitor/industry awareness and consideration of these factors in planning, decision-making, etc. 6 D 13 Taking initiative and responsibility, e.g., decision-making, project management, running meetings. 5 D 14 Visioning, creating, and inspiring others with my ideas. 6 D 15 Managing time, planning, being effective, efficient, productive, and reliable. 5 E 16 Appreciating/applying social responsibility, sustainability, humanity and ethical considerations. 6 E behaviours, attitudes and personal style self-ass. 2nd view E / D 1 Striving for personal development. 5 D 2 Taking personal responsibility to resolve problems, even those not of my own making. 6 D 3 Understanding the way people really feel. 4 D 4 Developing positive relationships. 6 D 5 Keeping focused and productive, reliable and dependable. 5 E 6 Planning how to achieve my work and personal goals. 6 D 7 Managing stress and conflict. 7 D 8 Managing upwards and sideways (my managerial superiors and my peers). 5 E 9 Contributing positively to team/company morale and spirit. 6 E 10 Seeking and picking up responsibility that I see waiting to be filled. 5 D 11 Team-working. 7 D 12 Having compassion and care for others. 5 E 13 Using integrity and ethics in my judgement about work and organisational issues. 5 E Score yourself out of 10 for each skill and behaviour. Validate your scores by discussing them with your boss or someone who knows you (these scores go in the '2nd view' column and form the basis of the assessment). At the same time agree with the other person whether each skill and behaviour is essential or desirable for the effective performance of your role, or your next job if you are seeking advancement. Your personal development priorities are therefore the lowest scores in the essential skills and behaviours. For group training needs analysis see the Training Needs Analysis template, which is used to analyse the results of a number of individual assessments. Adapt or change the elements above and in the TNA tool to suit the job role(s). Week 6: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) I am working as a social activist with a firm. I am responsible for examining whether companies are following the corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines. It is observed that CSR gained prominence over the passage of time and the companies have concentrated on regulating their business as a responsible citizen (Benn and Bolton, 2011; Barth and Wolff, 2009; Bacher, 2009; Banerjee, 2011). CSR is needed in order to protect the external environment and public from severe problems. The responsibility of protecting the environment and continuing a responsible business is the work of the managers and employees (Asongu, 2008). They should formulate strategies so as to protect the external environment and do not challenge the guidelines that are levied on the organisation (Benn and Bolton, 2011; Barth and Wolff, 2009; Bacher, 2009; Banerjee, 2011; Husted and Allen, 2009; Hond., 2009; Heald, 2009; Hartman and Werhane, 2009; Hartman, Rubin and Dhanda, 2010). I feel that the organisation should be profit oriented rather they should think for the general public and do not take such steps which can affect the community in the long run. The company should be responsible enough to pay the taxes, which helps the economy to grow. Through the CSR activities, the companies not only achieve a successful position in the market but also help the individuals to stay healthy. China is a socialist country, which aims at developing its economy by concentrating on the optimal techniques and local factors. In this country, commerce is observed to be referred to the consumer; hence, the companies should undertake appropriate strategies for developing CSR activities, which will support the welfare of the community it is serving (Benn and Bolton, 2011; Barth and Wolff, 2009; Bacher, 2009; Banerjee, 2011). Hence, CSR activities are significant in every nation for its contribution towards growth of the economy. Week 12: Self reflection of the success of the project Group efforts are essential for the success of any project. Working in a group also reduces the work burden and makes it simpler than to be managed single handily. It is hard to make an efficient group, as the talent of an individual is not visible in the first meeting; thus forming a group without knowing details of the group members is highly challenging (Kilgour, 1999). I had to take the challenge of forming a group and find the most efficient one who could be the leader. The group members possess different skills and they are talented in their own specialization. I have selected my group members according to their seminar result as it was easy for me to evaluate their intelligence and talent. After forming the team, I was confident about the fact that I have got the best team of all. Selecting a presentation topic is another tough job. I have a detailed discussion with the team and after quite an effort we decided to choose business communication as the topic. Communication is such a topic that can be explained by individuals differently. Hence, there were conflicts in the team regarding the sub-topics. The sub-topics aimed at highlighting the main topic however, the team members are not quite sure of the main body of the project. I was totally frustrated regarding the performance of the group and though to work on it as we need to give a proper PowerPoint presentation. Hence, I was not at all happy with the choice of group