Evaluation

I thought that it probably would be nice if I posted an evaluation about my experiences from the beginning of this study year until now.
The first couple of weeks  I had to get used to the language. I didn't have English for 1.5 year, and suddenly I had to talk, listen and write in English for almost every day. However, I think that that was the best way of becoming familiar with the language, you just have to do it!
I thought that I had a great advantage over my English language knowledge due to the good base I had built up in primary- and secondary school, but since I have read a few blogs of other students I found out that I do not have that much of an advantage.

I read a lot of blogs from students who went to foreign countries for almost a year or even longer.
Sören Brosch for example (http://learn-academic-english.blogspot.com/), travelled for almost ten months. He has seen so much of the world, and in the foreign countries he visited, the language to communicate was English. So in those ten months he went abroad, he greatly improved his English speaking, writing and listening skills.
I think that peope who have travelled before starting an English spoken study,  will have a big privilige.
I am very jealous of those students, I wished that I had travelled before coming to Groningen, but I just went to New York for eight days.
I hope that in the future, I will have time for travelling through countries outside of Europe. In our third year of IB&M we have to go abroad for six months, I hope that that is my opportunity to see something of the world.

However, due to the English course, I have greatly improved my skills. In the beginning it was difficult to use academic English words instead of "normal" English words, but I have noticed that I certainly have broaden my academic vocabulary.
All the assignments and presentations we had to do, like the memo reports and writing the Language Learning History, helped my to broaden my vocabulary and to improve my writing and speaking skills.

The Nestor Weekly Organizer was quite helpfull too, especially the tools which were published, like 'JustTheWord' and 'Thesaurus'. JustTheWord is a collocation finder, which helps you to find the correct adverb for example. It can justify your choice of words or it can suggest improvements. This tool assisted me in writing the memo reports, but also in writing reflections on HBR reviews for the course Introduction To International Business.

Thesaurus is a website which provides you with synonyms, antonyms, definitions and audio pronunciations. This website is a very helpfull tool while writing reports or reviews. I most often made use of the synonyms application. This application assisted me in using more academic English.



Letter of advice

I want to give next year's students some advice before they start with International Business and Management.

Firstly, you do not have to be afraid of talking English in public if you are nog able to speak as fluently English as some other students do. In the beginning, I met a couple of students who had travelled for more than one year before they started with IB&M. They had a great advantage over students like me. However, you do not have to pay attention to them, just focus on your own skills and try to improve them. It is ok if you do not speak fluently English in the beginning. From time to time you will improve your vocabulary knowledge, your presenting skills and your pronunciation, and before you know it, you can speak almost as much as fluently as your fellow students.

Secondly, you have to ensure that you keep to the course schedule given at the beginning of the year. I know that the beginning of your first year is hard, you are new in a strange city, you have to make new friends etc. And therefore, it is hard to have the discipline to prepare every assignment and every presentation as well as you are expected to, but try to keep to the schedule. Otherwise, before you realize it, you do not understand what the lecturers are teaching you and what the content of your book is about. The consequences are that you have to study very hard for the exams, otherwise you will not pass the course.

Finally, try to get the highest grades as possible. Do not be satisfied with an average of a six, but go for the eight or even better, the ten. I know that this sounds geeky, but in your third year of IB&M, you will study abroad for approximately six months. If you want to go outside of Europe, in most countries the admission rate is on average a 7.5 and in some other countries even an eight. So if you do your best in your first year, you will benefit from it in your later years.

Graded pair presentation

Last week, Michelle, Jasper and I had to give a presentation about Hazel. The assignment was to devise a strategic new vision to the new CEO of Hazel and its board of directors. We decided to give the company a new logo, a more comprehensive mission statement and we decided to launch a new product. You can see the slides of our presentation below.

I think the presentation went fairly well; the feedback I got was quite positive. However, there are a couple of points that I have to improve. 

Firstly, I have to let the person who asks a question finish his/her sentence. When I interrupted someone during my presentation, I knew that I should not have done this, but I already did so I could not turn anything back. Thus, this is one important point that I have to improve.

Secondly, I have to be more active in the question and answer session.

