ISSUE No. 12/09 - December 2009

WISHING ALL OUR CLIENTS A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

(MEATY MORSELS FROM THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORLD OF WORK)

CARROT POWER – Reward your employees with a daily dose of recognition – Make someone GREAT today. What if employees were like putty in your hands? What if you could simply mould their workplace behaviours and priorities to match your own? Well you can. Each time we praise people, they strive to further develop the abilities you have recognized. Praise them for meeting deadlines and they’ll be early next time. Did you imagine you had such power? Go ahead. Make someone GREAT today. THE ETHICAL MANAGER Whether you rely on your car for your career or just use it for the daily ten-minute commute, you can cut your costs and fuel consumption by following these simple steps for greener motoring.five miles to become effective. Drive defensively – avoid harsh acceleration and heavy braking wherever possible. Remember that pulling away from the lights too fast burns up to 60% more fuel. Concentrate – look ahead, anticipate road conditions and the actions of others. Not only will you be less likely to have an accident, you will reduce fuel. Use the gear box efficiently – changing gear at a more modest engine speed can reduce fuel consumption by up to 15%. Don’t pump the accelerator or rev the engine unnecessarily – this simply waste fuel. Avoid short journeys – a cold engine uses almost twice as much fuel, while catalytic converters can take. Stick to speed limits and make your fuel go further – driving at 100kph uses up to 30% more fuel than at 70kph. Plan your journeys to avoid congestion, road works and getting lost – satellite navigation or a good old-fashioned road map are well worth the investment in terms of fuel and time savings. Check your tyre pressure regularly – under –inflated tyres wear out more quickly and can increase fuel consumption by up to three percent. If you are stuck in a jam, switch off – turning off the engine after two minutes will save fuel and cut all emissions

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH

In Terror of English

English is really not a foreign language in Malaysia. In fact, by the decree of Ministry of Education, Malaysia, English is made the second language. Everywhere you go you can easily see advertisements and billboards in English. We have English newspapers and television and radio channels in English - thanks to ASTRO, TV Malaysia  - They offer more English programmes compared to Malay, Chinese or Indian programmes. So imagine my surprise when in my course of being a trainer I’ve met quite a number of working people who claimed that they are terrified of the English language, particularly for oral communication. My first reaction was, “Really? You’re afraid of English? But why?” Mind you, this was my reaction when I was still green in my training experience. Nothing much faze me now… I hope. Okay, back to the issue at hand.  I can understand if they told me that they don’t like to use the language or they feel unpatriotic, but being terrified is a whole different matter already. It doesn’t matter where they work, be it in government agencies or in the private sector, many seemed to share this fear. In the end most of them opt for the easy way out – by refusing to use English at all. Of course, they may slip-in one or two commonly used words of English in a sentence when they are speaking, but overall they prefer to fall back on the national language or their own mother tongues. What could actually be the reason(s), you may ask.
So now let me tell you the why of it.  Many say that they are afraid of making mistakes particularly in terms of grammar and structure.  So rather than making grammatically or structurally wrong sentences, they prefer not to use it at all. Another reason says that they developed the fear because their environment do not provide them room to practice the language, so when they are thrown in a situation where they have to use the language, they become terrified. Lack of vocabularies is next in line. Having to struggle for words embarrass them.  In fact some are also afraid to use English because people might laugh at them for their mistakes.  To write in English is even worse because then there is visual proof of their mistakes. Well, I am not discarding these reasons as being unimportant or unrealistic. Like any other problem, any reason for it is a huge reason because it is a personal reason. However, what we have to ponder on is the counter-reasoning - why is it crucial for working people to overcome this fear?
It is essential to change the mindset in order to discourage this fear of English. To do so, the easiest way is to show them the advantages of acquiring this language.  First and foremost, having the skills to communicate in English is a step towards career advancement. Those who can, be it in written or oral English, in general are easily recognised by their superiors. Once you’re recognised, you tend to be given more trusts and opportunities which in turn would give you a higher possibility of a promotion or salary increment. Another is self-advancement. In today’s world without border, information highway is at its most efficient. The majority of information is delivered in English language. Therefore, you can be one the people who can educate themselves and improve your knowledge particularly in matters regarding your profession. This can also be turned into career opportunities and advancement. It also opens up more options for you in terms of work employment. These are just a few among many more benefits that you can reap by having the ability to communicate in English.
Now that you know the advantages you need to know the ways to improve yourself. The old age advice is to read more English materials. Well, I would not say this is a fast cure for all because not everybody learn the quickest way through reading. If you go along with the Multiple Intelligence theory, those with verbal-linguistic intelligence might be. If you do belong to this group of people then, you should read more English stuff particularly those with more conversational input like dramas, plays or novels. Read the dialogue aloud to practise the pronunciation and intonation use in different situation. The practice will help you be more familiar in using the language.
However for those who are not in this group, you could try watching English movies, series or documentaries. So get some DVDs to help you. Instead of just watching and listening to it, you should copy or imitate the way the actor/speaker says different sentences. That would quicken the way you grasp the usage. You will also learn to use the right grammar/structure automatically as you are taking each sentence as a whole. You will also learn to use it in context.
Another way to practise, if your environment does not provide you with room for it is by listening to the radio – English station of course. So what you can do is try to respond to DJ’s comments in English. Speak aloud, as if you’re talking to him or her. This way you train your brain to structure sentences and find appropriate words to use. If you keep this practice up, your brain will familiarize itself with the language and store up more information/vocabularies subconsciously.
These are among the few ways that you can administer on your own. Of course, the surest way of building up English language competencies is by enrolling yourself in a class. Not just a short two-day class. I assure you there is no miracle worker that can suddenly make you proficient in just two days. A longer duration course would be better to help you familiarize with the language and keep you on the right track, practice wise. So invest and enroll yourself in this type of courses and gain the tool for your career advancement. Best of luck then.

Sincerely,
Kay.

FOR YOUR INFO, KAY’S PROFILE IS AS FOLLOWS:

Name  :  Ms NOOR KHAIRIL AKMAR BT. MOHD ALI
Status  :  Associate Trainer of TNI
Specialization : 
Communication and Presentation Skills using the English Language  as the means to communicate;Subtitling from English to B.M. and vice-versa; Translation  from English to B.M. and vice versa; Management and Marketing   
Description :
Ms Noor Kharil, oftenly known as “Kay” has 10 years of experience in teaching and training. She has taught in both the public and private sectors which gave her an insight to the problems and issues of English learning and usage in this country. She has also conducted workshops and gave talks to various organisations, schools and universities, both locally and internationally.  She was also involved in providing consultation, developing modules and training for the “train-the-trainer”, team building and customer service programmes.
Qualifications: Bachelor of Education in TESOL, University of Southampton, UK
Working Experience :
Annkay Knowledge SB – Partner/Chief Human Resource Officer
Cyberlynx      Multimedia SB. – Content Development Manager
Cyberlynx Language Centre – Assistant manager – Corporate Training
INPENS College – Head of English language unit
Nilai College – English lecturer