members as they fought within themselves in order to put up their ideas I became worried. However, I told them to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and depict their ideas and the best idea was chosen. Part B: Week 3: Self development & Setting objectives Language development is my main goal and I hope to improve it by next year. For achieving the goal within one year the following SMART objectives are followed. Specific: I will concentrate on reading text books, which are written in simple language. It will be easy for me to follow the grammar and sentence construction. This specific goal will help me to enhance my ability to read and speak English. Measurable: Reading new books is a good measure to learn new words and also experience incidents that are depicted in the text. At first it is difficult to memorize the words nut repeatedly learning can enhance the capability of remembering the same. Attainable: Reading falls within attainable goals, however, I can also read newspaper to get to know more vocabulary and strengthen my English speaking ability. By reading newspaper I can experience formal writing and understand how the words are used differently according to situations. Relevant: Reading textbooks and newspaper will surely increase my ability to write, speak and understand English. Time bound: I plan to complete my training to learn English personally within 4 weeks. Within these 4 weeks, I will write all the new words along with their meanings in the notebook and try to memorize and use it when needed. Week 8: Informal e-mail Dear Tom, Firstly, I am very glad to get the opportunity to communicate with you through e-mail. I know you are very business person, so I will place few of ideas regarding establishment of a website of our company very briefly in this mail. Since, our business is based on offering trendy and stylish clothes to the young generation, we should also focus on catering the needs of other countries; by this I mean we should expand our business to such places where the individuals are quite aware of our brands but cannot enjoy the opportunity to wearing them as we do not have any access to that market. I think India will be the best option to look for expansion. India is a country where people are very fond of high quality clothes at reasonable price. Though, there are many premium customers who do not hesitate to purchase high valued clothes when it is a renowned brand. India has different cultures but the most surprising fact is that they have the ability to embrace any new clothing style of any culture whole heartedly. Hence, it will be a prosperous market for the company. For successfully implementing the expansion, I suggest that the company needs a proper website, where the international clients will get all information regarding the brand and images of the garments. The website will be developed in such a manner that it details the visitors with minute information regarding the company and its products. The website should be created in different language so as to avoid language barrier for the customers. The details should be written very elegantly and in proper fonts. The website will be simple but attractive and it will be sophisticated too as the corporate prefer to buy clothes from sophisticated websites. The drop downs will provide minute information regarding the company, management and products. I feel my idea is efficient enough to attract the customers of a new market, which can be India. I will be happy if my idea is taken into consideration. Before, working on the plan, we should make a thorough research regarding the taste and preferences of Indians with regard to clothing. Yours faithfully, XXXXXX Week 14: Minutes of meetings Present: Edith Raven [ER] , Project director of the tourist company Manuel Garden [MG], representative of community Juan Garcia [JG], local leader of farmers Mary Fernandez [MF], Member of Parliament Apologies Josef Eider [JE], Community health officer Topic 1 / problems : 1) Unemployment in the community 2) Inappropriate infrastructure 3) Improper road structure Topic 2 / Suggestion + problems 1) Build a tourist complex 2) Improve the road structure for the fisherman, who is the main employer of the community. Topic 3/ Actions 1) Consider the farmland and purchase the local supplies from the farmers. 2) Changes are adopted in the marina areas. 3) Design plan for eco-tourism venture so as to make the community attractive to the tourist. Date of next meeting: Four weeks later at 10 o’clock in the morning Week 20: How green is my Campus Executive summary The main purpose of the project is to decipher the ideas of making my campus more clean and green. It aims at describing the term “green”, details regarding my campus and how it can be improved so as to make it more hygienic and tidy. Introduction The following points are discussed in the findings part of the report: The real meaning of “going green” and its implication in today’s’ world. Briefly describing the ways of going green. Every details of the university campus so as to find out where it should be improved. Findings Going Green The term going green has become prominent over the passage of time as people are more concerned regarding their health. They require a life where they can enjoy the green nature and do not feel threatened by its ill-effects. It does not only mean to recycle products, but also considers aspects of human lives and nature that are significant for survival of human