Thirdly, my part of the presentation was quite monotonous, it was a swot-analysis with just facts. Maybe, I could have done something to make it more interesting to listen to.

Fourthly, from time to time, I glanced at my notes. However, I think that I can definitely do without notes while presenting. When I am practicing at home I know the whole text by heart, so it are just the nerves that make me insecure.

Finally, I made a few little grammar and pronunciation mistakes which I easily could have avoided. I pronunciated for example 'representatives' wrong. Now, it is very obvious how to pronunciate it, so it was just a stupid little mistake. Furthermore, I said "They are nowadays..." instead of "Nowadays, they are..." and I said "They are very eager at looking good" instead of "They are very eager to look good". These are just tiny mistakes which I will not make again. 

For the next time, I will definitely keep in mind these points of critique, and I am certain that I am able to improve them.

Hazel product launch material

This week, I had to carry out a series of tasks in order to develop my vocabulary around the theme of strategy. Those tasks aimed to improve my use of language in this area so that I could write a professional press release. The task was to devise a new strategic plan for the company Hazel as a member of the senior management team. I had to help rebuild and improve Hazel's image around the world, and I had to improve sales and to fuel global growth.

Our new strategic plan consisted of a new brand name, a new product, a new mission statement.

We have devised the following brand name: 'Colori'. I think this is a catchy name, due to the Italian accent and 'Colori' resembles the word: Color. Hazel is a cosmetics and beauty products company, so I think 'Colori' matches perfect with the company.

Our mission statement is: "Colori's mission is to make the women of today feel confident and beautiful by bringing their true colors to life."

Our new product is a foundation and anti-ageing cream in one. You can read the press release of this new product below.

PRESS INFORMATION

LONDON, ENGLAND, November 29, 2011

COLORI’S INFINITY FOUNDATION

Colori Cosmetics has annunciated the launch of a newly-designed foundation, called Infinity. The foundation is a mixture of leveling make-up and an anti-ageing cream and is designed for women who often are anxious of getting older.

“An impressive appearance is very important for most women”, said John Parker, Colori’s Chief Executive Officer. “We have created a revolutionary formula to support those women, by assembling an anti-age serum with a revived foundation. Infinity will reenergize overworked skin, whereby our customers will look fresh and will feel comfortable all day long”

One of the features of Infinity is the long lasting coverage for more than 24 hours. It contains a moisturizing cream, which will nourish the skin and simultaneously will camouflage the unevenness. Therefore, women will feel natural and comfortable throughout the day. Through the new pump design of the bottle, the foundation is more easily to apply than ever. Furthermore, there is a wide range of flawless-looking tints, whereby there will be a best suit for every woman; from a very light skin, to a very dark one, and everything in between. Infinity perfectly matches the complexion and texture of the skin.

The new anti-ageing foundation of Colori, with a wide range of tints and the new pump design will be available in exclusive cosmetic stores on December 8^th

END

ABOUT COLORI

Founded in 1972, Hazel was one of the world’s largest direct sellers of cosmetics and beauty products. By the 1990s, the sales had begun to decline. Since the last ten years the company is struggling with serious problems. Therefore, a new CEO has been appointed to devise a new strategic vision for the company. Since last month, the company continued under the brand name Colori. From now on, the company is working on improving the brand image by developing innovative products, a new brand logo etc. The products of Colori are available in exclusive cosmetics stores.
Contact information: Coloricosmetics@gmail.com

Language Learning History

Language Learning History

This is a paper which reflects my language learning background. My first experience with the English language was in primary school. I went to an international school, called ‘De Prinseschool’, because that was the best school in my hometown. At that school, the English language was of great importance, due to the many international students. My class consisted of numerous nationalities; Dutch, American, Chinese, Russian etc., whereby the school was obliged to implement an English learning program. ‘De Prinseschool’ was my second primary school and I started there in the fifth class. Ones a year we organized an event named ‘Lets Present’, where all students had to perform on stage. Some students sang, others danced or played an instrument. Everybody had to speak/sing in English during this day. Furthermore, all students had to do an exam ones a year. This exam was called the ‘Anglia Exam’ and showed at which level of English the students were. We had to know all the irregular verbs, the basic principles of the grammar and wordlists and we were trained for this exam during the whole year. Because of this exam, I created a good basis for the rest of my career. In the eighth class, I was appointed to follow a special English class for students who did well enough in Dutch class and were eager to improve their English language skills. In that special English class, the tutor, Mr. Ahmed, taught us the grammar rules of the language. It was not a lecture, but it was more like a practical; we had to practice a lot by doing grammar exercises. This special class contributed to my advanced basis of the English language.