beings on earth. The meaning indicates towards the fact that human beings should keep the environment clean and green so as to make their lives healthy and pollution free. Human should protect the nature in order to survive on the planet. Details of University Campus My university campus is beautiful and it is also clean and hygienic. There are three campuses; among which Par campus is the best one with respect to the green environment. Despite the green and clean environment, the students of my campus are of the opinion that it should be improved as we study in the campus. Details of improvement in campus There should be more and more trees, and the environment should be quite so as to help them to study properly. The trees will provide them shelter where they can sit and gossip with their friends and also study. There should be absolute silence in the garden and corridor so that the classes are not hampered. Conclusion The interest of the students is the main motivating factor for the improvement. The students are of the opinion that improvements will make their life more comfortable in the campus. Though the university has provided them with a green environment; but further developments are to be brought about so as to make the students happy and feel free to share their views with friends. Recommendations The following recommendations are important for the campus: The administration of the campus should ensure that the students are not wasting the use of electricity. Global warming is a prominent topic in the contemporary world; hence the students should be made aware of the causes and effects of global warming. Week 23: A formal letter Sylvia Delgado Telephone Number: Email address: Mr Philip Hargreaves Hargreaves Consulting Company 145 Russel Street London Our Ref.: XXXX 30 April 2015 Dear Hargreaves Subject: Eco Tourism Project An Eco-tourism project will be held in Santa Monica, Chile as per the government proposal. The organisation is seeking for land where it can establish the offices and factory. The company will have to take permission from the farmers for purchasing their supplies and acquiring their land. The main strength of the project is that it will bring employment to the land; the farmers will receive money as they sell the lands. The weakness of the same is that it can be opposed by the farmers, who are enjoying profit from the fertile land. However, the main opportunity of the project is that the environment will be protected as lot of trees will be planted. SMART objective is implemented in order to plan for the project. The company need to collect information regarding land, where they are going to set the project. The queries and issues of the farmers are detailed so as to measure them in the next step and see whether those can be worked upon. Hence, all the problems and obstacles need to be measured from before so as to complete the project uninterruptedly. Specific details are required for avoiding any political issue regarding the land. The farmers are interviewed regarding their demands and this will have huge impact on the success of the project. The measures taken for implementing the project are very important and this needs to be done very urgently. The relevance of the project is measured along with its success. It is very important for the project to become successful as many lives are dependent on it. The farmers are relying on the project as they will receive cash after selling the land and the unemployed youths will get jobs. The plan will be prepared within few weeks and I look forward for your reply and kind consideration of my idea. Yours faithfully Sylvia Delgado Reference List Asongu, J., 2008. Strategic corporate social responsibility in practice. Norwood: Artech House. Bacher, C., 2009. Corporate social responsibility. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Banerjee, S., 2011. Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly. New York: Harper Collins. Barth, R., and Wolff, F., 2009. Corporate social responsibility in Europe. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Benn, S., and Bolton, D., 2011. Key concepts in corporate social responsibility. 6th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education. Hartman, C. and Werhane, P., 2009. The global corporation: Sustainable, effective, ethical business practices. New York: Routledge. Hartman, L. P., Rubin, R. S. and Dhanda, K. K., 2010. The communication of corporate social responsibility: United States and European Union multinational corporations. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, pp. 373–389. Heald, M., 2009. The social responsibilities of business. London: Sage Publication. Hond., F., 2009. Managing Corporate Social Responsibility in action. 3rd ed. London: Thomson. Husted, B. W. and Allen, D. B., 2009. Corporate social strategy in multina- Corporate social strategy in multinational enterprises: Antecedents and values creation. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, pp. 345–361. Kilgour, D., 1999. Importance of Language. [online]. Available from: < http://www.david-kilgour.com/mp/sahla.htm > [Accessed 30 April 2015]. Bibliography Fowler, S. J. and Hope, C., 2010. Incorporating sustainable business practices into company strategy. Business Strategy and the Environment, 16, pp. 26–38 Frame, B., 2009. Corporate social responsibility: A challenge for the donor community. Development in Practice, 15, pp. 422–432. 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