 In secondary school, I had to follow an English course since the first class. In those classes we practiced a lot for improving our knowledge about the language. During classes, we were obliged to speak in English. There were a lot of speaking exercises, we watched English movies and series like ‘Little Britain’, we had to read many books and we had to write reports about those books. Furthermore, we practiced the grammar principles during almost every class. Every year, we had to do a presentation about one of the books, a movie, or cases we discussed in class. In graduating class, the final assignment consisted of a conversation between two students in front of two teachers. The conversation was about the books we had to read and we had to link all those books together. My grade was an eight.

Before I came to university, I thought the English classes would be more or less identical. However, since the start of this first year, I quite improved my knowledge about the English language, for instance my vocabulary. Besides that, I did not expect that the course would contain business aspects.

For the next three years, I hope to improve my vocabulary knowledge to more academic words. Because I am thinking about going abroad after my master, maybe to the United States. Then, it is necessary to have a broad vocabulary and business knowledge. But that thought of my future is left to remain unanswered for now.

Primaryschool "De Prinseschool"

Below you will find a funny video about the irregular verbs. In primary school I had to know all the irregular verbs by heart. However, I had to learn them by reading them and just saying it out loud. I think this is a better way of teaching the irregular verbs. They are so important, and I think if they are teached this way, students will remember them more often.

Vocabulary Profiler

This is the result of the memo report Stitch Wear at the Vocabulary Profiler.

The blue K1 Words should have a percentage of 70%.
The green K2 Words should have a percentage of 10%
The yellow AWL Words (academic) should have a percentage of 10%
The red Off-List Words should have a percentage of 10% as well.

I think I scored quite well, but improvements are needed ofcourse.

Memo Report Stitch Wear

Below you can see the memo report we had to write to The board of directors of Stitch Wear about the urgent need of improving the company's Corporate Social Responsibility.

Memo Report

To:                                                       The board of directors

From:                                                  Tyrza Nanlohij (Head of PR)

Date:                                                   25 October 2011

Subject:                                              Action plan for improving CSR profile

Introduction

On October 20, the departmental heads discussed suggestions for improving the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) profile. We cogently need to improve our CSR profile to show that we pursue child labor-free production processes and that we want to improve the working conditions in the manufacturing countries. We have agreed on the following plan of action to improve the company’s  policy on corporate responsibility.

Manufacturing

Firstly, we agreed that there will not be any child employment under 14 anymore in the factories. It would be more effective  if Stitch Wear goes in a partnership with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The ETI screens all suppliers against a sourcing code of practice. We can also send a manager to the manufacturing companies to directly run the production process.  Therefore we can better keep an eye on the working conditions in the manufacturing countries.

Training and programs

Secondly, we propose educational training and health programs for children until the age of 16. Therefore we secure that child labor under the age of 14 is abolished. After the age of 16 the children will have the option for technical training, whereby children will have the choice to work in the factories after the technical training.

Marketing

Thirdly, we recommend to improve the reputation of our company. Thus, we think it is essential to create a new logo with ETI on it and to start a campaign about the health programs and the educational and technical training. We could also set up a sports event and create sports clothes with the new logo. If we make around 2000 pairs, it is not too costly. All in all, we will definitely improve our reputation.

Corporate Responsibility

Finally, we suggest that the Head of PR is the face of Corporate Responsibility. It is not necessary to create a new team under the supervision of a Corporate Responsibility Officer. That will be too costly.

Conclusion

The departmental heads strongly believe that these improvements are core to improving the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility. Although this will need a lot of research and discussion, we think that it is very important that these points are pursued. We believe that this is an essential investment for the reputation of the company.

We are looking forward to hear from you soon.

Tyrza Nanlohij

Head of PR

(S2037300)

(381 words)